He's taking his time warming up to us, but I got some sweet smiles today. And he absolutely loved when our whole team was in his room during the tour, and he had everyone's attention all at once! He started being a ham and making all his cutest faces! It was also really sweet when at one point I sang him the same three songs I had sung to him all last spring, and he relaxed, smiled, and started dancing! He is also cooing and giggling a bit, but mostly he's a pretty serious little man!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Talking Baby
She was a bit camera shy with her words, but here are a couple videos that I cut and spliced together of Alina talking! Some of the images cut down on her face, and that is because to get her to talk I had to turn the screen around so she could watch herself, so I couldn't really see what I was filming!
Note: listen carefully towards the end when I ask her if she's a goofball and she responds "da"!
Note: listen carefully towards the end when I ask her if she's a goofball and she responds "da"!
Day #1 Pictures
Maria Alexandra (not to be confused with one of the other many Maria's)
Maria Cleopatra
Ana Maria
Nicoletta
Andrada alone in isolation
Andrada
Ion
Celine
Alexandra
Celine and Alexandra
Saturday, March 5, 2011
First Night at the Clinic
We went over to the clinic tonight with a volunteer from the last team who stayed one extra night, and it was wild! The kids have all grown so much in the last year! I can no longer tell the twins apart, I'll have to figure that one out. I first went into the room where Alina was, and she immediately pointed at me and said "mama", amazing! And got all giggly when I picked her up. My dad and I played with her for a while, and simultaneously with the others in that room (Cristi, twins, and Daria). Alina knows SO many more words now than she used to, and will imitate anything you want her to say. Her version of "Caroline" was quite interesting haha. At one point Celine, Andreea, and Petre lined up sitting in front of her, and she went down the line giving them kisses on the lips, which they loved! Celine kept asking for more kisses!
Then we went to the baby room that had Ionut (I picked him up and he was feverish as always, but did his adorable laugh when I tickled him), Ana-Maria, Maria Alexandra, Maria Cleopatra, and Nicoletta. Nicoletta was sleeping, and Ana-Maria was close to asleep. Maria Alexandra was just having her own little party, which apparently a hysterical party by how she was giggling. And Maria Cleopatra was sweet as always, though they shaved her head yesterday for some reason (not lice or sores). Then we went and visited with Raul, and I put him in his playpen to play for a while. We got a couple smiles out of him, but he was pretty serious. He is also amazingly smart! He knew how to work the toy that you push down the top and the balls roll around inside, and he was strong enough to balance on one hand and push it down with the other!
Then on to the big kids, and boy were they wild! Paula, Gabriela, Alexandra, and Marius stayed in heir cribs after diaper time, but the others were in the playroom (plus we brought Alina in). Petre has changed so much since a year ago, but he is still handsome and sweet (though he sometimes follows Ion's bad example). Celine is incredibly verbal, and amazed us with all her talking. Andreea is also talking more, and still a little sweetie. And Ion, oh Ion! He is a nightmare I'm sad to say! He used to bang his own head, but now he attacks the other children. He was pushing them so hard it knocked them to the floor, and pulling them up to standing by their hair! He does it for attention, but there is no way not to give him atten tion for what he is doing because we have to get him off the other kids. Heather told us he behaves a bit better when the aides are around, and I am hoping that remains true!
The nurse and aide remembered me and knew my name, which was sweet. It was Corina and the head nurse Mihaela, both who speak some English. Nurse Mihaela told me that Raul likes to sing to his radio :) I didn't bring over my camera, so I will start getting pictures tomorrow!
Then we went to the baby room that had Ionut (I picked him up and he was feverish as always, but did his adorable laugh when I tickled him), Ana-Maria, Maria Alexandra, Maria Cleopatra, and Nicoletta. Nicoletta was sleeping, and Ana-Maria was close to asleep. Maria Alexandra was just having her own little party, which apparently a hysterical party by how she was giggling. And Maria Cleopatra was sweet as always, though they shaved her head yesterday for some reason (not lice or sores). Then we went and visited with Raul, and I put him in his playpen to play for a while. We got a couple smiles out of him, but he was pretty serious. He is also amazingly smart! He knew how to work the toy that you push down the top and the balls roll around inside, and he was strong enough to balance on one hand and push it down with the other!
Then on to the big kids, and boy were they wild! Paula, Gabriela, Alexandra, and Marius stayed in heir cribs after diaper time, but the others were in the playroom (plus we brought Alina in). Petre has changed so much since a year ago, but he is still handsome and sweet (though he sometimes follows Ion's bad example). Celine is incredibly verbal, and amazed us with all her talking. Andreea is also talking more, and still a little sweetie. And Ion, oh Ion! He is a nightmare I'm sad to say! He used to bang his own head, but now he attacks the other children. He was pushing them so hard it knocked them to the floor, and pulling them up to standing by their hair! He does it for attention, but there is no way not to give him atten tion for what he is doing because we have to get him off the other kids. Heather told us he behaves a bit better when the aides are around, and I am hoping that remains true!
The nurse and aide remembered me and knew my name, which was sweet. It was Corina and the head nurse Mihaela, both who speak some English. Nurse Mihaela told me that Raul likes to sing to his radio :) I didn't bring over my camera, so I will start getting pictures tomorrow!
We are here!
We left Boston on a crowded, over-sold, flight to Amsterdam Thursday evening. No upgrades were possible since it was sold out, and even though we had checked in early and selected other flights, we still ended up in the middle-middle seats, ugh! I watched two movies on that plane, then watched the ever frustrating progress map (which occasionally added time to our journey). In Amsterdam we were exhausted and over heated, but eventually found a Starbucks with comfortable seats, so we waited there for our flight. The next flight was also totally sold out (never had that before on a flight going into Bucharest), and we were some of the only English speakers. We had a nice Romanian woman sitting in the window seat next to us, and I was actually able to understand some of what she was saying! That flight was also the bumpiest flight I've ever been on going into Bucharest, so it felt much longer than it actually was! Eventually we made it, and our bags made it, though of course my personal bag was the last possible bag off (we are traveling with three bags this time, one for each of us, and one with donations).
We were exhausted from traveling, and I hadn't slept the whole trip. We were staying at the Hilton in Bucharest Friday night, and had planned to take the reliable "FLY Taxi" from the airport, yet when we got out, none were to be found. We went back inside for a minute, then decided to just use one of the guys at the curb (not the ones in the parking lot at least!). He way over-charged us, but we knew he would, we just wanted to get to the hotel. When we arrived we found out that my dad had been chosen as "The Guest of The Day" and we were upgraded to a junior suite, got access to the executive lounge, got a free drink at the cafe, and some other lovely perks! We had good room service for dinner while we watched Monsters versus Aliens on Romanian HBO haha. We stayed up later than I thought we would have made it, and went to bed around 8:30 PM. We didn't get up until 9 AM, and I actually slept pretty well surprisingly! Then we had food from the executive lounge for breakfast, and now I am relaxing while my dad walks over to the giant Parliament building for some quick sightseeing. We will be taking a hotel shuttle in a little while back to the airport to meet up with Dan (team leader) and Robin (team member who you may have seen on my blog back in March of 2008), where we will then take a van up to Tutova! We have two other teammates, but they are getting in later, so they will take a separate van.
Next time I write it will be from Tutova (hopefully the internet there is working), and tomorrow I will see my babies!!
We were exhausted from traveling, and I hadn't slept the whole trip. We were staying at the Hilton in Bucharest Friday night, and had planned to take the reliable "FLY Taxi" from the airport, yet when we got out, none were to be found. We went back inside for a minute, then decided to just use one of the guys at the curb (not the ones in the parking lot at least!). He way over-charged us, but we knew he would, we just wanted to get to the hotel. When we arrived we found out that my dad had been chosen as "The Guest of The Day" and we were upgraded to a junior suite, got access to the executive lounge, got a free drink at the cafe, and some other lovely perks! We had good room service for dinner while we watched Monsters versus Aliens on Romanian HBO haha. We stayed up later than I thought we would have made it, and went to bed around 8:30 PM. We didn't get up until 9 AM, and I actually slept pretty well surprisingly! Then we had food from the executive lounge for breakfast, and now I am relaxing while my dad walks over to the giant Parliament building for some quick sightseeing. We will be taking a hotel shuttle in a little while back to the airport to meet up with Dan (team leader) and Robin (team member who you may have seen on my blog back in March of 2008), where we will then take a van up to Tutova! We have two other teammates, but they are getting in later, so they will take a separate van.
Next time I write it will be from Tutova (hopefully the internet there is working), and tomorrow I will see my babies!!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
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