Koala's Last Day

On May 25th, we had our last day with Koala. She was one of our part-timers that left so that she could be home more days of the week. We miss her very much, but we're grateful for the time we did have with her - especially the last day.

L-R: Koala's mom, Koala, Dolphin, Kare-Bear

L-R: Koala, Rabbit, Dolphin

Turtle

Dolphin thoroughly enjoyed playing in the chalk...

...as I'm sure you can tell.

L-R: Koala, Kare-Bear, Koala's mom

Koala & K-Bird

Dolphin

L-R: Turtle, Rabbit, Koala, Koala's mom

Photo credit: Kangaroo

For her birthday, Rabbit got a Butterfly Garden, which lets you get caterpillars in the mail and watch them transform into butterflies. It was a great experience to watch them grow, and the day after Koala left, we got to set them free into the wild. Kangaroo snapped the picture above. 

Technically, this wasn't Koala's last day, because the week after that we ended up watching her and her brother for three more days. :) Hopefully we'll put some pictures up from that as well. We miss you both! :D

What We've Heard Around the Den Today

It has been a full day today with nine people under the same roof! These are exchanges we've heard today "around the den" of Lion's Pride Christian Child Care. For privacy, I've included animal code names and ages for kids under 18.

Karen: "Is everyone all set? I'm going to take a quick potty break."
Kangaroo (11): "Come get a diaper, mom!"
Puppy (3): "She doesn't need a diaper. She needs pull-ups!"

I'm sure it would be a great convenience, with some obvious drawbacks. Still, a potty break is our chance to slow down, catch our breath, and collect our thoughts. If we didn't take one, we'd be pretty frazzled.

Speaking of potty, Parrot (3) didn't want to go potty today. So, K-Bird, my assistant, began listing all the heroes that go potty.

K-Bird: "...and firemen go potty, and policemen go potty, and soldiers go potty..."
Parrot: "Soldiers go potty?
K-Bird: "Yeah."
Parrot: "Gross!"

"Puppy" briefly pauses
during playtime

Remember the pleasure--or is that "the pressure"--of playing two things at once? Sometimes we over-commit ourselves, even at the age of three.

Puppy (3): "Oh! Rabbit needs me!"

Then we heard a WHACK as she ran into the wall! Puppy was fine, just a little late getting to Rabbit's game.

Finally, we have a play doctor kit with a stethoscope, an otoscope, and even a tool that looks like pliers. The kids love giving the examinations just like real doctors with serious expressions and explaining what they're doing as they listen to the heart beat, and check the eyes and ears. 

Kangaroo (11) was being a very patient ...patient and enduring exam after exam with as many as three doctors at once (Puppy, Parrot, and Rabbit) until he finally diagnosed himself with a very strange condition, completely unknown until now, called Doctoritis. The cure was very simple: go outside and play someithing else! He's currently 40 minutes into his treatment and it looks like he'll be making a full recovery.

Signing off for the rest of the pride,

Steve