My Trip to Hospital

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He only drinks chocolate owls' milk in his bottle 'cuz he doesn't have any teeth! Chance takes off his diaper when we're not watching him and then he climbs way high on things. Then he can't get down and he makes little squawky noises 'cuz he's stuck. I say, "My son! Come down from there this instant!" I have to rescue him. He's a handful!

Chance and me are at Hotel-Dieu Grace. That's a hospital. I know what hospitals are. Hospitals are places to go when you're sick. Know what? I had an accident this morning. I fell off my blue bike, the one with the Canada flag on it. I got hurt. I tried to be brave but I cried 'cuz I really hurted.

 Good thing I was wearing my brain bucket. That's what Grandpa James calls my safety helmet. I had to see the doctor and have a CAT Scan. I thought it was a kitten. I like kittens. Cats make nice friends. A CAT Scan isn't a kitten at all! A CAT Scan is a machine that looks inside of me to see what's wrong.

I had to drink a whole bottle of a banana-flavoured shake before the CAT Scan. The CAT Scan can see the shake inside of me. I'd like to look inside my buddies and friends! Wow! That's a super power I'd like to have! It's better than being invisible!

Chance and me are sitting on the CAT Scan. It's like a big bed with a doughnut on top! I l-o-v-e doughnuts, don't you? If it was a real doughnut I'd eat it all up!



I have to lie down and be really, really still 'cuz the doughnut is going to look inside of me and see if I'm okay. Chance wants to ride with me but he can't. It's just one cub at a time. He can have his turn later.

Look at me! I'm flat on my back. I'm holding still. The bed is moving! I'm riding right into the doughnut hole! The CAT Scan can talk! A nice voice says, "Take a deep breath and hold it." I can do that! I'm five, you know. I can follow instructions. Ask Miss Jackie. She's my teacher at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. She puts lots of red stars and Canada flags and yellow happy faces on my work 'cuz I'm smart.

Then the voice says, "Breathe." I can do that, too! This is easy. I'm not afraid at all. The nice lady put a band on my head so it doesn't wiggle while I'm inside the CAT Scan. "Look out! Good citizens! Charles the Bear Cub comin' through!

We wait until the nice lady says I'm gonna be fine. We can go home, now. That's the bestest news, you know. Hotel-Dieu Grace is a nice hospital but it's more fun to be at home on Sparkle Road in Olde Sandwich Towne. That's in Windsor. I know where Windsor is. It's in O Canada.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Ride your bike carefully. Always wear your brain bucket. If you get hurt, go to Hotel-Dieu Grace and the nice doctors, nurses and all the other kind people will help you get well. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can ride bikes together! If we get hurt we'll go to Hotel-Dieu Grace and ride in the CAT Scan! Okay! Over and out!"

Surprise Visitors

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. He doesn't have a tail, yet. He doesn't even have any teeth. Chance just drinks owls' milk out of his bottle.  He makes little squeaky noises when he's happy and little squawky noises when he's hungry or has to poo.  I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? We got surprise visitors. I love surprises!  Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Terry came to our house! They live in British Columbia. That's pretty far from our house. I know where British Columbia is. It's in O Canada. I can show you on the map. It's the first province on the left. We had fun with Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Terry. They kissed our noses and tickled our ears. We went out to eat. Chance got apple juice. I got chocolate milk and a bendy straw. We played games and we shared a box of Smarties, too.


When Grandpa Terry and Grandma Bonnie left our house, they got on a plane to fly to Newfoundland and Labrador. That's in O Canada, too. I know where Newfoundland and Labrador is. It's the first province on the right. Miss Jackie taught us all about  in jogfree class at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre.

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be kind to friends and neighbours. Good citizens get to eat Smarties and drink chocolate milk with a bendy straw. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can have fun together! Okay! Over and out!"

Our Trip on VIA Rail

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! Hi climbs way up high on things and then he can't get down. He makes little squawky noises 'cuz he's afraid.

Know what? I'm at VIA Rail. I'm helping Grandpa James buy a ticket. We're going to Toronto. Grandpa James says six million people live in T.O. That's a lot of people, you know. I wonder why they live so far away from Windsor. Windsor is the bestest city. It's the centre of the known universe and the nicest part of Detroit.

 I know that Toronto is the capital of Ontario. I know where Ontario is. It's in O Canada, our home and native land.

We're waiting to get on board. When we ride on the train, we are on our best behaviour. We use our inside voices and we say 'please' and 'thank you' to the nice people with the beverage and food cart. Know what? We always get chocolate milk to drink. I know where chocolate milk comes from. It comes from the dairy case at Sobey's. Grandpa James says it comes from chocolate cows but sometimes he makes up stuff, you know.

I l-o-v-e to ride on VIA Rail. Trains are lots of fun to ride.We can look out the windows and see everything. Trains go fast, you know.  Chance likes to ride on the train, too. Chance doesn't talk 'cuz he's so newborn but he makes squeaky noises when he's happy. Whenever I say, "Train!" Chance makes squeaky noises and runs to get his suitcase.

The seats on the train are very comfy. They have little dinner tables. Chance is so little he has to sit on the table to drink his chocolate milk. Know what? We get bendy straws for our chocolate milk. Bendy straws are special. I think they make chocolate milk taste even better!

Sometimes we climb up high and look at the other people on the train.  Grandpa James says it's not polite to stare at them. Chance stares at me. I stare right back at him. We stare and stare and stare. I make faces at him. If he laughs first, I win. If I laugh first, he wins.  I almost always win that game. Oh. Chance thinks he's invisible when he closes his eyes. He's not. I can still see him. Newborn baby cubs don't know any better.

When the train stops at Union Station we're in Toronto. Grandpa James says all roads lead to Toronto. Even railroads. I know when we're in Toronto 'cuz we can see the CN Tower. It's really tall. I bet Chance would try to climb up to the top of it if he could. I don't know how I would get him down. It's so tall it touches the sky! That's way taller than me. I'm one metre and 41 centimetres tall. That's pretty tall, you know.

We learned about the CN Tower at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. Miss Jackie is my teacher. I will tell you a secret. I think Miss Jackie is a princess. She's pretty. The CN Tower has a restaurant at the top. We can ride up to the top on the glass elevator. It goes really fast and makes my tummy feel funny. The top is 533 metres up in the air. Miss Jackie says it has 181 storeys and is the third tallest building in the whole wide world! When we get to the top I would ask the nice people for chocolate milk with a bendy straw.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be on your bestest behaviour when you ride VIA Rail. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer on the way to Toronto. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can ride on VIA Rail together! Okay! Over and out!"

St. Patrick is Coming To Our House!

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. Chance doesn't have any teeth, yet. He only drinks condensed owls' milk out of his bottle. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what I'm doing? I'm balancing a cubcake on my nose! I'm five. I can do things. Chance can't balance a cubcake on his nose 'cuz he's too little. He just licks the icing and gets all sticky.

I know where cubcakes come from. They come from cubcake trees. Cubcake trees grow along the Detroit River, just by our house. James says they only bloom in March. The cubcakes are ripe when they turn green.

James says there's a  cubcake forest in Newfoundland and another one in Ireland, too. I don't know where Ireland is. I think it must be past Toronto. That's pretty far. See! Chance and me are picking cubcakes right off the tree! They're yummy and sticky and sweet. That's three of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide.

James says if we follow the cubcake trail we will find the end of the rainbow and that's where they keep the the pot o' gold.  He says it's in Ireland. I want to find it! This cubcake trail is pretty long if it goes all the way to Ireland. It might take days to find the end of it. Good thing we won't get hungry, we'll just eat the cubcakes on the trail.

Oh! I forgot to tell you who's coming to our house! St. Patrick is coming to our house! I know who St. Patrick is. He's a missionary. I know what a missionary does, too.

St. Patrick wears green clothes. He tells everyone stories about the newborn baby Jesus and then he scares away all the snakes. That's a very important job. At the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre Miss Jackie teaches us all about St. Patrick and Ireland.

They got Lucky Charms in Ireland. It's a cereal, kind of like porridge. I like them. They should put gummy worms in Lucky Charms, you know. Sometimes we eat Irish stew.

We're dressed up like St. Patrick. We're wearin' the green. If we don't wear green we'll get pinched. If you don't wear green we can chase you and pinch you! Hurry! Find something green to wear, quick!

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Get ready for St. Patrick. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and eat Lucky Charms with us! We can follow the cubcake trail and find the end of the rainbow and the pot o' gold together! Okay! Over and out!"

Stompin' Tom Connors and Us

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Chance and me are hanging out at the Heinz store in Leamington. I know where Leamington is. It's out in the county. Essex County is in Ontario and Ontario is in O Canada our home and native land.

We're having fun with our buddy Dennis. Dennis is in charge of the stories about ketchup. That's a pretty important job, you know.  I l-o-v-e ketchup, don't you? I love stories about ketchup. Dennis tells the bestest stories.

People make lots of ketchup in Leamington. They make Heinz ketchup. There are no other kinds once you've tasted Heinz. it's the biggest ketchup factory in the world. It's pretty big.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! Chance likes ketchup, too. Chance doesn't have any teeth 'cuz he's so newborn. He just drinks condensed owl's milk out of his bottle. He tries to drink ketchup. He's a silly little cubby. He doesn't know any better.

Know what? Chance and me know a song about ketchup. Stompin' Tom wrote it. Miss Jackie taught us to sing The Ketchup Song at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. She has a beautiful voice. I think Miss Jackie might be a princess, you know.

Here's The Ketchup Song. When we sing it we pretend we're Stompin' Tom only we call ourselves Stompin' Charles and Stompin' Chance.

There was a guy from PEI they used to call potato,
He met this young Leamington, Ontario tomato, 
But he had eyes for other girls and she was a little mushy,
 So he said, "Lets get wed, there's no sense being fussy."

Big size french fries how they love tomatoes
So dress them up with Heinz ketchup
Ketchup loves potatoes, Ketchup loves potatoes.
Well he went down to Windsor town to buy a ring on Monday
Saturday they said okay we'll cut the cake on Sunday
But Sunday came and what a shame
they had no one to fetch it
Without a cake they just sat and ate potato chips and ketchup

Big size french fries how they love tomatoes
So dress them up with Heinz ketchup
Ketchup loves potatoes, Ketchup loves potatoes

And so this guy form PEI they used to call potato
He's got two boys and a little girl, two spuds and one tomato
They romp and run around Leamington and boy when they get hungry
The bottle drips all over the chips way down in Ketchup country

Big size french fries how they love tomatoes
So dress them up with Heinz ketchup
Ketchup loves potatoes, Ketchup loves potatoes

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Eat French fries with Heinz ketchup on top.  Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can have a party with ketchup and French fries! Okay! Over and out!"

St. Valentine is Coming!

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He's so old he remembers the first sunrise. That's really old!





Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? St. Valentine is coming. I know who St. Valentine is. He's the boss of love. He has a helper. His name is Cupid. Being the boss of love is a really big job, you know. Chance and me are getting ready for St. Valentine. He has his own day. It's on February 14. That's three days from now.

This is how we get ready for St. Valentine's Day. We eat chocolates shaped like hearts. They're yummy and that's one of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide. Then we make Valentine's Day cards to send to our friends and buddies. We make them at my desk 'cuz we need a flat place to work. Chance thinks he's helping but gluing hearts to his feet isn't really helping but it's funny. Chance makes me laugh.

Here's the recipe for making Valentine's Day cards.

First, we get construction paper. It comes in different colours. I like the pink and red papers. They're pretty. Chance tries to lick them. We don't eat paper but Chance doesn't know that 'cuz he's just a wee little thing. Then we get scissors to cut the paper. We are careful with scissors. They're sharp and can hurt. We have glue and sparkly glitter for our cards.

Oh! We have to fold the paper in half. That's how we start. Then we cut out the little hearts. We cut out lots of little hearts so we can glue them to the paper. Look! I'm good with scissors. Miss Jackie at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre taught me how to use scissors safely. Don't ever run with scissors.

See! I cut out a really big heart! Oh! Look at Chance! He's playing Peek-a-Boo with the St. Valentine's Day card! That's one of his favouritest games. Know what else? When Chance closes his eyes he thinks he's invisible. That's silly but that's what newborn baby cubbies think.

 I will tell  you more about making St. Valentine's Day cards the next time, okay? We gotta go now.
 Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Make St. Valentine's Day cards for the ones you love. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can make St. Valentine's Day cards together! Okay! Over and out!"

Bears in Chairs at the Windsor Public Library

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. Is he ever a handful! He takes off his diaper and climbs way up high on things. Then he can't get down. He's afraid and then he makes little squawky noises. I say, "My son! Come down from there this instant!" Then I have to help him.

Know what? Chance and me are at the Windsor Public Library. They got new chairs. Chairs for bears. The chairs and comfy. They're a whole bunch of different colours, too. We like to sit on the comfy new  chairs. We can sit up. We can sit down. We can sit back. We can sit tight. We can sit quiet. There are lots of ways to sit, you know. I'll be glad when I'm old and I can just sit around!

I read to Chance. I'm five. I can read. Miss Jackie taught me. She's my teacher at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. I like to read books. My favouritest book at the library is Alligator Pie. It's a book by Dennis Lee. He writes poems. Dennis wrote Alligator Pie. It's a fun book and a fun poem, too. When I read it, it makes Chance happy. He makes little squeaky noises when he's happy.

 Alligator pie, alligator pie,

If I don't get some I think I'm gonna die.

Give away the green grass, give away the sky,

But don't give away my alligator pie.

Alligator stew, alligator stew,

If I don't get some I don't know what I'll do.

Give away my furry hat, give away my shoe,

But don't give away my alligator stew.

Alligator soup, alligator soup,

If I don't get some I think I'm gonna droop.

Give away my hockey stick, give away my hoop,

But don't give away my alligator soup. THE END. 

I always say 'the end' so Chance knows I'm finished reading. Then he really makes lots of little squeaky noises 'cuz he wants me to start over and read it again. I can make squeaky noises, you know. James says when I was a wee little newborn cubby I made lots of squeaky noises. We make squeaky noises at each other and wiggle our noses until we laugh right out loud.

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Come to the Windsor Public Library and sit on the comfy new chairs with us. I can read Alligator Pie to you and we can all make happy, squeaky noises together! Okay! Over and out!"

Pancakes for Breakfast

 Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James.  That's in Olde Sandwich Towne. Olde Sandwich Towne is in Windsor. Everybody knows that Windsor is in O Canada.

Grandpa James is really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He's so old he remembers the invention of Saran Wrap!

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. He can't talk. he's so little he doesn't even have any teeth. He just drinks chocolate owls' milk. We get it at Mac's. I look after Chance. He's a handful!

Know what Chance does? He takes off his diaper and climbs way up high on things. Then he can't get down. He makes little squawky noises 'cuz he's afraid.  I always say, "My son! Come down from there this instant!" Then I have to help him.

Know what we do? We help Grandpa James cook. He says we're ministers in the Kitchen Cabinet.  He says I'm the Mini-stir of Cooking. Chance is the Deputy Mini-stir of Cooking. We get to make yummy food and then we get to eat it! I l-o-v-e to cook. Maybe I will be a chef when I grow up. A chef wouldn't ever be hungry like those starving children in Belgium, you know.















Before we cook, we look in the Canadian Living Vegetarian cookbook for the right recipe. I know what a recipe is. It's the rules for cooking food. A recipe tells us how to make our favourite foods. I have lots of favourite foods. I l-o-v-e to cook porridge. I l-o-v-e to cook peanut butter and licorice sandwiches, too.
















Know what else? I l-o-v-e Smarties. Oh, wait! We don't have to cook Smarties. They come in a box. It's the bestest chocolate ever! We buy Smarties at Mac's Milk around the corner from our house. I know the Smarties rule. We have to eat the red ones last, 'cuz that's what the Smarties song says to do!

Chance and me are looking for a very special recipe. We want to eat pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup on top. Before we can eat them, we have to make them, you know. They don't make themselves!

Grandpa James calls them flapjacks. They have two names.  It doesn't matter which name you call them, they taste yummy just the same and yummy is one of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide, you know.

This is how we make pancakes. First Grandpa James gets down the big bowl. It's way up high on the shelf. We're not supposed to climb up there 'cuz we might fall off the counter top and get hurt.  If we climb up there, we have to sit on the Time Out Chair and think about what we did.

We measure a cup of all-purpose flour and a cup of whole wheat flour and pour them in the bowl. I know how much a cup is. It's 250 millilitres. It says so on the side of the measuring cup. Miss Jackie taught me that. She's my teacher at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. Then we add a 15 mls of sugar. Then we measure out 7.5 mls of baking powder. After that we put in five mls of Cow Brand. That's baking soda. Baking soda comes from cows, you know.


We stir everything up really really good. I'm very good at stirring. Chance thinks he's helping but he's not. He's too newborn. He just gets flour all over himself but he's happy and having fun. He makes little squeaky noises when he's having a good time. Look at him! He's hiding in the crisper drawer in the fridge! Come out of there this instant! That's not a good place to hide, my son!

Next we put 500 mls of buttermilk in another bowl. Then we pour in 30 mls of canola oil and two eggs. We mix that up real good. Then we pour the liquid on the flour and stir that up, too. That's a lot of stirring, you know!

Then Grandpa James brings out the frying pan. It's black. That's because it's made out of cast iron. James says it belonged to his great grandmother and it's more than 100 years old. That must be really old! I bet Grandpa James is older than that.  When the frying pan is hot James pours oil into it. That's so the pancakes don't stick. Then he pours in the batter. I know what batter is. It's newborn baby pancakes.

When the pancakes have little bubbles on top and they're golden brown on the bottom, Grandpa James turns the flapjacks over with the pancake lifter so they can cook on the other side. He's really good at flipping them up in the air and catching them. He says flipping flapjacks should be an Olympic sport.




When the pancakes are ready, we put peanut butter on them. I make smiley faces. Then we pour maple syrup on them. I I l-o-v-e peanut butter, don't you? Sometimes Grandpa James put Smarties in our pancakes. Sometimes he puts pieces of apple. I like apple smiley pancakes.




Before we eat, we say grace. I say, "Thank you God for all the yummy food you make, especially pancakes and maple syrup and butter and peanut butter. I will eat them all up God, 'cuz I'm as hungry as a bear. PS God, please send lots and lots of pancakes to all the starving children in Belgium, okay? Thank you, God. Amen." Amen means the end. I say 'Amen' so God knows I'm done talking to Him. It's what polite bear cubs do.

Then Grandpa James says, 'bon apetit' and we eat the pancakes. I know what 'bon apetit' means. It means, 'Enjoy your food.' It's French. Oh! Sometimes we have French toast. That's another yummy breakfast.

Chance doesn't have any teeth. He just drinks chocolate owls' milk out of his bottle. He licks the syrup off my pancakes and then he is all sticky. Good thing we have a bathtub!

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario!

We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds. Be kind to your friends and neighbours. Help make breakfast.  Then you can eat pancakes with great big gobs of peanut butter and lots and lots  of maple syrup on top.

Oh! Wait! Come over to our house! We can make pancakes together and we can put peanut butter and maple syrup all over them! Okay! Over and out!"

The Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. We adopted him. He's my little brother, now. I call him cubby. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? This is me with Miss Jackie. She's my teacher at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. Miss Jackie is beautiful. Wanna know a secret? Come really close and I'll whisper it in your ear. I think Miss Jackie is a princess. Miss Jackie is kind. She's very smart, too. She teaches us lots of things. She taught me to paint. I can paint and stay inside the lines. That's hard for bear cubs 'cuz we don't have thumbs, you know.

Chance and me like to paint pictures of ourselves. We paint pictures of the things we do everyday, like playing hockey and making bubbles in the bathtub at bathtub. We make pictures of us mailing letters to our friends and buddies. We're pretty busy bear cubs. We're busy all day long. On rainy days, James brings out the paints so we can have indoor fun. It's fun to paint pictures. The paint goes on the canvas. We don't paint each other. Sometimes Chance tries to eat the paint 'cuz it's pretty. We can't eat paint. Paint isn't in Canada's Food Guide. Paint is for pictures. We have an exhibition of our paintings at a store on Sandwich Street. You can see them. They're at the store called 1976. It's at 3214 Sandwich Street. Nick and Aveline own the store. They're very nice grownups. They are kind to bear cubs and sometimes give us Smarties to eat.

Chance and me are artists, you know. I could be an artist when I grow up. James says most artists are starving. I know there are lots of starving children in Belgium. I wonder if they're artists?  I wouldn't like to starve. I like to eat. Growing bear cubs need to eat. My favouritest foods are Smarties, porridge, peanut butter and licorice sandwiches. Oh, wait! I like to drink root beer. When it'd cold outside I like to drink hot cocoa with newborn baby marshmallows in it. Marshmallows float.

 Here's a painting we made. Know what we're doing? Chance and me are brushing and frosting our teeth before we go to bed. Chance is so tiny he sits on top of the sink. I'm pretty tall. I stand on my stool. Chance doesn't have any teeth yet, but he  brushes his gums.

We have Ninja toothbrushes and Spiderman toothpaste. Know what happens if we don't brush and frost? We get holes in our teeth. That's not good. Then we have to go visit Dr. Greg. he's a dentist. Dr. Greg is nice. He's a tooth doctor, you know. Dr. Greg says, "Be true to your teeth or they will be false to you!"

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Have fun every day. Learn to paint pictures of the things you do. Then you can remember all the fun. Oh! Wait! Take care of your teeth. Brush and frost every day. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre and play with us! You can meet Miss Jackie. We can have fun together! Okay! Over and out!"

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! 

Know what? We got a Christmas tree. It's in the living room by the fireplace. Christmas trees are special, you know. I know where Christmas trees come from. They come from Canadian Tire, Aisle 42. Our tree is nice. We decorated it with shiny bulbs. There's a beaver with antlers, too. James says that's a Canadian ornament. Santa sits on top of the tree. Santa sits on top of the tree so he can see everyone and see who's naughty and nice. That's good 'cuz Chance would try to climb up there if Santa wasn't already there!

We know a song about our Christmas tree. Miss Jackie taught it to us. She's my teacher at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. Wanna know a secret? I think Miss Jackie is a princess. Here's the song.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
Thou tree most fair and lovely!
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!
Thou tree most fair and lovely!
The sight of thee at Christmastide
Spreads hope and gladness far and wide
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
Thou tree most fair and lovely.

Chance doesn't sing. He's too little. He doesn't even talk, yet. He just makes little squeaky noises when he's happy. He's really happy that it's Christmas. We get to bake gingerbread beings and the house will be full of guests! Merry Christmas is coming and Santa, too. Oh! Wait! The baby Jesus will be here and Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the wise guys and the little drummer boy. The sheep will have to stay on the balcony. James says they're not very tidy. The little drummer boy will have to be very quiet when Chance and baby Jesus take their naps.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds for friends and neighbours. Get ready for Merry Christmas. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can pick up trash together! Okay! Over and out!"

Painting Pictures

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! 

Know what? Chance and me paint pictures of ourselves. It's lots of fun. We make pictures of us playing hockey. I'm cub Gretzky and Chance is Cub Crosby. We make pictures of us in the bathtub playing with our rubber duckies in our purple bubble bath. We l-o-v-e bath time. We make pictures of us decorating the Christmas tree. Chance climbed right to the top of the tree. He wanted to be the angel on top. I had to say, "My son! Come down from there this instant!"

All our paintings are at Nick and Aveline's store. They're really nice. Nick has a Mohawk haircut. I want one, too.  Their store is called 1976. It's on Sandwich Street right by the wine shop and Spicoli's Barley Bin. I hope you come to see our pictures. I know! Yyou can paint with us! That would be fun. We could eat peanut butter and licorice sandwiches, you know. They're yummy and yummy is one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. Chance tries to eat the paint but he's not supposed to. We don't eat paint. Paint isn't in the Canada Food Guide. He's just a wee little thing. He'll know better when he's older, like me.

I learned how to paint at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. Miss Jackie is my teacher. I think she is a princess 'cuz she lives at Mackenzie Hall and that's a really big castle on Sandwich Street.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens.  Do good deeds. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and paint with us! We can have fun together! Okay! Over and out!"