Just Another Manic Monday.....

Ahh Monday! Refreshed and determined to get a day where my hair isn't pulled out by dear Vallie, we headed upstairs to Mickey Mouse hall. There wasn’t a worker for our room today today. I’m not really sure why either. The other MM room workers just took over and that was that. Changes really seem to affect Vallie the most. She was super aggressive today...like over the top, first week aggresssive which looked really bad in front of the workers for me. Pretty sure it was because she was out of sync with her normal routine. We also spent the whole time outside, and the last hour with kids who weren’t even “ours”. Working inside is much easier so we can focus on the kids and the goals we've set for them. I’m glad the kids get to be outside, but it’s really not that fun for them. The workers try to keep most of the kids tied into swings and hold the others that are mobile. I understand there are a lot of kids to keep track of, but it’s really not that stimulating for kids to be outside if they have to stay within 15 feet of the workers, keep their sun hats on (hopeless), and have nothing to play with. It's a never ending battle. The minute Vallie is left outside with a hat on and an intern, it's like a game to keep her hat on. And the workers look at us like we're the ones taking them off. Sheesh! I guess we live to tell about it though after....

At the hospital today, Rosemary and I went to the 8th floor to see the same kids we saw on Friday. The little girl was still sucking/playing with her glass bottle from lunch a little while before. I guess she's been there since Cosmina left. She's from an orphanage and has got to be in there for some sort of nasty cold or bronchitis as she can barely breathe. She has two pillows and a sheet on her bed. No toys, no pictures, no stimulation to keep this poor girl occupied during the day. I seriously thought of leaving Bert behind for her and just hoping he didn’t disappear in the next day, but I was pretty sure he would. I’m not sure if she anticipated me leaving but towards the end of the day, she just turned away from me and was content just laying there. We had to leave early anyways because our professor was calling us to talk about our goals we emailed her so it was a good time to leave when the nurse had brought her a bottle with milk this time (instead of pureed mashed potatoes or something like that). I went down the hall to the room Rosemary was in with the other little boy who is going to be sent to a "placement center" aka orphanage. She was feeding him and I took over. After spending a few minutes feeding our little monkey/skeleton/baby boy, we headed back down the hill towards home.

I was actually really proud of myself with the conversation I had with Roberta. I worried she would tell me my goals were to high, or that they were too vague. I still have some changes to make before sending the final draft in for a grade. But she seemed impressed by my goals. The trick is sticking to them. I'll have to work hard and if I make enough progress, show off by posting them in a few weeks :)

Stefana (thanks Sarah!) they say she's three.....which is either wrong or sad considering she wears a size 2 diaper...Mom's is that normal ? PS Yes that is Bert making a cameo appearance in the left side. =) So glad I brought that guy a long! Kids love him.
This little baby is bundled and you can't tell but he is a living skeleton...at 3 months! His shoulder width is the length of my two pointer fingers!...if that. He has long sideburns and the cutest brown crossed eyes ever.