Today was our orientation day. We were able to sneak in a visit to the clinic between breakfast and the first meeting, and got the chance to go again later in the afternoon as well. The babies seem to have regressed some in the three weeks without volunteers, so we have lots to do! We have a team of 12, and with Alina and Alex in the hospital for testing (and Ion going for a heart checkup tomorrow) there are only a few less volunteers than children. This time we were assigned to specific children, but we also decided as a group that we would do some moving around, and definitely play with all the kids within our playroom.
My "assigned" kids are Ionut and Daria Roxana, which were the two that I wanted since Alina is not here right now. Jane has Alina for when she comes back, but she said she'll share : ) . There are lots fewer kids kids in isolation than last time I was here, which is great! Right now it's only Ionut and Cristi. Though the nurse today said Ionut has three weeks in isolation and has only been back for two days, so I will be moving back and forth between rooms to be with my assigned kids. I tried one of the OT techniques with Ionut today, and he seemed to enjoy it and relax a bit. He is still grinding his teeth like crazy though. Daria Roxana is luckily our of isolation after her palate surgery during my last trip.
The weather is much nicer than it was three weeks ago. It is really sunny, and fairly warm, but there is still a lot of wind. Mihaela said if the wind goes away it will be warm enough for us to bring the kids outside! No more ice and snow at least!
About Me
- Caroline
- I have volunteered with babies and children in Russia, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Romania, Thailand, and China. I am spending the year volunteering in China and Romania, as well as advocating for waiting children in China, and children in need of medical visas around the world!
4 comments:
Hi there! Thanks so much for getting right in there and blogging! Do you want me to email you some additional OT or massage techniques for Ionut? These could help relax his jaw muscles. If you do, please remind me how old he is. I will ask a professional for ideas.
- Lauren
PS - the photo of gabriela with Delia is so cute. I hope those birthday outfits fit tomorrow. If not, oh well!
That would be great if you could send me more ideas! He was definitely responding to joint compression, and today I am going to do some of the body brushing. He turned two in December, but he is physically pretty small, and mentally the age of a baby I would guess.
Caroline,
I am so happy to hear "our babies" have you and Jane with them again this week. It has been almost a year since I left Tutova and never a day goes by where I don't think about them. Give them all big hugs for me and thanks for blogging. Please tell Jane, Mihala, Dan and all the staff I say hello.
Jo Ann
I will research some additional ideas and email them to you. It would help him to have stuff to chew on including food but that is hard to do there, I know.
Let me see what I can put together for you and I will make a call and look in the books. ALSO -
love all the photos especially of the bday girls. Glad to see the clothing not too small even if they do look like wheebles with giant diaper!
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