24-7-2010

Jhonatan enjoyed his freshly fried hot papa frita!

While waiting for the dishes, they both made silly faces all the time.

José Luis found another smaller triángulo.

They both screamed "triángulo¨ when they saw this sign, and ran into it immediately.

We stopped by the bakery and had some juice and cookies.

After cleaning up the room this morning, I took the twins out for the family outing. With the twins, they were so eager and it was definitely more fun! As a behaviorist, of course I did something that would make other kids jealous! Actually the volunteers had agreed that we won´t spend too much money each time as we don´t want it to become neither a spending spree nor a competition among volunteers, nor loss of the original purpose, a family getting together and enjoying each other´s company. But I had to do this outrageously for the sake of behavioral modification of the elder kids. Plus, I can´t deny that I am biased with the twins (also Lemar´t)!

First, we went for a walk, seeing different things, and they made a lot of comments of the things we saw. Because time was short and I wanted to take them on a motor-taxi, so we hopped on one. They were a bit scared at first, but they enjoyed it very much after a short while. Upon arrival in the village, we stopped by the bakery and had some cookies and juice. They often asked me to pick them up, especially when they saw big dogs around or whenever they feel like hugging. Although they were a bit heavy together, I really did enjoy having both of them in my arms together.

We ended our little outing with a pollo a la brasa (roasted chicken) meal. There were many ¨firsts¨ in this little venture. For starter, this was the first time they had this, and I wanted to take them there because I always find this place serving some of the most delicious I have ever had and I want them to try too. When they saw the sauce dishes (there were four kinds), they were a bit scared and didn´t want to try as they never knew them before. So I explained to them what kind of sauces there were, and we counted on the colors too which was a little educational and fun. They were too wary to try any of those, but at the end they tried ketchup which Jhonatan liked but not so much with José Luis. Suddenly, José Luis wanted to do No. 2, and this time I had to clean him up! This is the first time that I cleaned some kid´s bottom, and I managed to conquer one of my greatest fears! After he was done, we went back to the table and soon the food arrived, and fortunately the former incident didn´t spoil the appetite too much. They were so psyched to have French fries and a large piece of roasted chicken. For drinks, I let them choose between Inca Cola and Coca Cola, and they chose the latter. They never had much choices in their lives, and I felt like giving them choices is what a dad or mom would do with their kids. By the end, they actually said ¨mi barriga llena (my tummy is full) ¨ while they were holding their stomach with a frown (by the way it was really cute), which was the first time I have ever heard of them saying! Also, I had done something I would have never done for myself or anyone. While we were having the meal, there were a couple bees flying around our food and us, and the twins of course were a bit scared. I was so worried that they would sting them, so I forcefully pushed them away with my arm. Fortunately I had long sleeves on, but I would have never done it if it weren´t for them. It was definitely a fun and memorable afternoon with so many firsts. And they were all good.