One of the babies, Claudio. 
Ahias being funny by stuffing toying in his tee after our psychology class.
Little Alonso was ready for going to the pool.I spent almost the whole day with the kids in kinder, because we were short of labor and they also wanted me to observe and give suggestions to improve their day-to-day behaviors. And so I was there to help. It took a lot of energy out of me as many of them need behavioral modification! And also, their cognitive, academic and psychological development are very much behind in general. In fact, it´s true to the older kids as well. Most of them have been neglected, abandoned or even abused, and they didn´t have proper education prior to arriving the homes. For instance, a 15-year-old boy would act like 6 sometimes, or the 8-year-olds still aren´t toilet-trained properly, or still don´t know all the colors and numbers, nor to tell times. In fact, it´s so sad to know that most of their IQ scores are well below average, to the point that it´s indicated mental retardation. Obviously, they aren´t, but it just shows how late their developments are. There are lots of work to be done, and I´m glad we have a team here to help them.
Tonight after dinner we celebrated Axel's birthday, who is our house director Catalina's son. She bought 3 cakes and a few bottles of sodas to share with the kids, and everyone enjoyed it. Lemar't and Jhonatan couldn´t be sweeter as they held up their forks with some cakes and shared their cakes with me while I was serving the treats to other kids. So later when I got mine too, I shared with them too.
Hey Ryan
ReplyDeleteHappy Chinese New Year! I hope you have a Healthy and Happy New Year!.
Love the pictures, and seeing what you are up to in the other parts of the world. Love the hiking, and everyday living self help skills the boys are doing! learning life skills but still capturing and holding onto the precious innocence of the child.
Hey Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your wishes, and I wish your New Year of Tiger be healthy and happy too!
Yeah sometimes I feel they´re doing too much, but it´s just because I´m used to kids doing nothing, you know what I mean? haha well, of course you know. Anyway, they are good skills and habits to learn from young, and I try to make it seem more fun while we´re doing it. We have music on, take turns, and shine the floor with wax with dancing....it´s funny, we put wax and some rags on the floor, and then dance on the rags. It´s actually kinda fun!
Hee Ryan, just remember we have had it hard as a child as an adult and we turned out alright, so it's never too much work hee hee.
ReplyDeleteIt's really cold in H.K and this is wierd coming from someone who was borne and bred in the ice age cold cold U.K, but your words and picture takes me momentarily away from the cold, so make sure you catch us up with what's going on where you are.
Kat