Diminutives

Now to talk about a subject near and dear to my heart.  Diminutives!  Bolivians love 'em!  English doesn't really have them, at least not to the same extent.  Diminutives basically function by making anything and everything little/cute/friendly/a term of endearment.  Basic structure:
Spanish word + ito/ita/cito/cita
Examples:
pan (bread) + cito= pancito
perro (dog) + ito=perrito
Mamá + ita= Mamita
Lauren + ita= Laurenita

See how fun?!
The weird thing is, you can basically use diminutives ALWAYS.  For example, you can call your parents Mamita and Papito to show you love them.  Or parents can call their kids Mamita and Papito to show they love them.  I call the kids in the preschool 'papito' when I forget their names.  My friend's host mom called a random little boy on the micro 'papito' when she asked him to close the window.  SO VERSATILE.  Food isn't particularly cute or little, but we always have jugito (instead of jugo), ensaladita (instead of ensalada), and fideito (instead of fideo).  TOTALLY going to miss this in the US (or maybe I'll bring it back..?)

GOTTA ADD THIS:
Just had a convo with my 15-year old host brother about brigadeiros (sp?).  They're chocolate yum surrounding an almond, with sugar on the outside.  Like so.

 
Our conversation went (it's better in Spanish):

Andrés: Parece como popo de león.

Me: Pero con azucar.

Andrés: Si. Y un nuez adentro.

In English:

Andrés: They look like lion poop.
Me: But with sugar.
Andrés: Yeah. And a nut inside.