Autumn On The Mind

October 1, 2010

The last few days have felt a bit like rainy autumn days because the rains have brought in much cooler temperatures. Days like these make me long for the changes of autumn such as the beautiful colors,the shorter days (days here in Central America are always short), and the seasonal fruits and vegetables. Over the past 3months I have been reading "Charlotte's Web" with one of the girls here at the home to work on her reading comprehension. We finished the book this week and so today I took advantage of the fact that they had no school (because of the rains and flooding earlier in the week) to invite her over to my apartment to watch the movie. Even though the movie was in English with Spanish subtitles (and she cannot read quickly enough to keep up with the words) she enjoyed the movie and really the chance to get some special, individual attention. Since the movie and book speak about friendship and what is a loyal friend, we had some good moments discussing what it means to be a good friend. Anyway, within the book and movie, there are many references to autumn, the fall fairs, and such, so I am excited to be heading north next week to experience some of those things.

Tomorrow is the day of change in the girls' home. They are moving the rooms around and mixing up the groups. I plan to take at least three of the younger girls to my apartment for the morning so give the adults more freedom to get things done. If I am feeling particularly adventurous and energetic, I may bring five of them, but I am not so sure about that. I have been pretty tired the last few days trying to recover from lack of sleep earlier in the week. The new tia is settling in to the routine at the home and the changing of rooms will help to finalize the adjustments to the groups. The youngest two groups of girls have been united into one large group of seven girls. That group will be quite a handful to say the least.

About a week and a half ago I watched the two two year old boys at my apartment one morning while their tias went to a school event of the other boy in their care. I had toddler-proofed the apartment by taking away all of the glass items and electronics that did not have to out in the open. I remember with fondness making tents out of sheets draped over the furniture from my childhood so I did that in between the living and dining room. Ricardo crawled under it for a little bit but then while I was giving Emanuel some water, Ricardo decided to crawl on the armchair instead and from there stretch out on the sheet. Only he quickly discovered that the sheet was not solid material and he slowly fell to the floor while I watched from a distance, unable to get there in time to prevent his fall. Apparently he has had quite a few bumps to the head in the past because this one did not phase him for long. I decided though that maybe it would be better to go play at the park and so off we went to spend the rest of the morning on the swings, merry-go-round, and watching a bunch of ladies do some exercise routine ont he basketball court. The worst thing that happened at the park was Ricardo getting rather dirty, but then that is what little boys love to do so it was not a big deal.

I will definitely miss the children while I am in PA and Honduras but I know that time will pass quickly and soon I will be back working with them in some way whether it be in homework, reading, play, or group therapy times.