Flounder made it on the TV box earlier this week. We are so proud of her for being such a mermazing purrmaid sidekick.
If you are interested in learning how to teach your furry sidekick to talk, check out the link in our bio for more and use code FLOUNDERCAT for discount on buttons!
*Also if you’re local, Flounder’s mom will be giving an AIC/button training presentation at the @mermaidofhiltonhead retail location at Tanger 2 on March 23 at 1:00pm. Sign up on the Mermaid of Hilton Head website if you’re interested!
Thank you @franksulkowskiwjcl for all of your patience with Flounder and @wjclnews for the feature as well! 💕
Moments 👏 like 👏 this 👏 are why buttons matter!!!!
I have not worked with Fiki, teaching him buttons at all. He likes to watch Flounder and I communicate from a distance, like a creeper.
A few days ago when Flounder had this weird attack thing that sometimes happens when she overdoes it (the vet has checked her out and she’s fine. She just plays hard), Fiki walked over to the soundboard to make an announcement about what Flounder needed.
You can see Fiki is taking this very seriously and really thinks about which button he needs to press prior to pressing, and since he’s not a regular presser (and usually uses his back paws), he had some trouble actually pressing the button hard enough to make it sound, but he persisted!
This also tells me that he might kind of like his little sister, which is also pretty cute. 🥰
If you have one learner in your house and are debating about teaching a second, let me tell you: they probably already know A LOT just from watching!
Every summer when I return to the water, I always worry about Flounder feeling neglected or like I don’t love her or just how she processes what’s happening in general.
This is the first summer we have been able to effectively communicate about this and I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a lot of “ugh” and “angry” but instead, I’m getting a lot of “love you” and even “happy” and “excited” when I get home at the end of the day.
Buttons have helped with her anxiety but in a weird way they have also helped me with mine. I’m finding that I’m less anxious about leaving her now because we communicate about it and she takes it so much better than I imagined she was prior to buttons.
Moments like this where she responds to my “Love you” with “Love you more” are definitely some of my favourites though and moments I will never take for granted.
As many of you know, I have had a shoulder/neck injury that has eliminated backpack rides from Flounder’s agenda for the past 2 weeks. It is just starting to feel better enough that I can resume backpack rides.
Flounder has made her feelings about the lack of recent backpack rides very public (as she does), so it only seems right to make the return of the backpack rides public as well.
Backpack rides live on!
GIVEAWAY ALERT (read until the end for details)
When “ugh” is actually a good thing…
Flounder and I have boarded the struggle bus lately with me working more and then when I’m home, I have to rest to recover from my “raycussion” so I’ve been a pretty boring mom as far as moms go.
I’m pretty much limited to ballet school, puzzles, mouse toy fetch, and stick toy when it comes to Flounder activities as backpack rides and paddle boarding are definitely out right now.
The issue is that she can’t have food puzzles all the time on top of less exercise, so this is resulting in some household arguments.
This is a rare one where I actually win; defeat acknowledged by the “ugh” button. I’ll take the wins where I can get them.
Speaking of winning, I am giving away 2 codes for FluentPet for 30% off website purchases. To enter, like this video and tag a friend in the comments! I’ll pick 2 winners randomly (announced in our story) on Sunday night!
As many of you know, last week I was hit by a flying mobula ray in the head which resulted in a mild concussion and soft tissue swelling in the neck/shoulder.
BUT HOW DOES THIS AFFECT FLOUNDER MEATLOAF?!????
That’s the important question. Well, I haven’t been able to give her backpack rides. This is unacceptable because Flounder loves backpack rides. Luckily, Flounder knows that if you just tell the ouch to be “all done” it should go away and I should be good to start giving backpack rides again. Problem solved!
Where would I even be without Flounder?
Mouse toy was assumed to be down and out by a lot of you who watched the video where Flounder said he needed medicine and help. But he wasn’t.
Then, when I posted a video a few weeks later where the same mouse toy had an ouch and needed to rest and then she gave him pets, I was still being accused of giving him a proper burial because surely this time he was down and out. But he wasn’t.
Now the very same mouse toy who is now just a piece of fabric has taken a turn for the better and is up for adventures with his bestie, Flounder.
Mouse toy lives on, people. Not only that, but he is living his life to the fullest. Please stop yelling at me to give him plastic surgery or replace him with an inferior mouse toy. This is mouse toy the one and only and is irreplaceable (and indestructible).
It’s not all rainbows and sunshine in mermaid land. Sometimes you get hit by a ray. Explaining this to a purrmaid is also quite difficult.
With a head and neck injury, backpack rides are out for a while and I have been working all morning to try to get this across to Flounder. (I am loving the “ouch” button and the fact that we have that in place and we understand the concept of “ouch” right now).
She finally began to acknowledge my “ouch” and she has been resting (at least long enough for me to make this video).
Shout out to the “ouch” button for all of your support during these weird, random, confusing times.
Today is World Ocean’s Day! (A purrmaid’s favourite holiday after Christmas)
To all of our rich and vital ocean life here in Hilton Head and all over the world: Happy World Ocean’s Day!
What do you love most about the ocean?
After watching “The Little Mermaid”, this little purrmaid started pressing “Fish” “Flounder” (see Part 1) and she continues to make these presses consecutively.
There’s obviously no way to be sure this is an identity crisis however I can tell you this: I have been working on explaining to her what a “cat” is, and she has since identified Fiki (her brother) as a cat. She, however, is still feeling fishy I suppose. She has never used the “cat” button to describe herself and seems to use “fish” in the same way she uses “cat” to describe Fiki.
In the movie, the fish’s name is Flounder, although I highly doubt she put all of that together. So I’m not entirely sure whether she believes she is a fish or what is going on, but it certainly can’t help that she lives in a house with a mom who is also half fish and lives in the salt marsh. As always, send help.
Flounder has been forced to get creative since I’ve been back in the water and I must say: she’s quite good at it.
She has recently resorted to asking to play with toys and puzzles by herself (which is how I’m interpreting her name being pressed after requests). She has never pressed her name after a request before, and this just started when I went back in the water.
I continue to find it intriguing that she is A. So creative in her problem solving and B. Able to communicate her needs with such a limited vocabulary.
