This lucky little boy bathes with a rubber ducky, and a real ducky, too.
Back in 2015, when her son, Tyler, was just a few months old, Jennifer Young decided to add a duckling to her family. She never could have guessed how quickly her baby and the little duck would have bonded.
Beaker the duck — also known as Bee — has been Tyler’s very best friend ever since then.
In fact, Tyler’s first word was “duck,” Young told us back in 2016, about 9 months after bringing Bee home.
“They did everything together: play, eat, nap, etc.,” Young said. “Luckily he [Bee] was easy to train with a harness.” Young didn’t even mind having both a toddler and duck in diapers (though Bee sometimes yanked his off).
Their bond only grew from there, and whenever Tyler would toddle around the house, Bee was sure to be right behind him.
“From the time these two get up till the time they go to bed, it’s chaos,” Young said.
Bee would beg for food while Tyler was eating — and Tyler of course would sneak him whatever he wanted.
Young said the two would tear Tyler’s room apart in five minutes flat, and then look equally guilty when she caught them.
Bee is also “very protective of his boy. If I am holding Tyler and he’s crying, Bee is at my feet quacking, making sure he’s not hurt,” Young said.
Young had kept pet ducks for many years before having Tyler. She’d had a dozen or more of them at a time. But — by their choice — they’d mostly been outside pets until Bee.
Bee opened her eyes to how keeping an indoor duck “isn’t nearly as weird as it seems.”
“At first I laughed put loud when I learned people kept ducks inside wearing a diaper,” Young says. “Bee is just as loyal, smart, and sweet as any dog or cat.”
Of course, for Tyler, none of this seemed strange at all. He’s never really known life without his feathery, diapered best friend.
“As far as Tyler knows, having a pet duck is the thing to have,” says Young. “He loves his Beaker, and he will tell you just that.”
Now, almost five years later, Young’s house has since welcomed another baby (and another duck in diapers). But the original best friends will always have a special place in each other’s hearts.
