Reunions and Goodbyes

It's amazing to see how things have changed for us in just a few short months. With the onset of the pandemic back in March, things were definitely "not normal" for several weeks. We were thankfully able to remain open and stay healthy the past few months, but not all of our cubs were able to come since parents were heeding the stay at home order.

Several of our cubs went down to a part-time status for the summer and a couple of our cubs have given their notice since they will be heading off to preschool in the fall. Triceratops was our only cub that we were unable to say goodbye to because of COVID. His parents have been working at home this whole time and kept him home with his older siblings. We thought he would return over the summer, but their jobs have not yet transitioned back into the office. We will miss our little superhero friend and the sweet little way he would move his head from left to right.... not to mention his great, belly laugh too!

Triceratops our little Superhero buddy!

We will also miss Piglet's belly laugh!!! We have had her since she was eight months old, but her last day was June 2nd as she headed off to Florida for the summer to be with her dad before attending preschool in August. We were very blessed to have some quality time with her on her last day here. My kids all got some special moments with her to say their goodbyes. Keegaroo will especially miss her since they shared a special bond. We will always remember the way she was creative in play and decided that the mustard bottle in the refrigerator was a "baby". She kept having Keegaroo go check on Baby Mustard to see if it was okay.  Her vivid imagination kept us hopping each day as she played doctor, mamas and babies with Owlette, or buckling up to go to "Costo". We hope to stay in touch and have visits with her when we can.

 Piglet                                                     "Baby Mustard"

 Last Fall with Keegaroo                                   Last day cuddles

Saying Goodbye!

Platypus was with us for a few days the end of May while her mom packed up her classroom for the year. She's a bit bigger since the last time we saw her in March. She's off again for the summer months, but should be back in August depending on what the school situation looks like by then.

 

Platypus

 

Platypus and Rabbit

Iguana also was staying home for quite some time with his mom. He lives very close by, so we would have a few visits with him while Rabbit was doing her driving lessons around the neighborhood. He was so excited to see us and was finally able to return to care last week. He's coming part-time over the summer and hopefully will return full-time if schools open back up. We were thrilled to find out that his mom is having a baby in January, so we are hoping to have a new baby cub next summer if things all work out.  We've learned though that things can happen unexpectedly at an time, so we are learning to take things a day at a time.

 Iguana

Tortoise, Owlette, and Seahorse have been with us pretty regularly and little Swan has picked up some extra days this summer. Also joining us for the summer is Ladybug since her parents have returned to work in the recent weeks.

  Ladybug                                                    Sea Horse

Swan

Owlette

Tortoise

 Cooling off on a hot day!

All the kids with Puppy, Rabbit, and K-Bird

Last but not least we have a new little cub, Red Panda. She joined our cub family on June 11th and will be coming three days a week. We decided her touch of red hair and need for continuous snuggles are quite fitting with her cub name. She's been a bit fussy on her first few days day while trying to adjust to her new surroundings, but she's getting used to us the more often she comes.. We look forward to getting to know her personality more as she grows, but so far we love her little wavesd, smiles, and the way she clicks her tongue. We love her already and enjoy having her here.

Sweet little Red Panda

Now.... let's see what the last half of the year brings our way....

A Sudden Shift

Wow! March has certainly brought many changes our way. On March 16th, we started care for our long awaited second infant (3 months old), whom we've named Platypus. She is a doll baby with bright, alert, and beautiful eyes! She has darker skin and wears a sleep sack for nap time which makes her look like she has little flippers on her arms. My 16 year old daughter, Rabbit, has always wanted to name one of the cubs Platypus, so this name seems to fit her well. She's done really well with us so far, has a manageable schedule, and only gets fussy if she's tired or has gas bubbles.

We anticipated having seven full-timers when Platypus started, but we have yet to have them all here at once. Some of our cubs haven't even had the chance to met the new baby. Spring break and the COVID19 situation has really affected our schedule and what we deem as "normal".

Iguana is going to stay with us long term, but he and Triceratops are currently home with their older siblings while they are out of school. Piglet is also currently at home while her mamma works, after returning from Florida visiting her dad.

Our babies have been out as well with the new Stay-at-home order that went into affect March 26th. Owlette is so far our little trooper and hang-out buddy every day since her mom works in the medical field. She was thrilled when Tortoise came a few days ago, and she had a playmate. Piglet also got to come see us a few days this week.

We are getting the yard cleaned up for spring while we play outside, but are definitely missing all of our buddies. Even little Ladybug was only able to come once before all of this escalated. We were supposed to have her over spring break, but circumstances changed significantly. Here are some pictures of our sweet cubs, some taken from their own homes and shared via text with each other. Although things are slow and it's a bit of a break in our busy schedule, we definitely look forward to the day when we can resume normal activities and childcare again. We miss our little friends!

Tortoise                                                  Triceratops

Iguana                                                 Owlette

Sea Horse                                                  Swan

Piglet                                                        Ladybug

Randomly took this picture at the beginning of the month.

Kinda ironic and symbolic of the current stay at home order.

SENDING OUR LOVE TO OUR CUBS AT HOME!!!

A Reindeer After Christmas

Beginning the end of January, in the midst of all the snowfalls this year, we welcomed a very special helper into our home. We are going to call her Reindeer because of her helpful, positive attitude and the fact that she loves Christmas time! Reindeer is my daughter, K-Bird's best friend and is studying to be an elementary teacher. She needed to find a place to do her preschool internship for her college classes, and was approved to do it within our childcare. Meet our Snow Angel!

Our cubs love Reindeer! Her cheerful attitude shined through our home for several weeks as she planned and brought fun activities for the cubs to do. We made butterflies out of hand prints, Valentines cards for the mom's, and played some fun games. She even brought and prepared a special pasta lunch for the kids and made a Valentine's Day jello treat with strawberries.

 BUTTERFLIES

VALENTINE'S DAY

 

 

SNOWBALL TOSS GAME 

Our most favorite day was when she brought her pet tortoise, Otis, to visit. The kids loved watching him walk and eat lettuce. We talked about the differences between turtles and tortoises and colored our own tortoise made out of paper plates.We also listened to a Franklin story on YouTube.

TORTOISE DAY FUN!!!

 

Thank you, Miss Reindeer for being our very special friend. 

We love you so much!!! Can't wait to hang out with you again soon!