Our New Puzzle

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! Oh. Wait! Frankie lives with us, too. He's our cousin, you know.

We got a present from Nana Elizabeth. It's a puzzle. It's a puzzle about O Canada. We take out all the puzzle pieces and then put them together so we can see our home and native land. Puzzles are fun. We start with British Columbia. I know where British Columbia is. It's the first one on the left.

Look! Look at Chance! He's so newborn he doesn't know how to play with a puzzle. He's trying to eat Quebec! "My son! You can't eat Quebec! Quebec is not one of the four food groups! Put that down this instant!" Chance really is a handful. Frankie knows how to play with puzzles. He doesn't try to eat the provinces. Frankie's four. He's very smart.

We love our new puzzle. Grandpa James helps us write a thank-you note to Nana Elizabeth for the O Canada puzzle. Won't she be surprised when she opens the letter and sees pictures of us playing with it, too. We love Nana Elizabeth lots and lots and lots!

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! Grandpa James says, "Where's Frankie? Where's my Knight of Knewfoundland and my Lord of Labrador?" 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. Learn about O Canada. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play puzzles with us! We can have a puzzle party with hummus and pretzels and apple juice, too! 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!"

Ready for Beddy

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! He likes to take off his diaper and climb way up high on things. Then he's afraid and he can't get down. He makes little squawky noises when he's afraid. I have to help him, you know.

Know what? We're getting ready for beddy. That's 'cuz it's night time and bear cubs need to sleep. First we brush our teeth. It is important to brush and frost  you teeth after every meal. Dr. Greg says, "Be true to your teeth or they will be false to you!" I brush real good with my Ninja toothbrush and my Spiderman toothpaste. I don't want to get cavities. Cavities hurt. Chance is too little to have teeth. James helps him brush his gums.

Then we get to take a bath. Chance and me have purple bubble bath, you know. It's fun to make big purple bubbles in the tub. We have toys in the tub, too. We have a fire truck and some rubber duckies, too. We get to splash and sing songs until we're clean. I have to wash my neck and behind my ears.I don't know how the dirt gets there. James says, "How do you two get so dirty?" Then James dries us off with Terry Towel. We don't have to wear jammies to bed. We get to climb into bed 'bear' naked. That's a pun, you know. I'm five. I know what a pun is. It's a word game.

Before we go to sleep, we say our prayers. I ask God to look after all my friends and buddies. We got lots of friends and buddies. Some of them live in O Canada, our home and native land. Some of them live in Newfoundland and Labrador. Some of them live in British Columbia. We got friends and buddies in the Knighted States, too. We got a lot of friends and buddies for God to look after.  God is really busy, you know. I'm glad he looks after our friends and buddies. It's an important job. I thank God for all the good things He give us--except broccolis and sauerkrauts. They're nasty. I have to hold my nose when I take two bites. I don't know why God made them. When I'm done, I say 'amen.' That's so God knows I finished my prayer. It's polite.

After we say our prayers,  James tucks us into bed. He reads us our bedtime stories. We get two stories every night.  I love bedtime stories, don't  you? James is a good reader, you know. Every night he reads us a chapter in Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories. I like the stories. They help me be a better cub. I think Chance likes the stories, too. Sometimes he falls asleep before the story is finished. That's 'cuz he's just a wee little thing. Chance needs more sleep than I do. Chance makes little snory noises when he's asleep.

Then James reads our other story. It's  The Bible Story book. Uncle Arthur wrote the stories down so James can read them to us. Tonight's story is all about Noah and his ark. I know what an ark is. It's a great big ship for animals to ride in so they don't get wet. When I grow up, I could build an ark, you know. Darryl would give me some wood. James says all the animals went into the ark in pairs except the worms. They came in apples. James sure knows a lot of puns.



 Oh. Wait! The story is finished. Did you hear that? James is whispering, "Good night, my handsome bear cubs. Sleep tight, my Sons of Windsor. Sweet dreams 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're going to sleep. I'm s-o-o-o-o-o-o sleepy. James tickles our ears and our kisses our noses. I'm gonna dream about the ark and maybe I'll dream about porridge with gummy worms, too.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds. Be kind to your friends and buddies and neighbours. Then you can hear bedtime stories. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play in the tub with us! We can hear bedtime stories together! Okay! Over and zzzzzzzzzz!"

Sleepytown Here We Come!

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 says he is so old he remembers the first sunrise. He must be 20! That's old.  Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. I think it was an angel who put Chance there. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? It was a rainy day Chance and me played inside. We made a fort under the kitchen table with some blankets. We made mushroom soup for lunch. Chance and me help stir. I'm the MiniSTIR of Stirring. Chance is the deputy Mini-STIR. James ate lunch under the table with us. It's fun to eat in the fort. For dessert we ate gummy worms. Chance doesn't have any teeth 'cuz he's a newborn cubby. He just drinks condensed owls' milk out of his bottle. I got to drink apple juice from the McCain's Junior Juice box. I l-o-v-e apple juice. It's yummy and that's one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. Then  we painted pictures of ourselves. I painted one of us in Lake Erie at Pelee Island. We go there on the big boat, you know. James says it's the southernmost part of O Canada.

We get pretty tired at the end of the day. I know 'cuz Chance gets cranky and makes little squawky noises. James says, "I see my handsome bear cubs are ready for a trip to Sleepytown!" He's right, you know. After we splash in the bathtub, James uses the big towel to dry us off. We don't wear jammies, we get to go to Sleepytown bear naked. That's a pun. I know what a pun is.

Then we say our prayers.  I want God to look after all my friends and buddies from Newfoundland to British Columbia. I ask Him to look after all our friends and buddies in the Knighted States, too. I'm glad I'm not God. He's got a big job 'cuz my friends are a handful!  I thank God for all the good food in the Canada Food Guide except broccolis and sauerkrauts. They're nasty and we shouldn't have to eat nasty food. I ask God to feed all those poor starving children in Belgium. Then I say, 'Amen.' Amen is God's code for over and out.

James tucks us into bed.  He reads us our bedtime story. He can read real good. Our story is Snow Treasure. It's very exciting. It is about very brave boys and girls who live in O Norway. That's pretty far from our house and it's not part of O Canada.

 Chance is asleep already. I'm very sleepy. My eyes won't stay open anymore. James tickles our ears and kisses our noses. He whispers, "Good night, my handsome bear cubs. Sleep tight, my Sons of Windsor. Don't let the bedbugs bite, my Princes of Ontario.  This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Good night and bon soir, good citizens.  Over and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."