First Day!

We had a great first day with one exception. Gabi has the chicken pox so can't be with us. From Tutova, we have Alina, Marius and Cleo. I haven't seen Marius since Tutova closed. He doesn't seem much bigger but he still likes to throw balls and is ticklish. We had him laughing a few times. Cleo seems about the same and Alina immediately put up her hands for patty cake. She is talking more but also doesn't seem much bigger. Dan weighed her and she is 18 pounds. My team mate Robin called her a scamp and that is a good word for her. Out of nowhere this afternoon she said, "ooh la la." Too funny. She had me walking up and down the hall with her and we would alternate marching and running. So I'm eating some exercise.

We also have Delia, the little girl with missing limbs, who was with us last year. She is sitting up on her own and just so bright. The children that are new to me are Elena who appears to have cerebral palsy; Luciana who seems to have some delays; Luca who may be autistic but not sure about his issues and Andrei who has hydrocephalus. His head is even bigger than Cleo's and he seems worse than her. He doesn't seem to respond to anything.

Of course it was great to see the aide Coca. She immediately asked about Raul and I told her Carolyn is taking beat care of him and he is doing as well as can be expected given his illness. I need to figure out a way I can show her pictures from Carolyn's Facebook page. (The hospital doesn't have wireless.)

There is more snow than I've seen here before but it isn't terribly cold. I think it is in the 30s. The new hotel is all right. The rooms are really small and you have to be sure you don't rollover in bed or you might fall out. The shower is the kind with a combined bathtub which is so high that I have to be careful climbing in. Amazingly, unlike most showers in Romanian hotels that I've experienced, it doesn't leak!

I didn't want to take too many pictures today since it was the first day plus we were busy. I'll work on it though!