Summertime

One of my favorite things about summertime is that there are rarely ever tons of kids at Bobbie's house. After such busy-ness during the school year, it is nice to slow down, catch-up and recharge. Most of the kids I have taken care of are teachers kids, so summers are, in a word, great.
When I do have "drop-ins" during the summer, the days are very relaxed. We have a smaller group, sometimes just one family of two or three kids. One favored activity is taking Maggie down the the creek down the street. The kids stand on the teeny sandy dirt beach and throw sticks or take turns throwing Maggie's floating toy for her to go and get. It is a lot of fun watching the dog in the water. There are also usually fun things to see like teeny fish, and occasionally, ducks or teeny crabs. After that comes the "long" walk home, giving Maggie a bath in the backyard and finally, a freezie pop!

Playing School

One thing I think is funny is how the kids LOVE to play school when they have time off from school. The best is when teachers give the kids old worksheets toward the end of the school year. Katie especially used to love to help her teachers clean out their rooms and would come home with reams worth of old papers! She is still a bit like that, check out her blog, www.theorganizedpackrat.blogspot.com. Anyway, Hannah loved to be the teacher, she is a natural born leader I would say...instigator, others might say... Even as old as fifth grade, Alice and Hannah were still playing school When Alice got tired of it, she would just start being silly and Hannah would send her to the principal (Bobbie). There was a phase when Leah was the oldest one here that she was the teacher. Everyday. I would have to "drive" Nell and Van to school, from the couch in the TV room. She would come get them from "carpool" and walk them into "school" which was the living room. They would have to stay "buckled" until she can and got them. When Mason was paying attention, he got to ride along, but being two years younger, had to stay with Bobbie and couldn't go to school. Mason would be in charge of the keys though (upcoming blog about key obsessions) and Van would make sure i knew which couch cushion to plug the keys into. Leah would play school all day if she could, Nell was the best stunt as long as Leah gave her papers to color. Van was always ready to get picked back up from carpool and go "home" to the other room and tell me all about his day at "school".

Family Ties

This one is actually a follow-up to last week. There are many families who have had more than one child here at Bobbie's house. Which is a lot of fun to see them grow and see the school age kids come back. My sibling families are:
Pookie and Johnny
Hannah, Ella and Leah
Alice and Vada
Jack, Van and Nell
Chloe and Mason
Cooper and the newest one, Avery
One of my favorite times is "Camp Bobbie" in the summer, one week where it is only big kids, no babies, no diapers and no having to run your day around naptime...though i DO love naptime...which was a whole other blog. Not sure what this blog is about other than the sibling thing.

letting go

My Dad once asked me how I managed to"let go" of these kiddos once they started kindergarten and left "Bobbie's House". It occured to me that it IS a bit sad, that they grow up and get to go to school all day instead of being here with me.  But at the same time, I am in denial about them leaving. It's like they are not ever really gone. I really don't often say "goodbye" to the littles. They just grow and become "big kids" in middle school and high school with cell phones  that they text me on at least once a week. They come back every summer for a couple weeks, they come to Christmukkah, they come to family celebrations, like graduation parties. So, though they are not here every day, they stay in my heart. So when they come back, or I run into them around town, the goodness is still there. So Dad, there is your answer, I love them too much to ever let them go completely. Just ask my own kids! I live in denial-- Katie was not out of the country for three years, Sean did not just graduate from college and Jenny doesnot live in Philly! They just are not home right now--

Going to the Zoo

One of my favorite field trips is going to the Zoo. Partly cuz there is that really cute and annoying song about "going to the zoo-zoo-zoo, how about you-you-you" and partly cuz the kids have so much fun. One of my favorite zoo stories is when Ella was about 2 and a half. We were all at the zoo, Jenny and I took Hannah, Alice, Ella & Vada. We were over by the lions and tigers and next to them are the giraffes. After an eventful observation of the lion, who roared really loud at us, we went around to see the giraffes. (my personal favorites, not sure why, other than they don't eat other animals and they are really tall and i always wanted to be tall) So we are watching the giraffes and the lion starts roaring again. I told Ella that he was roaring cuz he wondered where she had gone. I told her she better "roar" back. So she did, a very load sound from such a tiny person. Then the lion roared again and Ella roared again. Then here comes one of the giraffes, right over to Ella. It got very close, pulling its head down toward here, like it was trying to figure out where that really load sound was coming from. It was a great photo op, which i missed, but a great memory!

Friends

We sing this song, "friends, friends, one-two- three, all my friends are here with me" and then we name everyone in the house, including the pets..."Maggie's my friend, Jack's my friend, Nell's my friend, Mason's my friend, Bobbie's my friend..." you get the idea.

But where do we go and what do we do when our friends don't act like our friends? Well, we cry, pout, tattle, grunt, yell, AND the all time most horrible response anyone can give...

"YOU CAN'T COME TO MY BIRTHDAY!!!"

That is the most terrifying thing that can happen, that someone does not get to come to their friends birthday. Some kids use this threat daily to get their way, with other kids it pops up once in a great while....
SO--- to give a funny example, Van was yelling about something I was doing that was annoying him (like I don't even remember what, maybe I told him the sky was blue) and he whipped out the "YOU can't come to MY birthday". Well, I decided to tell him that was fine cuz HE can't come to MY BIRHTDAY. "Well", Van said, "you don't have birthdays cuz you're old-- you're a grandma" (which I am OLD, but most certainly AM NOT a grandma....)

Anyway, i guess i "got told"

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?