>>> DAY 1 <<<
STP's Day Care is now officially open for business!  It's been a rather arduous past few weeks, having to secure all the proper certifications and whatnot.  Those friends I've babysat for all tell me that I'm good with kids, so I figure I might as well make some money from it.  I'm operating this business out of my house for the immediate future, and I've spent today printing up and distributing flyers advertising my services.  The cute and colorful flyers ought to catch kiddies' and parents' eyes alike.  I don't anticipate seeing any customers for a few days, so I might as well child-proof my house using all those supplies I purchased recently.

>>> DAY 2 <<<
The flyers seem to have attracted at least one customer.  I was barely out of bed this morning when a knock on the door brought me to my senses.  There was a young hedgehog mother there, interested in having me watch her little boy in the mornings and afternoons while she and her husband worked.  After a brief discussion of specifics, she was out the door, giving her kid the obligatory hugs and kisses.  Sonic was the little boy's name, no more than six months old -- his long blue quills hadn't even begun to come in yet.  There was about fifteen minutes of crying before I finally got him calmed down.  I've seen this kind of behavior in kids who've never been away from their folks before.  The teething ring did the trick.  I offered him a few baby toys for him to play with, but he didn't seem all that interested in them, preferring to crawl all over the place.  He's quite the little explorer.  I feared he might bump his head into something from all that crawling around, but he seems to have an agility not typically seen in kids his age.  Maybe he inherited it from his folks.  After a lunch of strained peas and carrots his mom gave me, and the obligatory nap, he was back crawling all over the place.  He got a little too close to the coffee table one time and I pulled him away in the nick of time.  It's amazing how fast that kid could crawl -- it makes me wonder how fast he'll be able to walk and run.  The rest of the afternoon passed quickly and his folks were back to pick him up that evening.  They asked whether he'd given me any trouble and I said no.  I waved goodbye to Sonic as his mom carried him away, then I finished installing all the child-proofing.

>>> DAY 6 <<<
I've only had little Sonic to watch for the past few days and it's been rather uneventful, but I sensed from his increased crying that he was getting a little lonely.  I was delighted that someone new came to the door today.  It was a young fox couple who also wanted their little boy watched in mornings and afternoons while they both attended university classes.  Miles was a bright-eyed four-month-old fox whose golden yellow fur glistened in the light, but I was a little taken aback to see he had two big bushy tails.  I found myself calling him Tails without realizing it, and his folks liked the nickname.  I initially kept Tails separate from Sonic because I wasn't sure how well they'd get along.  Unlike Sonic, Tails was all over the baby toys, especially those painted wooden blocks and the stackable plastic rings.  Apparently he liked to put stuff together.  I bet he grows up to be a mechanic or something.  It wasn't long before Sonic and Tails came face to face, and at the moment of truth they started playing with the toys together.  It made me think they were becoming fast friends, until I saw them talking in their own little baby language and start crawling side by side all around the room.  Either Sonic was giving Tails a tour of the place (heh) or they were in some kind of race.  I soon figured it out when Sonic pulled ahead of Tails and Tails stopped and started crying.  I was just about to walk over and find out what was wrong, but Sonic beat me to the punch and started hugging and tickling Tails.  The whole thing entranced me so much that I nearly forgot to feed them lunch.  In the evening, it turns out that Sonic's and Tails' folks showed up around the same time, and I explained how the two of them were playing along together so well.  They were elated and I think I overheard them talking about play dates between Sonic and Tails on some off days.  It's nice to see how our little ones can bring us together.

>>> DAY 8 <<<
Sonic and Tails were back yesterday, playing together just as well as before.  Though I was happy to see this, I was a little disappointed that I was only able to get two customers in the past week.  I did get a phone call last night asking for information about my services, though, and this morning I met with the contact in person.  The situation was a little different this time -- it was a single hedgehog father at the end of a nasty divorce who was stuck with the kid.  I was a little surprised to find out the kid was an echidna boy until I was told that he was adopted.  Knuckles was the boy's name, eight months old and dreadlocks that were just beginning to come in.  The father gave me what appeared to be a large green gem (which I found out was plastic) and told me it was Knuckles' favorite toy, to give him if he started acting up.  As before, I kept Knuckles separate from Sonic and Tails until I could find out how he'd react to being away from his father.  He didn't seem all that bothered to be left alone, as long as he had that big plastic gem to hold onto.  In fact, when I had put him on the couch and stepped away for a minute to change Sonic's diaper, I found he had pulled the pillows all together and had put the gem on top, as if putting it on a pedestal.  He really had affection for that toy gem and would cry whenever he couldn't find it.  When I finally introduced him to Sonic and Tails, they seemed to get along pretty well.  There was the one time, though, when Knuckles had left his gem aside and Sonic had picked it up, trying to gum it.  Knuckles cried and I put him right in front of Sonic, where they stared each other eye to eye.  I was horrified to see Sonic try to hit Knuckles on the head with the gem and I quickly pulled it out of his hands and gave it to Knuckles, naturally prompting Sonic to start crying.  I gave Sonic a different toy and put him over near Tails to keep him quiet.  I'm thinking I'm gonna have to keep those two separate.

>>> DAY 11 <<<
I had to buy a few more supplies last night after closing up shop to accommodate for all the babies I'm taking care of.  And not a moment too soon, it seems.  I got another customer today, another hedgehog couple with a cute baby.  Amy was her name, five months old and looking so cute in that red dress.  I was a little worried because in all the times I had previously babysat, the kids were all boys, and I wasn't sure how to treat a girl.  As usual, I kept her separate from the others but for longer than normal because I wasn't sure how the boys would react to having a girl to play with.  There were a few times, though, when little Amy seemed to be crawling over to the boys on her own.  I just put her in the playpen by herself, along with a few toys, for the rest of the day.  I couldn't help but notice, though, how she was frequently looking at the boys playing, especially Sonic.  I couldn't tell whether that meant she wanted to play with others.  When I returned from changing Knuckles' diaper, I was shocked to find that Amy had somehow escaped from the playpen (it turns out I hadn't pulled the walls up high enough to latch into place), crawled over to where Sonic and Tails were playing, and was holding onto Sonic, giggling.  Sonic was crying a little bit, no doubt surprised at the sight as I was.  I gently pulled Amy away from Sonic and put her back in the adjusted playpen, which of course brought forth crying on her behalf.  A baby bottle for her stopped the crying, but for the rest of the day I found her looking over at Sonic.  I was a little concerned about that, and brought the matter to attention with both Sonic's and Amy's folks that evening.  Amy's folks told me she'd never done something like that before, and that they'd keep an eye on her.  On a non-Amy note, I also noticed that Knuckles was playing along with Sonic and Tails a lot more smoothly than on that first day.  I guess this means they're playmates now too.

>>> DAY 13 <<<
Amy was crying a bit more yesterday.  The first time I checked on her, it turns out it was just discomfort from gas.  But the second time, I found she was reaching her arms out towards Sonic as I lifted her from the playpen.  The poor little thing is lonely, and I felt bad that I had to keep her away from the boys.  Fortunately a solution to the problem came this morning, when a middle-aged bat couple had an eight-month-old girl they wanted me to watch.  (I later found out it wasn't the couple's first child.)  Her name was Rouge, apparently from the rosy-red cheeks she had when she was born.  She was dressed in a dark purple one-piece jumpsuit that matched the color of her little wings.  Right away, I put her in the playpen with Amy to give her a playmate. It soon became obvious that Rouge wasn't much interested in playing with Amy or the toys in there.  I did notice, though, how she looked at my silver-plated wristwatch in wonder.  Seems she's got an eye for shiny things.  Since putting Amy and Rouge together didn't alleviate Amy's boredom, I decided to put them both with the three boys playing elsewhere in the living room.  That turned out to open a Pandora's box.  Amy once again latched onto Sonic and wouldn't let go, while Rouge took Knuckles' toy gem and crawled away with it.  I quickly took the gem away from Rouge and gave it back to Knuckles, and pulled Sonic out of Amy's hands, but didn't relocate both the girls to the playpen.  Thinking quickly, I gave Rouge a miniature mirror ball (too big for her to put in her mouth).  I was a little surprised to see Tails continue to build stuff with the toys, as if oblivious to everything happening around him.  He was building shapes with those blocks I'd never expect to see done by such a little baby.  It's funny to see his bushy tails swishing a mile a minute whenever he's getting into it.  Later that day, I explained how brilliant I thought Tails was, how Amy was in puppy love with Sonic, and how Rouge loved shiny things.  It came as no surprise to any of their folks.  At least none of the babies' folks had problems with one another -- that would've made this job a whole lot harder.

>>> DAY 17 <<<
Over the past few days, I've noticed that Sonic seems to be becoming more accepting of Amy's unrelenting hugging and cuddling, though I wouldn't go so far as to say Sonic's returning the love.  It's almost a shame; those two look so cute together.  I got another customer today, a two-month-old rabbit girl from a mother who seemed stretched to the breaking point.  I was about to question her leaving such a young infant in my care, but I didn't feel that it was an appropriate time.  But it turns out the baby's name was Cream, an appropriate name given the color of her fur.  She had big floppy ears and loved to hug a Chao plush doll.  Since she was a lot younger than the others, I kept her alone in the playpen.  She seemed to keep to herself for the most part.  It seemed that the tension between Knuckles and Rouge had eased somewhat, for I saw them playing with Knuckles' toy gem together.  Tails had arranged the wooden blocks and some of the plastic rings together into what I believe was a car shape.  I don't know how the kid does it!  There was an uneasy look on his face, though, after finishing his work, and after I confirmed he didn't need a diaper change I kept an eye on him.  I saw that he spotted Cream over in the playpen and he started crawling over towards her, to my concern.  I saw them come face to face, separated by the playpen netting, and they seemed to put one hand up and together.  Figuring nothing bad could come of it, I put Tails in the playpen with Cream.  They came together and started playing and giggling.  Looking at the three pairs of babies that had come together, I laughed and wondered whether I was a babysitter or a matchmaker.  It puzzled me, though, when Tails started crying a bit a little while after I put him together with Cream.  Figuring he wanted his toys, I pulled him out of the playpen and put him back over with his toys, causing Cream to cry.  Against my better judgment, I also pulled Cream out of the playpen and put her next to Tails.  Fortunately the crying stopped, and I watched as Tails seemed to show her his toys and how to play with them.  I had to stop Cream from trying to put one of the blocks in her mouth and I gave her the Chao plush instead.  She let Tails play with it, which I'm guessing shows how much she trusts Tails.  In the evening, Cream's mother was both happy to see that she had made a friend, yet somewhat concerned that I let such a young infant play with older ones.  I told her I'd keep a close eye on little Cream for her safety.

>>> DAY 23 <<<
After three weeks of taking care of babies without any major problems (and in fact gotten a few relationships to arise) I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.  It seems I was celebrating too soon, though, 'cause I got one more baby this morning.  It was a human woman who dropped the him off, and she said she preferred her privacy.  Shadow was a black twelve-month hedgehog with red stripes on his quills.  I took him in with a smile, but I was a little worried about having such an older baby around so many younger ones, especially Cream.  I put him with the rest of the babies to play with, but he soon stood out from the group...literally; he was the only one of the bunch who was on his feet and walking about.  I had to get out a whole other barrage of toys for this older one to play with.  Unfortunately, soon it was obvious he wasn't interested much in the toys.  He walked over to Sonic and pushed him over on his back, making Sonic cry.  I rushed over to tend to Sonic and I had to put Shadow in a time-out chair in a corner of the room for ten minutes.  It didn't seem to faze him, though, for he was barely out of the chair when he took Knuckles' gem from both Knuckles and Rouge, who started crying.  I forced Shadow to give the gem up and I gave it back to the two while I put Shadow in time-out for twenty minutes, by himself in another room.  I knew I'd have to keep an eye on him for the whole day.  I can only hope I won't have to deal with this every time he's over here.  Then came crashing and breaking sounds from that room -- I should've known it was a mistake to stick him in a closet -- which I quickly dealt with.  When evening came, I had to explain to everyone how Shadow was the troublemaker of the group and suggested to Shadow's guardian that she keep a shorter leash on him.  She apologized and said she'd try to work on it.  I can only hope he won't give me as much trouble next time.

>>> DAY 27 <<<
For the past few days, Shadow's shown no signs of relenting his behavior.  I feared that one of the other babies, whom I'm in charge of keeping watch over, would get seriously hurt if I didn't keep Shadow under control.  Things were a little different today, though.  Though I haven't gotten any new kids to take care of, the bunch I've got right now is keeping me plenty busy.  Shadow was being a troublemaker again today -- he curled into a ball and rolled himself across the floor, toppling a block tower Tails and Cream were building like bowling pins.  I picked up Shadow and put him in time-out once again, but this time, per the suggestion of his guardian, I gave him a picture of the woman and he hugged it, keeping quiet.  I soon surmised that it was the separation from the woman that made him cranky and irritable, so I prepared myself to have that picture on hand for Shadow if he began acting up.  Once the time-out was over, he walked over to where Tails and Cream were rebuilding their tower.  I watched, anticipating the worst, as he put a block on the tower.  Tails and Cream didn't immediately reject him, and in fact let him help build the tower.  I was relieved in that I had finally begun to crack Shadow's hard outer shell.  Some giggling I heard caused me to turn my head, and I saw Rouge playing around with Knuckles' dreadlocks.  He responded by blowing raspberries on her belly, causing her to laugh.  Some gurgling sounds from Rouge afterwards, though, made it all too obvious she needed a new diaper.  So I took her away for that and when I returned, I panicked because I didn't see Sonic or Shadow in the bunch of babies.  I frantically searched through the house and couldn't find them.  I was freaking out, worried that somehow they'd slipped away, when I saw some new baby on the floor.  He was a gray hedgehog, playing with some plastic rings.  The looks of shock from the other babies indicated something must've happened that I didn't see.  Looking closer, I noticed that the gray hedgehog had features of both Sonic and Shadow, and I couldn't figure out why.  I set the baby down and sat down on the couch, thinking whether this new hedgehog was a hybrid of Sonic and Shadow, and if so, how it was created.  I only hoped I could get the separate Sonic and Shadow by day's end, else I'd have quite some explaining to do.  Fortunately I didn't have to worry about that for long, for a few minutes later the gray hedgehog split into Sonic and Shadow again in a flash of light, which again brought everyone in the house to a standstill.  I kept an eye on Sonic and Shadow for the remainder of the day, and I explained the happenings to all the relevant folks.  They were just as shocked as I was.

>>> DAY 30 <<<
Well, it seems the first 30 days of STP's Day Care have given me a lot of pointers on child care.  Sure, it's tough work, but it's all worth it to see the smile or hear the giggle of a baby.  It also proved to me that all our passions start out at an early age; it wouldn't be that hard for me to guess what some of those babies might grow up to be.  Who would have thought three hedgehogs, a fox, an echidna, a rabbit and a bat could tell me so much about myself?  As I pen these last few words, I plan to put this first-steps journal in a lock box along with all the other memories I'll have of my passion for child care.