Yesterday I was invited to "cut the cake" for Daniel (Belinda's son) at 7 pm at Jairo and Lourdes's house. When I got there at 7 Lourdes and Jairo had gone to buy the cake. Nobody eats homemade cakes but me in Honduras. Birthday cakes are always purchased. Finally Lourdes and Jairo got home at 8:30 with tons of food to cook a full dinner. We didn't cut the cake until about 10 pm. Now I know that if someone invites me to "cut the cake" I should arrive hungry.
As I pulled into the church it struck me how awesome the whole Breakfast Program is. The church was full of kids playing - all doing their own thing. Cindy (the girl who fell out of the tree and smashed her head) is growing so quickly that people keep mistaking her for her older sister. She is all arms and legs. Cindy strolls around with a sense of self assurance she never had before. As I parked and looked around Cindy strolled out of Eunice's office - part of the morning rituals - everyone passes through Eunice's office to say good morning. I swear that girl has grown a foot in the past month.
Ana, Marlin's friend, was cooking tacos in the kitchen since Marlin was in the hospital. She seemed happy to be hard at work. Belinda set up an office for herself. It looks really nice. She was in there playing music and working. I confessed to Belinda that I really want to read the new bible to the kids, but I am not the best at reading out loud in Spanish. I asked if she thought any of the older kids might be a good reader. She thought of a few kids, then settled on Maria. I have seen Maria, she always says hello to me, but she has not been coming to the Breakfast Program very long so I don't know her well. Belinda called Maria into the office, handed her King James bible in Spanish and asked her to start reading at a certain verse. After she finished the first sentence I knew she was our girl, but she read for a while, not knowing why we had called her there. After she finished Belinda explained that I need someone to help me.
Maria and I went to the classroom and I showed her the preschool bible. I explained that we are not in a hurry. We want to stop every few sentences and ask the kids questions to be sure they are paying attention and understand. I asked her to integrate counting and identifying colors whenever we can. She got it. Then I came up with the idea that when the kids get wiggly, they can go to their seats and draw a picture of the story we just read. If we draw after each section that we read and put all of the drawings together, they will have drawings to illustrate the whole bible! Sounds like a cool idea to me - their own, personally illustrated bibles.
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| Samuel and the class's new bible |
Lunch was such a hit today the kids asked for seconds, which they never do. Samuel, our pickiest eater, finished his first plate of chicken tacos and was done with the second before anyone else. A few hours later he asked me for toilet paper. I checked on him to be sure he was okay. He was sitting on the toilet with the most horrible look on his face and said, "My stomach is FULL of food!" That boy is so funny!
Yesterday Belinda told me she was worried about Lorenzo. I used to work 1-1 with Lorenzo, but when Lourdes stopped coming to the Breakfast Program we stopped doing that because the kids had to leave after they ate. Belinda asked if I would work with Lorenzo. I told her I would love to start working with him again! When Lorenzo came I told him to eat, then play for a while, and afterward we would have class. He is way behind in school. I think he has some memory problems, probably from malnutrition. We worked on identifying A-J. He can't even recite the alphabet. We looked at pictures and tried to identify the first letter. He got a few of those right with lots of help. I told him we will be together in the class every day for 10-15 minutes. Even if I didn't teach him anything, 1-1 time is always good for Lorenzo. I like it too.
After everyone else had gone, Belinda asked me to bathe Misael. When Samuel saw that Misael was getting a bath Samuel wanted to join in. I was fine with that because I am still a little uncomfortable being one on one with nude little kids. I have the North American mind set that I don't want to put myself in a situation where someone might say or think I am doing anything wrong. In Honduras it is normal for a lady to bathe other people's kids. I am just not used to it. Having Samuel there too made me more comfortable. I tried to prop the door open, but it wouldn't stay. So I said out loud, "Washing your hair, your ears, your neck..." The boys giggled and exclaimed "Que rico!" as I poured buckets of refreshing water over their heads.
I made a point to say that they would wash their own private parts. When I finished Samuel's mom was outside washing her own hair. I told her I am not accustomed to bathing other people's kids. She said it is good that people in the US have the mentality to protect their kids. I took both boys out into the sunshine and covered them in lotion in front of Samuel's mother and brother. They love getting baths! This may become a daily ritual now that we have water in the rainy season. I am going to bring some lavender baby lotion tomorrow.
Before Meylin left for school I called Marlin and let her talk to her kids. She talked to Belinda for a long time too. Belinda said that Marlin is doing much better physically, but is sad. She started eating yesterday and today she even felt hungry. She thought she might be discharged tomorrow after taking her last dose of medicine.
However, a few hours later Marlin called to say that she was being discharged today. Then she called to say she needed someone to pay for her to get out of the hospital and buy her meds. Belinda and I went to get Marlin. It was a long and ridiculous process. They wouldn't let us in to get Marlin out! Finally Belinda got in. They didn't have the meds Marlin needed. We tried to drive home in rush hour traffic. It was horrific. Finally we made it to Los Pinos as the sun was going down. Belinda went up to Marlin's house because the crazy hospital forgot to take the IV needle thing out of Marlin's hand so Belinda had to do it. We got home after 7 p.m. hungry, but safe and sound.
Clara did not get admitted to the hospital today because she was late for her appointment. We don't know if she will be admitted tomorrow or not. I am excited to work on the second page of the kids' bibles with them tomorrow and have some 1-1 time with Lorenzo. If the boys want baths I will be prepared with lavender lotion.
