Summer Fun - Day 3

Well, yesterday was another fun day here at COTP. I got to spend more time with Noah. I've discovered that it's much better to take a few kids over by the guest house patio than to try to see Noah over at the baby house. Every time I walk over to the baby house, I feel like I create complete chaos because so many of the kids just want to be held and want your attention. There is a group of probably seven or eight in each room that just mob me whenever I come by. They try to climb onto me, cling to my legs, knock each other over to get to me, and, if they don't get picked up, they cry - and when I say cry, I mean CRY! I end up causing four or five meltdowns whenever I go over there and it just makes me feel so bad. I'm always looking at the nannies thinking, "I'm so sorry - I know I'm just making life difficult for you." Noah is not one of the clingers. He sits off to the side and just watches me or plays quietly. When I go over to him, he looks up at me and gives me his little hand, ready to go where I want to go. I think he's figured out that when I come he gets to go over to the other building - he always seems happy to come with me. A couple of times, I've caught him looking at me and I think, "Does he know?" I doubt he really realizes who I am, but it's nice to feel that connection without having to worry about forming a bond that's going to get broken when I leave.

So, yesterday, I took several of the kids over to the guest house porch and we sang some little songs and I had them show me where their eyes are, where their ears are, etc. It's cute how eager they are to please. I had such a hard time coralling them, though. They wait to see how much they can get away with with the visitor! One of Noah's nannies came over to help out and they listened to her so well! I had been telling them (in Creole) to sit the whole time. She came over and told them once and they all sat right down. I was so impressed! After a little while, we decided to get the play dough out. It was really fun to watch Noah play and to see how he interacts with the other kids. He is a really low-key boy. He plays so nicely and is so focused on what he's doing. At one point, some of the kids had kind of lost interest in their play dough and he just started gathering it all for himself. He had a huge pile of play dough in front of him for awhile there.

Later, one of Noah's nannies, Rose Carmen, put my hair in braids. One of the older boys, Jesse (who speaks wonderful English) kept telling me, "Rose Carmen is going to do your hair later. She's going to do your hair later!" I couldn't tell if she was telling him that or if he was just saying it, but I guess it came from her. She was really sweet and my braids look great! I'll upload pictures when I get home.

While Rose Carmen was finishing my hair, Elly (one of the other volunteers) brought some of the kids to go in the kiddie pools. They love them! Noah kept jumping in the air and crashing down into the pool on his bottom. He definitely loves the water - I can't wait till he can go in our pool! These kids are not afraid to get water on their faces at all. They pour cups of waters over their heads and throw it at each other. So much fun! When the older kids came over, the boys were all singing and dancing in the pool - so cute!! Emmanuel especially was putting on a show for me - doing all these cute funny little dances. It's amazing how many of the kids I still recognize from when we were here two years ago. Some of them still look the same!

In the evening, I spent my time at the guest house. A few of the smaller babies stay at the guest house with the volunteers. I am incredibly in love with Daniella! She is five-and-a-half months old and only weighs 6 lbs 13 oz. She is just about the sweetest thing you've ever seen!! The volunteers keep teasing me that I'm going to have to adopt her. :-) I told them it would never work because I already have a Danielle, but they say I would just have to call her Ella.

I had one of the babies - Nikenson - sleep in my room last night, but I was pleasantly surprised that he didn't wake up until 3:30 AM. So, I actually got some decent sleep last night. And now I'm ready to go play today!!