16-10-2010

Last Sunday on my weekend off, I got some snacks like beso de mozas for the kids.

Lemar´t so happy with his lollipop.

Lemar´t as always sat on my lap.

José Luis drinking milk and not too willing to share with his brother!

When I was setting up for therapy, Lemar´t was all over the toys!

He has his share of milk too!

Brownie day! They started mixing ...

Alonso was in charge of this group including Samanta and Jhonatan.

I held Lemar´t´s hand and whisked so fast that he thought it was very funny.

Franklin´s seeing if the mixture is well blended.

Lemar´t too!

Dough licking time!

Julio licked the dough from the whisk.

The result after all the licking!

Jhonatan and Lemar´t sat next to me, looked excitedly at the brownies in the oven.

Ready to serve with chocolate chips ice-cream, Claudio and Alondra were excited.

So were Alonso and Jhonatan.

José Luis had ice-cream all over his mouth!

Alonso loved the combination of ice-cream and brownie.

This is a long due entry, as I have been wanting to write but never got around to it for a few reasons. For starter, I have started a workout program so hopefully I won´t get sick as easily as before. Also, I have been trying to spend more quality time with the kids because I have only a few months left to be with them. Last week it was my weekend off, but I stayed in the home so that whenever I wanted I could spend time with them. As a result, I almost hit the bed immediately when I returned to the room. Now, I always tried to remember what they say, do, their tone of voice, their facial expressions so that I will always remember.

Lemar´t has been really clingy to me, and if I went somewhere I would need to explain to him for a while before I left. Well, most of the time he would want to go with me, otherwise he would cry. Whenever someone asked him to go with them, he would shake his head and look really annoyed. Also, even if he wanted to go play, if I needed to do something like doing my laundry or getting something from my room, he would rather go with me and waited for me. I really don´t know how to leave him when the time come! I also put them to bed very frequently, and he would fight with other kids to get me to his bed first! Sometimes I put others to sleep first, and he would wait and consistently asked me to come. After lots of giggling, millions of kisses and hugging, he would fall asleep fast in my arms. Jenny also clings to me a lot. Tonight when I put her to sleep, she rather held me really tight than falling asleep, and she told me, "Te quiero mucho, Tío Ryan" (I love you very much). I told her that I love her too. It was so sweet, and she has grown up a lot too as she couldn´t say a lot before, and she has gained a good sense of security now. Alonso also has been very attached to me, which is quite surprising as he used to say that he wanted to sleep by himself.

Francesco was super excited as his elder brother, Nelson, came to the home last week. He´s twelve and very unlike Francesco in many ways. His manner is very proper and he is very mature. Obviously he used to take care of the small ones in their home. When he arrived last week at night, he was introduced at dinner. He was literally shivering when he first came in. But he settled in quite well and now he told me he´s very happy to be here. He was also so sweet, as one evening after dinner when I walked up to my room, I heard a voice saying, "Tío Ryan!" It was a very familiar voice, and I thought it was Francesco, but it turned out to be Nelson! I was quite shocked, as at that point I didn´t introduce myself properly to him yet, and he already knew my name. I was really impressed and I chatted with him for a while and told him that we are all here for him. He is super brotherly to Francesco too. Whenever Francesco´s table manner wasn´t very good, he would remind him to behave well. But at the same time, he would take care of him so much that I was really touched. For instance, there was a piece of bread that Francesco wanted to eat, he rather gave it all to Francesco and he didn´t eat any if he wanted some! With this kind of disposition, I really hope that he can take advantage of this environment and study hard and achieve high goals in the future. He loves to play football, and he´s in the right place as many kids here love to play as well.

Cristina and I had planned something special for kinder, which was making brownies with them. We think baking is always a fun thing for kids to do, and obviously they had never done it before. They were all very excited to bake and do all the mixing of the delicious ingredients. We divided them into small groups so that it was easier to handle. My group was Lemar´t, Jhosmelyr and Franklin. They were actually very proper although there was occasional fight for the whisk. They really enjoyed the process, especially the dough licking part as all kids do. I was so glad that they had this experience as baking is just great for kids to learn. Before we served it, I went to town and got some ice-cream to go with the brownie, which is an essential part for the whole dessert experience. I went to the ice-cream shop where they just sell cones usually, and I asked for the whole bucket. At first he didn´t want to sell as he didn´t know how to charge me. But I was really insistent and finally we worked it out. The kids were really excited as they didn´t we would get ice-cream too. It´s just the best combination to have brownie and ice-cream together. Before we had dinner, I let them watch Cinderella. I was really uncomfortable as I had Lemar´t and Jhonatan sitting on my lap, José Luis laying on my legs, Marcos leaning on my left arm and Jenny wrapping around me on my back! But I just let them as I did enjoy being with all of them together even though my bones hurt and my legs numbed!