Reggie the Squirrel Puppet

Reggie the Squirrel came into being over two years ago when one day Dan told Aneliese a very simple story about him while out walking. Apparently she fell in love because later that night she asked me to tell her a story about him. She liked him so much that we decided to make her a puppet two Christmases ago; although she was very pleased with Reggie, we find that she still prefers the stories without the prop.

Reggie traveled to Nova Scotia with us and experienced many new things while we drove. It worked beautifully to talk about him before naps while driving rather than reading books.

Since arriving here, his family and he have taken up residence in a beautiful, huge old oak tree. They have enjoyed exploring the area, seeing the ocean, and how they love acorns. Reggie has even used acorn caps for the hats of his snow squirrels.

About the same time that Kathleen arrived, Reggie and his sister Rhonda were waiting for their new little squirrel sibling to be born. How excited they were when baby Cindy was born. They have learned so much about having a new baby. They loved her so much that they were just thrilled when Mama Squirrel told them that they were going to have two more babies, Cally and Chea (it all goes so much faster in the fictacious squirrel world of course). I am a little concerned that Mama Squirrel will have a hard time keeping up if she has too many more babies this close together; it also becomes a challenge for the story tellers to keep the names straight, hmmm. Mama Squirrel birthed at home with the whole family as she is very earthy like that. Reggie was worried about how much it hurt, but Mama assured him that it was worth it.

In all of his adventures, Reggie learns about lots of things that his little friends Aneliese & Cecily are also dealing with, things like changes, moving, babies  and other such things. He also deals with learning how to treat others kindly, how to treat those who are unkind, making good choices, caring for others, and even what to do when things don’t go his way.

Mostly though, Reggie is just a growing, happy little squirrel who has lots of fun with life. One of his very favorite things to do is collect acorns with his family every Saturday. Did you know that they carry the acorns home in their mouth and the his Daddy can put as many as six in there? And that time that he climbed on the yellow bus and went to school, oh, that was fun. He loves that there are some little girls who love to hear his tales and he really appreciates the two storytellers who are willing to share his stories even if there are often “um” and pauses as they are sure where to take it next.

Who knows, maybe Reggie is the next Winnie the Pooh ;).

Does your family have any special characters or friends who walk through life with you?