Poggy Two Years Later

Poggles happened to be in a pose that reminded me of a photo from his first day home.  I put the photos side by side and this is what I found.

He's frowning a bit so his eyes are not a good comparison, but his nose is lighter... more liver coloured now (consistent with "chocolate" coloured hedgehogs), and he lost most of his dark mask.  It's more pink now.  

It's neat to see how he has grown up!

Do you have pictures of your pets from when they were a baby compared to now?

Pogglebee Growing Up

Little by little, Poggles is growing up.  He's getting bigger, fatter, and a little more used to his new life with my family.  He's also developed some nice habits that make my life a little easier.  

First of all, he doesn't randomly poop anymore.  It used to be that he'd poop all over you if you tried to handle him.  He just couldn't control himself.  Now, you can play with him and you'll stay clean (Phewf!).

Secondly, he only poops on his wheel and inside of his litterbox.  What a champ!  The rest of his house stays poop free.  Well... almost.  He has the unfortunate habit of dragging his dirty paper towel into his house.  I think he uses it like a blanket to curl into, and as a plug for the door of his pouch.  

Each morning I have to steal his dirty blanket away from him.  Ewww.... 

I found a solution though.  (Owning Pogglebee is all about problem solving.)  I got rid of his corner litterbox and put the big, rectangular litterbox directly under the wheel.  Now the litterbox catches all of the moisture and poop, and the paper towel is just a floor towel for when he climbs out of the box.  The paper towel stays pretty clean, and I don't mind as much that he hugs it at night.  

Another big plus lately is that he has become more friendly.  Guess how?  I switched from letting him free-feed to hand-feeding most of his meals.  I still leave him a snack out during the day, but he has to wait for me to get the bulk of his food.  Yes, it takes more time to feed him one piece at a time, but he knows I'm nice now.

I've upgraded from scary cleaning lady to food lady.

I can lure him out of his house with a piece of food, and after that, I can pet his forehead or gently scratch or rub his chin while he's eating.  I find it really nice that I can touch him without him freaking out now.  I had to start with just touching his nose, then it moved to chin rub, and now it's small forehead strokes.  He's still against being touched on his back, but I'm working on it  :)

Oh, and just now, I used my stethoscope to listen to his heart through his fleece pouch.  His heart beats so fast!  My classmates in the Maternity ward have been telling me about how baby hearts beat super fast too.  Maybe I can practice counting Pogglebee's heart so that I'll be more prepared to count super fast baby hearts?

 Have a great day!

Two Love Birds And Three Little Tweeters

In spending more time with my parents, I can now envision them as the two love birds that once built a nest and had little birdlings to feed inside. When I go to the supermarket, they twitter about looking for various contraptions to improve the function of their nest, and they bicker and delight over what to bring home to feed their birdlings.

I find it fascinating to think that this is how they made my previous house a home for three little children - three little well-fed children! I don't crave junk food as much as my counterparts today because there was never a shortage of tasty treats to eat in the house. My dad made sure of that!

In moving to a new house, my parents have been taxed to the maximum. They are not as young as they were when they first built their nest for three little ones, and yet they try very hard to rebuild it now. My sister mentioned that she felt that moving had aged them significantly, and she felt worried about that. I worry too.

In some ways, I am truly thankful that I was laid off at such perfect timing. I have had ample time at home with my mother to help her unpack, clean, and organize the new house. If I wasn't home every day like this, she would be attempting all this work alone! I can't imagine that because all this cleaning tires me out completely, and I'm just a young 'un.
I think it would be terribly lonesome alone in a new house too. We came from a tiny townhouse and this place is enormous in comparison. I'm glad that I'm here to keep her company (and that she's here to keep ME company!)

For my parent's recent anniversary, I decided to put one of my Putting Down Roots ACEOs to use. They reminded me so much of the birds that started off at the Putting Down Roots No.3 stage that it seemed too perfect to miss out on. Here they are with their golden nest and one little, fuzzy birdling. Ah, the beginnings of what would be a happy family of five!
And inside are the 3 grown up tweeters with all their distinguishing traits. I'm the short, fat one with long hair, my brother is skinny and tall with short hair, and my sister is tall, slim, and wavy/curly haired. I made speech bubbles for each of us so that we could write our anniversary well wishes.

This was a fun project for me :) My parents liked the card and found the grown up tweeters amusing. They asked why they have another fuzzy baby bird on the front of the card. My sister said it was a grandchild :P

Have a happy day!