Kids On The Bus, "Little Hearts"

Darling Hubby John calls the kids on his new bus, “little hearts”.   I knew he was more friend than father to our boys, but I didn’t know just how much he loved having children until he retired from his warehouse job.

Darling Hubby has posted at the front of his long yellow bus three rules -- Be Respectful to the Bus Driver, Remain Seated, and Use Quiet Voices.  You’ll remember these because I'm going to tell you about Colbert.

Since Darling Hubby had had a bad backache on Monday, he missed work so the children had a substitute bus driver.  The new driver, also named John, was 20 minutes late.  Alice told hime so, she wasn’t happy.

Colbert, another young rider, told Darling Hubby the rest of the story.

He stood at the top of the steps, using his excited voice.

“We’re glad you’re back.   The other John just yells at us all the time.  He yells on his microphone to “SIT DOWN!”

“And Donny kept spitting.  And T.J. yelled a lot.  And Alice wouldn’t sit down.”

Now, I’ve got to tell you that there are 4 older boys who are in charge of the emergency back door and that there are 2 boxes of lost and found sweaters with gloves resting under the back seat.   One of the boxes also holds a wind-up rubber black spider.

So, Colbert’s telling Darling Hubby,  “Your boys in the back got the big spider out and made the girls scream.  The girls go nuts!  It’s just too noisy.  It’s just too crazy back there!  I’m glad you’re back.“

Want to hear about Little Tyke?  On Hubby’s route he has a preschooler, who doesn’t like being separated from the rest of the boys.   Little Tyke’s separated because state law says at his age he has to be secured in a booster seat.  It’s sure aggravating this very energetic boy.  

Like yesterday, he was aggravated at his friend who wouldn’t let him finish a game on his Kindle, so he started spitting.  Another time he pulled out all his shoelaces.  Some days when he’s really frustrated his boots come off and get flung up and over his head into the seat behind him!   Can’t you just imagine a tiny preschooler trying to exert control over his space; you’ve got to smile knowing he’s a fizzling fireball with very little impact.

Darling Hubby also has a boy named Parker, actually he’s the oldest boy on the bus, and he was upset at not being chosen to be a keeper of the back door. Hubby told him he needed to act more responsible like the other older boys.  So, Parker decided to prove himself and volunteered to take care of the blind girl!   

Those acts just makes the heart more endeared to the little ones, right?  

They came on the bus at Christmastime, the most rambunctious of them, and gave Darling Hubby homemade cookies; delicious, even though the icing has smeared into unrecognizable designs.  They handed him notes from their mothers thanking him, with enclosed gift cards.  Others gave him small wrapped presents (including sneezing fits and seven day colds, ugh).

All those antics keep Darling John in love with his “little hearts”.

Oh, oh, oh, I must tell you before signing off, the story that jolts Darling Hubby John the most.  This will make you burst out laughing.

Primary girl, Lucy, was chewing on a red-hot fireball.  She came up to the trashcan, spit in it with gusto, and with a “Whoosh-thunk” said, “That was hot!”  Then quickly turned to John, head on, face-to-face, opened her mouth and blew out her breath, “Here!  Wanna smell?”