characters

I have observed there are quintessential characters that exist in the kid world. I would like to talk about some of the kinds of kids that have come thru Bobbie's house to fill these roles....

First one that comes to mind are THE DUMPERS. No, this has nothing to do with diapers, but yes, there are those occasionally too. The Dumpers are the kids that come into the house, find the nicely organized baskets of toys (thanks Katie!) and then they dump. They don't play with anything, just dump, walk away and dump some more....not naming any names....
THE MOUTH are the ones that can't stop talking. EVER. Sometimes I just sit and watch their mouths move and think, when will they take a breath? sorry, again, nameless...
THE WHINER, THE FIGHTER and THE BOSS need no elaboration. rarely the same person at the same moment which is a good thing...
THE PARROT is adorable, says anything you say, on cue...Mason.... and then there is Alice who knew all her animal sounds before she knew any words which was oh so cute!
THE HUGGER is also nice to have, some babies just cling right into your side and love being held.  often these turn into huggers who brighten every day...Ella!
THE MOM can change diapers at the age of two before she herself is potty trained, loves to play babies all day everyday...Leah...
THE SHOW GIRL loves to sing into the microphone and her sidekick THE DANCER is right there with her...Hannah and Alice...

and last but not least, at least for today's list...THE DOCTOR DOOLITTLE...loves the pets, all the pets. Feeds the fish half a jar of fish food...Pookie....Feeds Maggie dinner at 4 p.m. when i am not looking...Nell...Carries her new kittens around at the age of 1 until her arms are scratched raw...Ella...Picks up bugs, any time, any day, Van, Jack, Alice...Taught Maggie how to "crawl"...Ella...knows all there is to know about dolphins, penguins and most sea creatures...Jack...Knew how many of which pills Luke dog got every day for breakfast...Leah...(when she was 3)

OK commenters, any ones i missed?

Mealtime at Bobbie's

Odd things about lunch at Bobbie's House:

Hannah and Alice invented eating chicken nuggets with a chopstick (one chopstick-- like a spear)
They also invented eating frozen chicken nuggets (ewww)
And eating chicken nuggets with ranch dip. and applesauce (Mason invented that one)

some kids just eat dip (Vada) and just ketchup (Chloe)

Every time Alice, Vada, Hannah, Ella and Leah are here, we have macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets for lunch. Every time, without fail...seriously...for years... they are 11, 11, 8, 7 and 5 now!!

Leah invented colorful omelets to match her outfit that day. and coloring the applesauce at lunch too.
Ella still talks about when she was 4 and I made pancakes that looked like snowmen. 

When Nell was 2, all she would eat for lunch were hot dogs, which her Mom called "noonie-dogs". As  a graduate of first aid about 7 times, I would cut her hot dogs into teeny little pieces, to avoid any "airway obstructions"... SO, of course, then Ella, Leah, Chloe, Van and Jack all had to have their "noonie-dogs" cut up like that too. After a few months of that, Chloe decided she didn't like hot dogs, Van and Jack decided to eat them "big" and that left me only cutting up 3 "noonie-dogs" daily.

Vata and Ella like to eat bisquick. just the powder stuff. ewwww.

Nell and Van like to pick cherry tomatoes off the plant and eat them. Now that one is not so ewwww-ey, but that they will eat "spinny cheese" (the kind that comes out of a can) on fruit snacks is ewwww!

Always interesting at Bobbie's House!

Naptime

One of the nicest things that happens some days is that EVERYONE at Bobbie's House naps at the same time. Except Bobbie, of course! We have our routines we follow, and one of them is the older kids helping me put the younger kids down for naps. On Delaney's second day here, EVERYONE decided to put her down for her nap. Mind you, Delaney is 7 months old and this is her SECOND day here, which means she is firmly entrenched into transitioning. So here, we go, Van and Nell, age 3 and 1/2, Kate, age 2 and 1/2, Mason, age 2 and Cooper crawling along behind. Cooper just turned one and crawls 90 mph, but doesn't walk yet. Oh, and Maggie too, who runs in and jumps on the bed to get a better view of little Delaney. So we pop Delaney into bed and everyone says nite-nite to her. Amazingly, she fussed less then a minute and went right to sleep. Some babies take a lot longer to adjust, but not her!

Nicknames

i am a fan of nicknames, and everyone who has come thru child care has earned their own nickname, or names, as the case may be. even some of the grown-ups have nicknames... here is a list for you--please post ones i have forgotten in the comments:
Katie--- "Pookie"
Katie---my daughter Katie--- "Big Katie" (to pookie's "little Katie")  "Kay-kee"
Johnny--- "Yah-yah", "Taco Boy"
Sean-- Johnny used to call him "Ga-gee"
Hannah--- "Hannah-Banana",  "Hannah-Montana"
Ella--- "Ella-bella-bing-bong"
Leah--- "Lee-lee-bada-bing" "Leah-bo-beah"
Jack--- "Jack-jack"
Van--- "Vannie" "Van-man" "Fireman Van" "Policeman Van"
Nell--- "Noonie" (a nickname from home we adopted) "Noonie balloonie" "Nell-Belle"
Anne--- "mamma-jamma"
Chloe-- "Chloers"  "Chloe-DIYanne"
Mason--- "May-may" "Buddy-bud"
Kimmie--- "Kimmers" "Timmers"
Luke-- "Lukers" "Mr Lukers" "lukey-duke"
Jenny--- "Gee-gee"
Gideon--- "Piddy-in-the-peent-milt" "Geh-din-din"
Marisa-- "Miss-misa"
Bess--- "Bessie-boo-boo"
Sean--- again--- "bay-ball" (mason went thru a phase where he would only call sean "bay-ball")
Becca--- "beeeeeka"
Cooper--- "Coop" "Coop-a-doop" "Cooper duper"
Kate--- "Katie K"
Delaney--- "Lanie"  "Winnie" 

other kids who i do not have permission to name by name have been called "-----Bulia" "Grace" "Charlie"
 "-----bo-berra-peanut" "-----bo-berra-peanut-butter-and-jelly" "Frank" "Wibiss" "Day-day"

Another translating story

As a child care provider, I attend a lot of birthday parties for the kids in my care, current and alumni. A few weeks ago, I was at Mason's second birthday party. He is bopping around, like Mason does, good-natured and busy boy. At one point, Grammy was holding him and talking to Mason's Daddy over near the pile of gifts. Mason said "Ah wah opa penneh". They didn't get it, so he said it a few more times. Finally, Grammy brought him over to me. She told me Mason wants SOMETHING but they could not figure it out. So I asked him to tell me. Mason said "AH wan ope penneh". I told them he wanted to open another present. Almost a story you had to be there to appreciate but anyway, there you go.