Evan and the Babies: Pa to Steve and Lorraine

On Friday night, I said "pa" (good bye) to Steve and Lorraine. I think they understood that I was going to pass on breakfast with them at 7 am on Saturday as they were off to catch the 8 am train to Bucharest. I am sure Steve is already looking forward to his 13th trip next September. Lorraine said she was happy to see where Steve has been coming all these years.

We had a great day on Friday. Perfect weather and got to take most of the children outside in the afternoon. And, to top it off Nicoletta returned from the hospital! No sniffles or coughs but a face full of mosquito bites. She is beautiful anyway and it is nice to have her back although she won't be in the play room for awhile. We were sad that Paula wasn't at the clinic to celebrate her birthday on Friday.

I know Costel and Ana Maria will miss Steve's attention and ability to get most of their bottles down them. Steve thinks Ana Maria is close to rolling over. I think she will do really well once she hits the play room and has more attention (assuming regular volunteers.) Maybe it is my imagination but I even thought Costel looked a bit better this morning. They say he has GERD but he doesn't seem to spit up his bottle even though he doesn't drink all of it.

The children sure enjoy the play ground. So do the aides. They were gathering walnuts and hazelnuts and cracking them open and eating them and offering them to us. The older children got some very small tastes. The twins and Gaby were content to swing and swing. Cristi LOVED the swing. Celine seemed to be digging the proverbial tunnel to China. Petre put everything in sight in his mouth including rocks and dirt. And of course we had to keep Mihaela from climbing and going over the fence. BTW, no word on if/when her family will take her home. They had apparently indicated an interest in taking her home this month but who knows.

Today (Saturday), I went to Barlad in the morning in search of some more balls for the play rooms. I thought I'd seen some and then of course could only find two that were colorful enough. I also bought yogurt for the week.

After pizza for lunch (enough food I can skip dinner), I went to the clinic for the afternoon. I fed Costel and Ana Maria (am sure they wondered who this novice was trying to feed them) and looked in on Nicoletta and Maria Cleopatra. Then played a bit with Andreea and Celine who weren't napping. Then took the non-mobiles into the small play room. I had to make sure of course that Lorraine hadn't taken the twins home. Alexandra was in the room when I got there so I just kept her with us. She tended to move away whenever another baby approached her. I did get her to engage in a bouncing and tickle session so was happy to make her laugh. We had a nice quiet afternoon although I could hear the mobiles screaming at times. There seemed to be only two aides, Lily and Mirella, and nurse Cristi. They have put the radiators in the rooms getting ready for the cold weather. This means the CD player that was in the play room is no longer there. I'll have to ask for it or buy one as I really don't think the babies need to listen to me sing all week.

Today was overcast but still warm. Still, not sure if we will get the babies out in the play ground this week so enjoy the pictures of them outside!