Upside Down Cats

The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)



As a daycare provider I eagerly take on the responsibility of teaching children the basics of how to be nice people. Now that the youngest of our little daycare family is two years old, we are focusing more on behavior - and less on diapers (and I am not complaining about that!).

I am currently trying to teach my group of daycare children to choose to do the right thing...cooperation, altruism, the golden rule and all that rot...

Continue reading "Gina's Quotes Du Jour (Wordsworth & McCartney)" »

Submitted for your approval: Gina's Quote Du Jour 4/10/08

The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any. - Fred Astaire

I had no idea the talented Mr Astaire was so astute...

My Sweetie Scott found this quote quoted on Execupundit recently and he knew I would want to comment on it.

Scott knows how I feel about manners - or the lack of them. It's a common topic of conversation when I return home from battling the crowds at the grocery store or debrief after a day spent with the children in my daycare.

I usually come home from my weekly excursion to the supermarket completely frustrated with the state of humanity. What a collection of selfish, clueless idiots I encounter! That's all it takes...two hours among the general public to convince me that the human race is headed down the tubes...

Continue reading "Lost (Manners) In The Supermarket" »

Ah, the life of a cat in a home daycare...



















K and Abbey























M and Cooper



There's always lots of love going both ways. Hopefully the children gain and learn as much from the cats as the cats gain and learn from their little friends.

Being a daycare provider, I hear many interesting things come out of the mouths of the children for whom I care. Recently the children have provided an abundance of verbal gems! I thought they'd make fun reading for a Monday.

Continue reading "My Glamorous Profession" »

I seem to have a never-ending supply of cute quotes from my little daycare children!

In today's installment of Too Cute! we find a three-year-old girl playing with a doll and combing her hair. Apparently, the doll's hair was tangled - in knots - if you will.

With a determined look on her face and comb in hand, I heard her declare, "She's got nuts in her hair!"

You may have noticed that I haven't posted much this week.

By way of explanation, it has been a busy and emotionally draining week for me. I have felt that I was too distracted by one issue to be able to focus on anything else. I've been blocked from writing by this monolith, and I couldn't see around it.

Last night it finally occurred to me... The only way to get past feeling overwhelmed by it IS TO WRITE ABOUT IT! It is going to take the thought process I use to write to lead me through the quagmire of my emotions and make some sense of it all.

Shall we proceed into the inner workings of my mind?

(Be careful...It's slippery when wet...)

Continue reading "My Adverse Reaction" »

The only real job I've ever had is child daycare provider... In fact, I've been practicing at this career for over twenty years now!

No, I don't believe I'm insane for choosing to do this for what is - so far - my life's work. Some days, however, I feel that the job itself may just cause insanity...at least of the temporary kind!

Sometimes the only way to combat the stress of dealing with children - other people's children whom you can't stuff in a closet - is to laugh...and laugh...and laugh some more...

Continue reading "I'm Gonna Go To Daycare Provider Hell For This!" »

Today is the third birthday of a little girl in my daycare. This morning she was playing with one of our teddy bears who had developed a small rip in his shoulder seam and was losing some stuffing. When she first saw the stuffing, I heard her say something about "germs." She apparently had it in her mind that the stuffing bits that were escaping from the bear were "germs."

I didn't give it much thought, though, until she came up to me with a handful of stuffing, announcing, "Gina, I don't like Germans...they're yucky!"

This was disappointing news for me, because both of my grandmothers were of German descent...!

Update...the aforementioned teddy bear has received eight stitches to close his wound by the extremely competent stuffed animal emergency room surgeon-on-call, Dr. Gina.

He is expected to make a complete recovery.

Deciding to have a baby is a monumental affair! Adding a baby to the mix changes the dynamics of established relationships within the family, routines and schedules. As the arrival of a baby is anticipated, mental and physical preparations are made so that when the little one arrives, everything and everyone is ready to accept the joys - and responsibilities - that go along with him or her...

I know this is not news to anyone who has a family...

Continue reading "I'm Expecting A Baby...Tomorrow!" »

I'm honestly not sure if today's installment should be titled Too Cute! or Too Sad...!

A five-year-old girl in my daycare saw the Spicy Barbecue Chicken Wings - left over from the previous night's dinner - that I was eating with my lunch. She asked what they were, then asked if I got them from a restaurant. I told her, "No, I cooked them myself." (See, I told you we ate last week, even if I didn't post the menu here!)

She stood watching me eat for a couple minutes, then she asked, "How did you get the bones in them?"

Is it really possible that she has never seen chicken wings that didn't come from a restaurant? How sad would that be? I have previously ranted on the subject of children becoming increasingly disconnected from the food they eat. So I will spare you my diatribe...

But seriously...how can she not know that bones are not an addition to a wing...?