P.H.O.N.E.

June 13, 2011

Busy Bee Camp -Day #2

Before my first day of camp, my cousins briefed me on some of the Busy Bees, and it has taken me a few days since to put together all of the names and anecdotes with their faces. This last Monday I noticed a new face in the group. He was a two year old named Bobby. I know better than to say this, I will go ahead and do it anyway, but Bobby is probably the cutest little guy at camp. His face is too much: big brown eyes, brown hair, and he has the best little kid voice ever!

 It was early in the day when Bobby came up to me and asked, “Do you have your P.H.O.N.E?” I think I asked him to repeat that three times because I just couldn’t quite figure it out. Was he really? No.  I said, “My phone?” He nodded and then asked if I had any pockets, which was followed by a pat down where one would normally find pockets. I was wearing an adorable golf skirt that day, so I told him no.  Bobby then said, “Did you leave it at home?”  I said yes. He then asked, “Did you leave your Ipod at home too?” 

In his pocket, Bobby carries around a green, flat block which he refers to as his P.H.O.N.E.  He even goes so far as to treat the “phone” as if it has a touch screen, and you can see his tiny fingers slide across the “screen” as if moving from page to page.  He even goes so far as to turn his “phone” sideways in order to “text.”

Later I figured out who Bobby Busy Bee was from my cousin’s descriptions. It just so happens that Bobby’s parents had to remove or hide all the electronics in their house. In particular, Bobby has a fascination with cell phones.  Everyday Bobby asks the teachers and other counselors if they have their cell phone. He will pick your pockets like a tiny gypsy if he knows that you have one.  I just couldn’t get over watching him pretend to use a cell phone, watching his tiny fingers, which are always covered in drool, by the way, move across the block as if scrolling through a touch screen. Bobby’s parents started to spell the word phone instead of saying it, but, obviously, he caught on.