Day Four

Today was cold again, so we were not able to take the kids outside, other than big Andreea. They served us hot dogs for breakfast, and we were able to sneak them out and feed them to the clinic dogs. The clinic was expecting an inspection when we got there, so they were frantically cleaning. We had to keep the kids in the rooms, and keep everything clean. It was a health department inspection. In the end they didn’t even come into the clinic, they just signed papers with Dr. Delia, so the aides were a bit disappointed since they had cleaned so well. The mobiles are starting to eat more solid foods, and they are having none of it! It took five aides cornering Alex to get her to eat.
The non-mobile group spends a bunch of the morning napping, so I visited with the mobiles and with little Maria. We found out that Alina will only be gone about five days for her testing, so I am very excited to get her back after the weekend. Maybe some of the other kids will be back by then too! At night the children were more awake. We mixed mobiles and non-mobiles for a little while, but then separated them out. Alexandra was wild and voluntarily practiced her standing. She loves being thrown in the air, so we did a lot of that as well. The clinic guard insisted on walking us back to the hotel at 8:30, but we had two flashlights, so we waved him off after crossing the dirt path. We feel much more useful volunteering at night since there are not very many staff. And it’s ncie to give the kids some more time to play and be out of their cribs.