The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsCracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)Shes just starting to grab and hold onto things.
Im completely smitten!
Rorey
(8,445 posts)Best thing ever.
I get the honor of taking care of my 8 month old granddaughter a couple of days a week while her mommy works. I, too, am completely smitten.
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)She is my third grand girl in four years! Second redhead.
And on top of that, I am lucky enough to be their full time Monday through Friday day car provider! Its exhausting but oh, so much fun! I go home with sore cheeks from laughing all day. Their mom thinks theyre bad!
Congratulations to you!
Rorey
(8,445 posts)My little sweetie is my 5th grandchild, but the first girl. She's amazing, and she thinks my jokes are hilarious. (She's the only one to think that, besides me. )
Sneederbunk
(14,296 posts)MLAA
(17,310 posts)trueblue2007
(17,231 posts)Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)I understand why you got so attached to her.
912gdm
(959 posts)I love opossums and they get such a bad rap
cab67
(2,993 posts)1. Thee's actually a difference between an opossum and a possum. Opossums are from the Western Hemisphere, possums are Australasian. Mammalogists take this seriously. (I work on animals that eat opossums, or possums, depending on where they are, so I don't actually care.)
2. They have hands because of their reproductive biology. They're born at a much earlier developmental stage than placentals. Kangaroo joeys are the same size, shape, and color of a cherry gummy bear at birth. (No idea if the flavor is similar.) But they have to have grasping hands as soon as they're born to grab mom's fur and pull themselves into the pouch.
This actually constrains marsupial evolution. There are marsupial parallels with woodchucks (wombats), flying squirrels (sugar gliders), sloths (koalas), moles (marsupial moles), buffalo (extinct diprotodonts), anteaters (numbats), coyotes (extinct thylacine), and so on. But you'll never see a marsupial bat, a marsupial with flippers, or a marsupial with hooves. They have to have a grasping hand. (This is why their "antelope" and "deer" are kangaroos and wallabies - they hop on two legs, allowing their forearms to keep some grasping capability.)
If you're ever on Jeopardy and need this information, you're welcome.
3catwoman3
(24,018 posts)How do you know such trivia?
cab67
(2,993 posts)I get paid to know this sort of stuff.
RainCaster
(10,892 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,614 posts)I had seen adults and teenagers up close and kept them away from my dog since they have huge teeth and toenails but the babies were the size of large hamsters. They ate dog food and water I put out every night for weeks and my chihuahua would sit on my lap and watch, she is very curious but sweet.