Rottmnt Splinter - Tumblr Posts
Check Up
Raph twiddled his fingers as he and his brothers sat on the examination table. Their dads, especially Barry, felt it was necessary to have their check up. Splinter never took them to the doctor once, but his excuse was that they were in hiding for all those years. Now that they were heroes and all of New York and the Hidden City knew about them, they weren't secrets anymore. They could live normal lives.
And what do parents of teenagers with normal lives do?
Make sure their kids are healthy.
Splinter struggled to raise them, but he did it, even with his depression. He fixed every boo-boo, soothed every fever, endured every sickness and injury his sons went through. When they got their first cold, Splinter took a risk leaving them alone to get medicine for them.
Now that Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey were known in the city, they could walk around and no one will mind.
Which is why Barry and Splinter took them to a doctor. Barry considered taking them to a veterinarian or a doctor in the Hidden City, but Splinter argued that he raised them, so he got to choose and since the boys were more human than turtle, a normal human doctor was the best choice.
And Dr. Berg was the woman for the job. She had taken a veterinarian course before going to medical school, so this was perfect for her.
The boys never experienced a human doctor's appointment before and so they were a little nervous. But Dr. Berg assured them that there was nothing wrong.
One at a time, she examined them. She took their blood pressure, tapped their knees to check for reflexes (she had to convince Donnie to remove his kneepads, as he refused to take them off when she told them to remove all articles of clothing and put on the thin gowns she had for them), used her tongue depressors to look down their throats (she was a bit scared to look in the red one's mouth because of how big and pointy it was, but Raph proved he was a gentle giant, and allowed her), asked them to look at the eye chart and read the letters (where she noticed Donnie having some trouble), checked their heartbeats, weighed them (Raph almost broke the scale at a whopping 450 pounds of pure muscle!), measured their height (again, Raph needed a tape measure instead of her height board and he was a staggering 8'10"), and took their temperature.
"Fascinating." She wrote on her charts her findings.
Now came the awkward questions. Barry and Splinter came into the room after the examination. Despite insisting to see a doctor, Splinter was having an anxiety attack while Barry was cool as a cucumber.
Was this human going to judge his parenting based on how healthy his kids were?
"I noticed a few things and wanted to address them while the boys are not in the room. First question: Do they have any allergies?"
Splinter swallowed. "Raphael has a peanut allergy. I read up a lot about the condition. He has trouble breathing and itches when he comes into contact with peanut products, so I keep peanut butter in a locked cabinet."
Dr. Berg wrote on her clipboard.
"I noticed Leonardo has a fast heartbeat, which could be a sign of anxiety or hyperactivity. I assume you never took them to a specialist about mental disorders?"
Splinter cringed and tried to explain, but Barry spoke up. "The father of my sons had to keep them hidden to avoid those who would bring them harm. He did what he could to keep them safe, so no, he couldn't take them to a specialist, and from how they look, it's a bit obvious why."
"I'm not judging." Dr. Berg said. "I'm also a bit concerned about Donatello. He doesn't make eye contact and his eyes wander. Does he have a social disability such as autism spectrum disorder?"
Splinter nodded. "I had to borrow a book about the disorder when he started showing signs. He was 2 when I noticed things were off. At first, I thought it was because of his species, but when I considered human disorders, since their human DNA can be a contributing factor."
Dr. Berg asked, "How did you cope?"
"He had many tantrums, which I found was overstimulation. I had to take him to an empty room in the sewers to calm himself. He had an Atomic Lass doll he carried with him everywhere and that toy seemed to keep him calm. I just had to wing it, and his brothers kept him grounded and behaved. He learned after a few years that he couldn't cry to get his way."
Dr. Berg wrote that in her charts. "I would recommend a psychiatrist to help him with his antisocial behavior. I have a friend who works with autistic children, teenagers and even adults."
Splinter felt better knowing she wasn't judging him.
"I also recommend the specialist for Raphael. He and Donatello couldn't read the chart as well as Leonardo and Michelangelo. Donatello said it looked blurry. Donatello might need glasses and I suspect Raphael has a condition called Dyslexia. As for Michelangelo..." she flipped her charts to another page, which made Splinter's stomach drop. "His blood sugars seem to be off, which could be a sign of pre-diabetes."
Splinter's eyes widened. Diabetes!?!?! His little boy? Even Barry looked concerned.
"Not to worry, there are ways to reverse it, with the right diet. Can you tell me what kind of pellets and veggies they eat?"
That question made Splinter sweat. "I beg your pardon?"
"Well, turtles are supposed to eat foods according to their breed. Have they been eating a diet according to their species?"
Barry looked at Splinter and raised his eyebrow.
"No."
"Okay, what do they normally eat?"
"Pretty much what any teenage boy eats. Freaking everything in the house."
That made Dr. Berg chuckle. "And what do you keep in the house and what was their diet like growing up?"
"Well, when they were babies, I contemplated feeding them normal turtle food pellets, but they didn't like it. Blue sometimes will eat it like cereal, but that's because he's a weird kid. I then tried baby food and formula, which they ate like there's no tomorrow. After the baby cereal came pureed fruits and veggies. Then I took them off baby food when they started eating normal foods that I would eat. I took them off the bottles at age 3, because they didn't want to give them up at 2. Then they started eating the same foods I eat during mealtimes. I went through depression raising them, and so I didn't keep the healthiest foods in the house, but I tried. Plus, I had to hunt for food, so our food was what I could find until they got older and I could take them with me on a grocery run, in disguises, of course. And being a, how you would call it, a chillaxed dad, I let a lot of things slide. They all love pizza and they eat it at least 5 times a week. They can take care of themselves, so I assumed they can choose to make healthy choice."
Dr. Berg wrote on her chart, trying not to gag at the pellet cereal bit. She did not judge at the turtles upbringing effecting their diet, due to circumstances.
"As a doctor, I see nothing wrong with their diet, however, as a past veterinary student, I see a big problem with their diet. They should be eating diets according to their species. But as their parents, it's up to you two. I assume their human DNA took over their turtle DNA, because they seem healthy, apart from Michelangelo. I'll give you the number to those specialists I talked about and we should follow up in a week." She then handed the rat man 4 pamphlets, each one having a different turtle on the cover. "And try this diet in the meantime. It might help the boys."
Splinter opened the first pamphlet, the one for alligator snapping turtles, which was Raph's species, and nearly fainted when he saw the diet his son must go on.
One of those foods was soft shell turtles.
And when he opened Donnie's pamphlet, he actually fainted.
One of the foods that soft shell turtles eat was baby mice.
Barry rolled his eyes, scooped up the rat, and called for his sons.
"Turtles, let's go!"
Then he turned to Dr. Berg.
"Thank you for the advice, we'll talk to you in a week."
The end.
I based this drawing and story off of this We Bare Bears episode. Should I make a part two about the boys struggling to cut back on the human food and having to eat turtle food? Let me know.
Thanksgiving Headcanon
Mikey- Cooks most of the food, but gives his brothers tasks. He's the boss in this kitchen. Dish: Turkey, gravy, pie.
Raph-Does prep work for Mikey, but is strong enough to mash potatoes without getting tired. Dish: Mashed potatoes.
Leo: Loves to experiment with recipes, and his favorite substitution is to replace the normal bread cubes in stuffing with bagels. Dish: Stuffing
Donnie- Hates cooking and prefers to bring items in packages so he doesn't have to make it from scratch. Dish: Cranberry sauce and Hawaiian rolls.
Splinter: Cooked everyday for the boys until they were old enough to cook for themselves. Being an Asian dad, he cooked in bulk. Dish: Green bean casserole.
April- Flavor is ALWAYS an option when you're from an African American family and she brings Thanksgiving comfort foods to feed her friends. Dish: Mac n cheese and sweet potato pie.
Raphie's Confused
Based on that video of that baby reacting to twin babies:
Baby Raph is confused by two babies, Donnie is crying, and Leo is chillin' like a villain.
Bonus: Splinter holding a tiny Mikey.
Turtle Tot Headcanons: Bathing
•Splinter bathed the boys once a week whilst on the street, and it was in the river.
•Once they moved into the lair, Splinter couldn't get the tub to work, but the sink worked, so he just bathed them one at a time in there.
•Once he got the tub to work, bathtime was nightly and mandatory. Not that the boys minded. They loved baths.
•Raph's favorite bath toys were a plastic teddy bear that squirted. Leo's was a ship. Donnie's was a plastic duck that swam under the water when you twist the key. Mikey's was a rubber sharky. They also had plastic balls, a mermaid doll that changed colors in the water (from April), and a set of toys that had one big turtle and 4 small ones.
•They all love baths, but hate getting washed. Splinter fought with them to get them clean, and each one made excuses. "It's in my eye!", "The water's too hot/cold!" "I wanna get out, now." "I didn't get THAT dirty!" etc.
•Leo freaks out Donnie by drinking the tub water or spitting it at him.
•Splinter always had "Mr. Bubble Liquid Bath", but once he got the "Scientific & Terrific Potion Bath" for Donnie's birthday. He loved it.
•Each boy had a favorite scent. Raph's was lavender, Leo's was eucalyptus, Donnie's was citrus, and Mikey's was vanilla sugar.
•Fights were common, mostly among the twins, and it's usually about toys or the temperature of the water.
•Donnie once fell asleep in the tub and Splinter still has a photograph of it. He thought it was so precious.
•When the kids were little, bath paint WAS a thing, but Splinter would rather not deal with that.
•To keep from the "you got soap in my eye, daddy" complaint, Splinter installed a detachable shower head to the tub so he could rinse the kids properly (and to have water fights with them.)
•It gave Splinter great satisfaction to hear the chorus of "No"s when he announced it was time to get out.
•After the bath came the big fluffy towel that dried each kid off, then a layer of lotion, then soft jammies before books and bedtime.
•Baths usually knocked them out.
•Once, Splinter was enjoying a hot bath to unwind. He put his head under the water and closed his eyes for a minute and when he opened them, Leo was staring at him, which made Splinter scream in surprise.
•When they got older, Splinter had to start separating them. He tried Mikey/Leo, Raph/Donnie, Donnie/Mikey, Raph/Leo, and settled with Raph/Mikey and Leo/Donnie.
•When they turned 7, they were interested in showering, so Splinter would bring each one into the bathroom and explained how to wash themselves while standing up. After that, they were on their own.
•Every teenaged boy STINKS! Splinter had to constantly remind them to shower after they turned 11.
•April has her own shower caddy with special shampoo and conditioner and will get mad/use her bat if any of her brothers touch it.
•Once, she had to shower in the lair after an intense lair sport, and while she was in there, Donnie accidentally walked in. They both screamed, Donnie had a loofah thrown at his head, and they swore to never bring it up again. That day the boys learned how to knock.
•Raph tried to give Mayhem a bath. It didn't go well.
•After the Shredder incident, the siblings had a hot tub installed in their home to unwind. After the Krang incident, Leo wouldn't leave it, saying it helped his wounds.
Turtle Tot Headcanon: Sleep
•Splinter had no trouble getting the turtles to sleep when they were tiny. They slept in a box with blankets.
•As toddlers, they pop right up and scream as soon as Splinter heads for the door.
•Splinter would get upset because Naptime was a chance to leave the lair for supplies.
•Each crib had a heating lamp attached to it.
•Each baby had a specific way of falling asleep.
•Raph needs his pacifier, at least 4 teddies (one for each member of his family for comfort), and had to have eaten lunch first, or naptime would get interrupted by a hungry Raphie.
•Leo needed a fresh diaper, a bottle of warm milk, and his blanket. He would constantly wake up and try to get back to playing. Sometimes he would wake up Donnie.
•Because Donnie is Autistic, Donnie's sleep schedule had to be consistent. He either sleeps from 8pm to noon the next day or he gets 3 hours of broken sleep (personal experience). He needed to put away his toys by size and color before naps or he would freak out and not sleep.
•Donnie HATES naps. Splinter has to drag him every step of the way. "I don't wanna take a nap!" was his first sentence.
•He would only sleep when Splinter gave him his bottle of flavorless juice, a stuffed bunny, and a teething ring.
•Mikey needed his dad to stroke down his nose, which knocks him out after a few strokes. He only needed his bottle to conk out.
•Raph would be asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but will fuss if Splinter doesn't rub his back.
•Leo will only fall asleep if Splinter pats him on the bottom. He doesn't know why Leo likes this.
•Splinter has a Lou Jitsu nightlight in the nursery.
•Raph has the longest nap, whilst Leo had the shortest. Then comes Mikey, then Donnie.
•Even though he hates naps, Donnie is the hardest to wake up, because he gets cranky, but Splinter has to wake him up or he would never get to bed.
•Leo is always the first to wake up. He tries to be quiet, but he'll get bored and start playing with the dinosaur mobile or whatever toy he dragged into bed.
•Splinter always wondered how Leonardo climbed into his brothers' cribs, but won't crawl across the kitchen floor.
•Leo got his first time out when he decided to wake up Donnie by throwing a bottle at his head, making the tot scream.
•Mikey had a few night terrors, but outgrew them. Splinter thinks it was because they spent time on the streets, and nighttime was scary for the tots.
•Raph had to be woken up by a nudge.
•Leo decided at age 2 that "only babies take naps" and skipped naptime a few times. Every time he did, he would fall asleep at the dinner table. Splinter still has the photo of Leo fast asleep with his head on his dinner plate, with his spoon still clutched in his hand.
•Mikey's bedtime was 7pm, Donnie and Leo were sent to bed at 8:30, and Raph stayed up until 9:00, but he would also fall asleep at 8:45.
•Splinter had to tell them stories at bedtime. Usually, he would tell a story he "made up" about Lou Jitsu's adventures.
•Leo was the hardest to get to sleep. It was always "I want water", "I'm not sleepy", "I want another story", "I wanna sleep with you", "I need to go potty", etc.
•Mikey was the only one that still woke up throughout the night for milk until age 2. Splinter thought it was because he was lonely.
•If Leo wakes up in the middle of the night, Splinter takes him to the tv room and they watch tv until Leo falls asleep.
•When Splinter got them big boy beds, he cried because his babies were growing up.
•After they outgrew their cribs, Splinter saved one piece from each of their mobiles. Raph's was the tiny teddy bear, Leo's was the unicorn, Donnie's was the frog, and Mikey's was the piggy.
• It was a blessing in disguise that Splinter didn't have a job, because the boys kept him up, and he enjoyed snuggling with them in the morning, so he could catch a snooze.
• (True story that happened to me) Splinter felt relieved when he got cribs for his sons, but felt so guilty that first night without them. They all slept together on the streets, so that's why. And when the boys cried for their dad, he hit the ground running. Often, Splinter allowed his boys to sleep in his bed on nights they felt lonely, or if there was a storm. He liked feeling close to his babies. The boys liked it because they loved how soft, warm and snuggly their dad was.
•The boys loved pillow forts and often slept in them. They still do this as teenagers, but only when someone is sick or after a nasty villian beat down.
Turtle Tots Memes
I've seen these floating around tumblr and decided to try it.
Picture one: Mikey being confused as to why his big brother is in his baby seat. Raph is having a ball playing with the seat's mobile.
Picture two: Leo being tired at dinner. Why? He missed his nap. Also, Donnie having a cry and Splinter giving him cuddles and kisses to calm him down.
Inspirational pictures
When the turtles were very young, and before Splinter could get the tub in their new home to work, the shower worked, and that was enough. Every night before bed, Splinter would undress the boys before undressing himself and stepping into the shower. Splinter loved hot showers before his mutation, but his cold-blooded children didn't need scalding water beating down on their sensitive skins. So, reasonably warm was best. After running water all over them and himself, Splinter lathered up the soap and started to wash his kids before washing himself. Whilst cleaning his fur, which he found difficult to completely rinse the soap out, the kids played on the floor of the shower. Leo rubbed soap into Donnie's shell, which he found relaxing. Mikey was the smallest, so Splinter kept his tail wrapped around him. Splinter was busy washing his hair when he heard a "Daddy?" He looked down and saw Raphael pointing. To what? It sure wasn't his belly button. "What's that?" Raph asked. Splinter felt awkward. He really didn't want to teach an anatomy lesson right now, but he couldn't leave his son's question unanswered. "Uh, it's something all boys have. I have it, you have it, and your brothers have it." He hoped that was the answer his red child wanted. "Oh, okay!" Splinter sighed and went back to washing. Until... "Is mine gonna be that big someday?" Splinter made a mental note to either get the tub working or to start wearing trunks in the shower.
@jester-complex
Bad kitties!
Alternate title: They're warm, they're fuzzy, and they're always trying to eat Dad.
Hamato Yoshi/Lou Jitsu/Splinter as a baby.
Today's my 27th birthday, so I made my second AO3 story birthday themed.
Enjoy!
Donnie's Meltdown
Fun fact about me: Because I was born with autism, when I was a baby, it didn't matter if I was dead asleep, distracted by a toy, or whatever, whenever my mom needed to go to Walmart, I would absolutely scream my head off as soon as she pulled into the parking lot and I wouldn't stop until we drove home, due to the fact that I hated bright lights, loud noises and strangers. It frustrated her to no end. Plus, my mom had twins and she would always have people come up to her to ask questions like "Are they twins? Are they identical? Did you know you were having them? Which one is older? Did you have them naturally? Have they ever done anything at the same time?" So irritating.
Here, Splinter is trying to get some shopping done, and most of his kids are cool as cucumbers, except for his autistic one. Splinter gets so frustrated when he's trying to get errunds done, but Donnie is having none of this. This was before he found out that Donnie has autism, before he would think that he was just fussy, and he would try everything. He tried making sure he was fed and well rested before the trip, didn't work. He tried to give him a toy to distract him, it didn't work. He tried to put pacifiers in his mouth to get him to quiet down, it didn't work. He tried to wear him with the baby carrier to make him feel close and hopefully calm him down, it didn't work. He tried to feed him or change him before they went in, thinking that was why he was crying, it didn't work. He resorted to just bearing through it until they left, when Donnie would magically stop crying.
Papa Splinter's Pups
On the Turtle Tot's first Halloween, Splinter didn't want to take them trick or treating for fear of being found out. The citizens of New York would panic at humanoid turtle babies, and word could get out to Big Mama. His worst fear was getting kidnapped again, and his children would be without a father, or Big Mama would train them to be entertainment for the Battle Nexus. It had only been a few weeks since they found the sewers and made it their home. Splinter dragged a mattress from the dump and raided a dumpster behind a crafting store for blankets, one being rolled up into an impromptu pillow, and that was their shared bed.
Halloween was chilly around this time of year, and Splinter gathered his tiny children in a backpack to go find more suitable clothing for them. Digging through a dumpster might have been low, considering that he used to be famous, but he was a father in hiding, now, so he dug.
Something moved and he jumped in surprise. A rat bared its teeth at him before scurrying away. Splinter rolled his eyes and kept digging. The store that owned this dumpster was a Halloween store and Halloween was in 2 days, and they were already tossing rejected costumes away.
His hand brushed against something soft, so he grabbed it. Up came a bundle of grey cloth. Splinter unrolled one of them and saw what it was.
A baby rat costume!
He chuckled as he unrolled the rest of the bundle and found 4 more. He kicked himself at the irony, but they were super soft and relatively clean. He only needed four for his four children, so he left one of them, where he saw the rat from earlier grab it with her teeth and drag it to the other side of the dumpster. Splinter watched in curiousity. When he saw the 8 or so tiny pink pups all curled up, he knew why. This rat was a mother, trying to keep her babies warm, just like how Splinter was trying to keep his kids warm.
Splinter smiled, taking the costumes with him to the sewer grate he always entered and exited his home.
After a good wash and hanging them out to dry for a whole day, Splinter maneuvered tiny limbs through arm holes before admiring his work. These costumes were made for babies, and they probably were rejected because they didn't have legs, just buttons on the bottom to make diaper changes easier. No matter, this boys thought they were comfortable.
Even Purple began to yawn.
Allowing his rat instincts to kick in, probably from seeing the Mama Rat, Splinter curled up around his children, allowing them to snuggle their dad for warmth. He watched as each kid fell asleep and he watched over them.
He knew rats could be very territorial, especially when it comes to their young. That mother rat wasn't trying to be vicious on purpose; she had babies to take care of. And Splinter may not be the world famous Lou Jitsu anymore, but now he had a new job. A better job. None of that fame matters now. What really mattered, in this moment, was that his sons were safe, and warm, and well taken care of.
So he continued to watch them sleep, and with their costumes making them look like adorable little baby rats, he melted.
"My Pups."
Turtle tots! Featuring Draxum, Splinter and Big Mama.
Apparently, turtles lay dozens of eggs at a time, so one day, after the boys grow up and get married, Splinter could just wake up and find a bunch of eggs with a note from the boys saying "Have fun watching your grandkids."
Or he just realized "These kids could hatch any day now."
Splinter: *getting Mikey ready* Boys, are you ready to go?
Raph, Leo and Donnie come out.
Raph: Ready!
Splinter looks and sees something missing
Splinter: Red, did you forget your pants?
Raph looks down, then at his dad.
Splinter: You need to wear pants.
Raph groans before turning to go to his bedroom.
Splinter: *notices something else*: AND UNDERWEAR, MOONSHINE!
Splinter sees Mikey playing with his toys.
Splinter: Hey, bathtime, go get naked.
Mikey: *whines* No, I'm not dirty! I don't wanna take a bath!
Splinter: Ah, yes, hygiene is the worst. But you are a little box turtle, and seeing as I'm staring at a sewer monster, it's time for a bath.
Mikey looks angry and storms off to the bathroom.
Splinter sits in his chair after his toddler son's open their Christmas gifts and watches them play.
Leo throws a toy towards his dad, missing him by an inch.
Splinter: *picks up said toy and looks at his son* Did you just throw this at me?
Leo: *smiling* Yeah!
Splinter: *chuckling* You are too honest. I'll let that one slide.
Splinter digs through his chest freezer to get something out for dinner. His picky eater comes up to him.
Donnie: Daddy, what's for dinner?
Splinter: Food.
Donnie: What kind of food?
Splinter: The kind you eat.
Donnie: *annoyed* What TYPE of food?
Splinter: The type that is edible.
Donnie gets irritated and walks away.
Bonus:
Raph comes up to Splinter.
Raph: Papa, I'm hungry.
Splinter: *smirking* Hi, Hungry.
Raph looks annoyed.
Happy Easter, everyone! The Easter Rat was up all night hiding eggs for you to find. Let's let him sleep.