Happy Freedom Day! Another BIG Update

Phew, July 4th is suddenly upon us, so it's time for another update! It's been on the to-do list for quite some time, but caring for littles on a daily basis often makes the list collect a little dust over time since they keep us on a busy schedule.  Bear with me as this post might be a bit lengthy in order to catch things up to date. We currently have 6 full timers and 2 drop-in cubs at the moment who are deeply and dearly loved. Here is a quick glimpse of our family and ALL the busyness around here. I hope this posts captures the freedom and unique characteristics of each precious child in our daily care. Further details on each cub will follow below.

Now you have an idea of how busy it gets around here! Let's start with the two youngest ones. As you  may recall, we started care for two infants at the beginning of January. They have taken on the cub names of Moose and Monarch. It almost sounds like a children's book, doesn't it? Imagine the adventures those two could have together. Well anyway, these names portray a good visual picture of their personalities as well. 

Moose and Monarch are 3 weeks apart in age, but quite different in growth and development. Moose is laid back, strong, and on the bigger side as far as development goes, and Monarch is more on the petite side, but still very strong, busy, and active. Moose would love to sit, observe, and cuddle all day, but the snuggles for Monarch are usually right before her last ounce of energy is dispersed. 

Both babies are 8 months old now and have older siblings. Moose has his big sister Platypus, whom we also watch, and Monarch is the sister of her 7-year-old brother Caterpillar whom we watched many years ago. We thought her name would be fitting and comparable with her busy temperament, which is also very similar to big brother. Moose on the other hand is a bit more laid back than his spirited and adventurous sister, Platypus. It's been an honor and a lot of fun to care for two different sibling sets and see all the unique qualities and differences in each of them!

Moose & Monarch

The next set of two full-time kiddos are Platypus and Hippo. Platypus is 2.5 years old now and keeps us hopping with her spirited ambition and personality. At her age she wants to be in charge and run the show, so we are often having to negotiate a solution with her that we all are happy with. She has a great, outgoing, and helpful personality though, and we love the cuteness that comes along with the spunk.  Hippo is approaching 21 months old and getting so tall. He is very cuddly, interactive, and babbles a lot of sounds when he wants to have a conversation, but doesn't quite have the words yet. He is so close to learning how to walk and is making a lot of progress through the help of his PT appointments. It doesn't stop him from getting around though! He is so strong and has figured out how to bear crawl around outside so he can explore.

Platypus & Hippo

Our last set of full-timers are Sea Horse and Mother Hen. Sea Horse turned 3 in May and is also full of energy. She is very much into Paw Patrol and loves stuffed animals, and her mom often has to convince her not to bring all of the ones she owns to daycare. She has a big, cheesy grin that makes our days better. She is 6 months younger than Mother Hen who joined us is February after Owlette went off to preschool. I've been wanting to update for quite some time on Mother Hen since she has been a delight to have in our crew of giggling girls. We call her Mother Hen because she is often looking out for others or tidying up the crackers that they have dropped on the floor. She is also a little peckish when it comes to food, but she's gotten better at eating more foods than when she first started.  She's very big on baby dolls, and we love the energy, delight, and mischief she adds to the den with having 3 girls around.

Sea Horse & Mother Hen

Delight

Energy

Mischief

Last but not least, we have Kinkajou and Snow Leopard who spend time with us on a drop-in basis. Snow Leopard was with us full-time last year, but her family had a few unexpected changes in their jobs so she is primarily home with Mom most of the time. We love her sporadic visits as well as the weekly visits for the summer from Kinkajou. Snow Leopard is 4 years old now and Kinkajou will be the same age in a few weeks. They are both delightful to be around and add a spark of imagination and creativity to our home. We value each time they come to play since their school years are not too far off from now.

Kinkajou & Snow Leopard

In closing, I wanted to share a few pictures of our previous cub, Tortoise, who spent a weekend with us in June while his parents were out of town. We had a wonderful time hanging out with him. He enjoyed playing with cars, painting, my daughter's baby Yoda squishmallow, and helping us with cleaning out the sandbox. We also got our new gazebo up to help with shade for the summer since we lost our ash tree. Haha, the ash tree has been trying to grow into a bush, so we had to trim it down this weekend. It has a very slight chance of growing back into a tree, but we will see how successful that is in our next update!

Tortoise

Painting Time with Rabbit

Eating Dinner with Kangaroo

Rest time with KBird

We look forward to catching up on the blog again soon. Summer always flies by, and the time goes too fast, so we cherish every moment with our cubs!

2021 Updates and New Babies

Where did the last 6 months go?  Wow, we have definitely kept pretty busy with all the littles in our care. We are living in some crazy times right now with all the illness in our community and guidelines that are continually being updated. We are thankful that we have all stayed healthy for the most part, despite a few kids having to go on quarantine last year. We are so blessed to have time with each cub in our care and grateful for each day that they are here.

Let's get things up to date for the new year and start with a recap on Owlette. She was supposed to leave in August, but ended up being with us until November 12th when she headed off to preschool for a second time this year. It was hard to say our goodbyes, but it turns out that we've been able to have some additional drop in days with her since then since preschool didn't quite work out and her parents are looking for new jobs. They are also planning to relocate to another state at the end of the month, so we are hoping to find ways to keep in touch. Our 4.75 year journey with their family has been a blessing, and we've loved all of the special memories we made with them. We will miss our little helper, dreamer, leader, and adventurer. You will do big things in this world, I'm sure of it!

Owlette

Last day with Owlette; big brother Alligator joined our picture

Next up, Hippo, Sea Horse, and Platypus are still with us full-time. They have all grown up considerably since our last post. Hippo finally figured out crawling after several months of the army crawl. He's still not walking, weighs 28 lbs, and has gotten very tall! The girls are great helpers and very gentle with him. Snow Leopard unfortunately had to go down to part-time care this month and Kinkaju still visits us on a drop-in basis. 

Platypus, Snow Leopard, and Sea Horse

(The Three Musketeers)

Sweet Hippo

All four girls hanging out together

Kinkaju                            Snow Leopard

Sea Horse                                 Platypus

Platypus has a little brother that was born in October and joined us on January 3rd. He is a very easy going guy so far, and we are loving all of the snuggles. He's already 14 lbs, so I am working on strengthening my biceps, haha!  Because he came right after Christmas, Sea Horse calls him Baby Jesus. Gotta love it! Stay tuned as we figure out his cub name.

In other news, we will also be having our former client Caterpillar's little sister join us at the end of the month. He is now seven, and we are thrilled to be supporting this family for a second time around with their surprise little blessing born in November. We seem to be entering a season of younger ones this year, and are enjoying the treasured moments it brings.

Caterpillar and his new sister at home

Our final news for 2021 is the loss of our beloved ash tree in our backyard. Unfortunately, the windstorm on December 15 caused our tree to break at the top, and we had to cut it down. We loved that tree so much, and it was a faithful provider of shade for many years. We will have to get creative in the spring and find new ways to stay cool, but we are grateful that not more damage was done.

 

As with every new year, we are trusting for new blessings, new cubs, and new adventures!

A Prince and His Princesses

This little guy, Hippo, turned 9 months old this month! He's growing up so fast and is surrounded by little princesses this summer! He is a pretty laid back guy and has yet to learn how to crawl! He keeps busy watching all the girls, while laying on his belly and excitedly kicking his legs or sitting up by himself playing with toys. 

He gets continuously smothered with love and snuggles from all the girls, and they love to make sure he has all his needs met. He also loves his food and is a big eater! He recently explored the sand box with Platypus. She will be having a new sibling in October, a little brother, so we will be taking care of another little guy beginning in January 2022.

Ladybug has joined us this summer while she is out of school, and we have had a lot of fun with her! She has inspired the little girls to get out their pre-school workbooks each day while she works on her Kindergarten book, and they all wait for lunchtime together. It's very adorable to watch them learn and thrive on routine.

She will be heading back on August 17th, so we only have a few more weeks left with her on summer break. Owlette will also be venturing out again in August to try a different preschool. Both girls are amazing helpers and have taught 3 year old Snow Leopard how to carry the torch well when they leave.

Sea Horse and Platypus are also quite the busy helpers at 2 yrs and 18 months!

Kinkajou has also dropped-in over the summer months to visit and play with the girls. Her family's need for childcare isn't as necessary for them this summer, but we have been grateful for the times that she does come to see us. As we head into another season of transition, I feel so blessed having the privilege of watching each of these precious children as they come into our home, and look forward to meeting our new cubs very soon! 

Spontaneous Playdate

 We had the privilege of hanging out with our buddy, Tortoise last night. He gave us a huge belly laugh when I opened the door for a visit. His mom decided to surprise him with a playdate for the evening. We had fun playing with planes, cars, the tent, and swinging outside (all his favorite things). So glad he asks to still hang out with us. He makes us laugh and is so inquisitive about everything. 

See you next time!

Missing Iguana Already

 After being with us for a year and a half, this little guy headed home last month to be with his Mamma and baby brother. She unfortunately was laid off, so we had to say our goodbyes to Iguana. We have enjoyed the joyful and exuberant spirit of this energetic little guy. He spent his last day with us playing playdoh with his buddy, Owlette. They had such a good time and couldn't stop laughing together. He will definitely be missed and hopefully can come visit for some drop-in days down the road. 

Love the curls

Playdoh fun

Hanging with the girls

Owlette Returns, Quarantine... and Kinkajou

 As always, there have been more changes around the den! We've had our share of chaos, even though it's only been three months into the new year. By far, the biggest change was that Owlette, much to our surprise, came back to the den on January 18th! Her transition to preschool did not go as well as planned, so her parents decided to come back after a week and spend more time at Lion's Pride. 

Her return was very welcomed considering we missed having her around, and she missed us as well. We've been implementing preschool activities into our weekly routine, complete with hand-drawn worksheets by my daughter, Rabbit. She thrives on attention and one-on-one learning, and we're so thrilled to be able to have the opportunity to experience that growth alongside her. The other cubs are also so glad to have her back, especially Snow Leopard. I love this picture that her mom took recently in front of our house before daycare. She's growing up fast and, as you can see from her smiles, glad to be back!

A short time later on January 29th we had an unexpected closure due to my son getting Covid. The next three weeks were a bit stressful as he isolated and we quarantined. Thankfully, the rest of us did not get sick! Some days were pretty challenging as we waited things out. We really missed all the kids, but did our best to stay busy with various projects around the house. My taxes got done early and our closets are a bit cleaner. We re-opened on February 19th and had a joyous return with three of our cubs. The rest of the crew reunited on February 22nd, and we started care with a new part-time cub the following day! (More about our new cub below.)

Let me introduce you to Kinkajou! I called her Honey Bear on the first day she was here because of her sweet and adventurous spirit. In searching for an animal name, I discovered that a Kinkajou is also nicknamed a honey bear because of its cute big eyes and love of honey. Well, this little one has gorgeous, bright eyes and is very sweet. Her love of the outdoors and exploring is also a big part of her personality, so this animal name seemed to fit the best! We are enjoying getting to know her.

Even though the past few months have been busy with a baby, two toddlers, and several preschoolers, I am so grateful for the daily opportunity to serve these little ones. Our quarantine was a bit of a break from the busyness and definitely a different pace, but my heart continues to enjoy the blessings and laughter that little ones bring to each day. We are also glad to be back!