Keeping Busy

I have to say the day went really quickly today.  I've been trying to sneak in to see the isolation babies before our official 9:00 start time or by coming back earlier from lunch or leaving the play room when an aide is in there and there is relative quiet. I'm hoping Ana Maria gets out of isolation the end of this week; not sure about Costel. I think Nicoletta will be in isolation at least another week or two. And of course dear Raul is in there all the time with his little bandaged arms and legs.

Dr. Delia was at the clinic when I arrived this morning. Apparently the new tiny babies haven't been taking all their bottles so they are going to give them smaller amounts more often. That is, if I understood all this correctly. 

The twins, Andreea and Roxana, were fussy today, especially Roxana who wouldn't eat two of her bottles. Not sure what was going on with her - no fever and no one seemed to think she is teething. For the most part the girls are doing better with their eating. I think Andreea may be out next one to walk. She stood from a sitting position on her own today, much to her surprise. Roxana can stand for about 5 seconds without falling over but needs help getting to a standing position. She is also less interested in walking.

Alina and I have been playing pattycake. All I have to do is say the word and she puts her hands up. For all her disabilities she is one smart little cookie. 

I'm hoping I stay healthy for the rest of the week. I put a bottle of hand sanitizer in the play room and I use it every time after I wipe a runny nose. That is probably 30 times a day.

Tonight Dan and I went to Trattoria Da Vinci for dinner. I had to try and their pizza and it is just as good if not better than the pizza at the Raluca. I'm going to need to hit the gym more than usual when I get home!

Dan and I also went to the pharmacy and store to spend the remainder of Steve's donation money. Thanks to his very generous friends we bought more medicine, baby wipes, newborn pampers, tissues, and baby shampoo. I bought some of the latter two as well. The boxes of tissues are a new thing since the last time I was here and hopefully easier on those runny noses.

Enjoy today's pictures!

Gaby on the donkey that Dan brought into the play room today

Lily and Andreea

Daniela, Malika, and Petre

Maria Cleopatra's beautiful smile

Another beautiful smile from Celine who joined us in the  non mobile play room this morning

Dan and "Cleo" as the aides call her

Petre - I haven't had a chance to see much of the mobiles the last two days

Nicoletta

Dan tried putting Ionutz in the jumperoo today. Ionutz did ok for a bit but didn't last too long. Too hard for him to hold his head up.

I put Alina in a "time out" for hitting by strapping her in this chair. She wiggled out after a few minutes. I do think there is a tendency for the kids to look for negative attention by hitting. 

Daniela

Ana Maria in her cute winnie the pooh outfit

Haircuts

Oh yes, the haircuts continued today. Be prepared for some pictures of kids with really short hair. The non-mobiles have escaped the scissors so far. Mihaela says they want to cut their hair now when it is getting cold so it will dry faster and they won't have wet heads for as long.

There were quite a few aides working today so even though I didn't get to spend time with all of the children I felt like they all got attention - at least I hope so. I was mostly with the non-mobiles (including Maria Cleopatra) although I when there were several aides in the room I snuck out to visit Nicoletta and Costel. Unfortunately Ana Maria was asleep. I had planned to see Raul after lunch but instead had the pleasant surprise of meeting a Peace Corps volunteer who is at the primary school in Tutova. Her name is Alexandra and she is from New York. That is as much as I know because Mihaela took her off for a tour of the clinic and then she was helping with the mobiles and I didn't see her again. I think Mrs. Malika (the pre-school teacher, I think that is her name) brought her to the clinic today. Hopefully she will come often. She did say it was different to hear Mihaela and I speaking English. Perhaps I can have dinner with her before I leave although I don't know where she is staying.

The children are always a bit cranky on Mondays when they've had less attention from volunteers and aides over the weekend. In my room we had several who refused some of their bottles. After lunch, when I went into room #3 where the twins, Gaby and Ionutz are there was an awful smell. I figured dirty diaper(s). It was more than that though. Alina was in the room and she had done a strip tease before falling asleep and her clothes and her dirty diaper and some of its contents were on the floor. And she looked so peaceful sleeping there completely naked.

Oh yes, it rained today. The morning was chilly and very windy as if it was about to storm and sure enough it started after lunch and lasted most of the afternoon. Fortunately it stopped by the time I walked back to the hotel but the path was muddy. I'm used to that though.

Celine and Miha with haircuts

Ion, Petre and Andreea (Petre got his haircut after this picture was taken)

Celine, Roxana, Andreea, Miha

Miha about to go up and over

Cristi likes this spot behind the rocking chair

Costel today

Maria Cleopatra

Roxana and Maria Cleopatra (gives you a sense of size comparison)

Ana Maria

Mihaela and Gaby

Mirella and Andreea (or is it Roxana? they were in matching outfits today)

Celine standing!

Nicoletta and Gaby walking!

Daniela getting her hair cut today

Ionutz

Andreea standing and Cristi saying "who is this girl and why won't she get away from MY mirror?"

Cristi slept a lot of the morning today but generally he is a lot more active and wanting to play

Yin and Yang

Andreea is almost pulling herself up to standing on her own

Nicoletta is still in isolation

Alina, our free spirit

Live chickens being sold at the Saturday market in Barlad

Selling bags at the Saturday market

Flowers from the Saturday market

Tutova

Weekend

I haven't taken many pictures at the clinic this weekend so I will post pictures tomorrow. Sometime between my Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning visits, many of the mobiles got hair cuts. Be prepared to see Ion without his curls. I can understand that it is easier to wash hair if it is shorter. I'm really hoping they don't cut Andreea and Roxana's hair as that is one of the main ways I can tell them apart right now!

You won't see a picture of one of the more amusing of today's work at the clinic. When the aides were changing diapers at noon time, they had all the mobiles lined up in the cribs in the room where Cristi, Marius, Daniela, etc. sleep. They asked me to stay in there with them while they went to change other diapers. So Marius was banging other children's heads on the side of the crib and Ion got hit by someone and Mihaela of course was trying to climb out so I tried a diversionary tactic. This involved me singing a medley of children's hits such as the wheels on the bus and dancing around to get their attention. I admit it was a success as they
were mesmerized by this dancing and singing fool. I even got "bravos" from Andreea and Mihaela. So clearly the fact that I sing off key didn't matter to this audience.

I've been reading for the last 5+ hours and my vision is blurry even with my glasses so I better give my eyes a rest. I've read 5 books so far on my kindle. Steve gave me a non-fiction book called "Dracula is Dead." It is written by a former US Ambassador to Romania and his journalist wife. It is mostly anecdotal and is organized around their travels and time in Romania so a bit haphazard. Still very interesting and worth a read to anyone interested in post-Communist Romania and some history thrown in. For future volunteers, I will put in the cupboard where all the books are at the clinic when I am done with it.

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!

Daniela about to go down the slide

Alexandra

Roxana and Andreea

Alina just hanging out...

Mihaela

Up she goes

Cristi Daniel

Marius

Celine digging

Andreea and Roxana hold on this way - otherwise they slip off the seats

Alexandra

Miha and Vale

Miha, Ion and Andreea gathered around to say pa to Nicoletta (the aide)

Petre is handsome despite the combination of dirt and snot

Ion, Andreea, Daniela and Miha saying pa to Dan as he drove off in his car