Day 2 of Living with My Kiddos:
I think I've mentioned that I usually look in a mirror once a week or so, and otherwise, I use my webcam. (Not entirely reliable when you are looking at bug bites on your face, but it works for the most part). Well, it doesn't take much imagination to think that kids in orphanages get even less time looking at themselves. There was no mirror in our apartment, until today.
See, I've spent most of the money donated for my children's Christmas on both them and their other "siblings" who live in other apartments and don't have foster mothers. There are toys galore that we purchased from the local toy shop. There is a shipment from my online shopping spree headed this way. And there are loads of toys and girly things currently being packed in suitcases to come with my friends from India.
I'm so grateful that you all have blessed my children in such ways. And I am SO excited to see the glee of the children who currently do not have foster mamas here to dote on them. They normally miss out on "fun" and pampering. This year, Christmas day is gonna be PHENOMENAL!!!
--**--Insert break to know I just started to yell at a child who smashed her doll into my laptop because I thought she was her little sister who does such things frequently. Turns out it wasn't the little sister, but Phoebe, who is blind and had no idea I was sitting here, much less with my laptop. (Whoops!) Ohhhh the life of working and living with children with disabilities....--**--
Okay, so back to where I was: Christmas in Ongole is going to be unbelievably awesome this year. But, when you have all these toys and curious kids who have never seen so many toys in their lives, much less been able to touch and play with all of them, you do what I did: You use some of that Christmas money to buy a bureau that has a lock so that nail polish and glitter doesn't mysteriously appear on every school uniform. But I wanted even the bureau to be special for the girls. I went to the market and wasn't too impressed with any in particular, but then I saw a large metal cabinet on the side of the road on my way home the other day. I've seen this thousands of times by now, but have never actually stopped to realize it was a bureau shop and not a shop for tools or whatever I thought were in the bureaus. But, voila! After returning with my Telugu-speaking ayah for bargaining purposes, we now have a bureau that is pretty and purple and has a full length mirror.
Since they came home from school this afternoon, I have caught 5 of my 8 girls standing in front of that mirror when they thought no one else is looking. (This is a very high statistic when 2 of the 8 are completely blind lol). They make bug-eyed faces at their reflection, they move their shoulders up and down, they puff out their cheeks. They are not yet to the point where they make every facial expression imaginable (like teenagers do when they get their first camera). They simply open their eyes wide, squint, open eyes, squint, puff cheeks, smile, wrinkle nose, giggle, etc. It has been adorable to watch from the doorway, and it is even cuter when they know they've been caught. They are discovering themselves.
They do this through music, too. I keep music on in our apartment whenever I'm around. Rap, Mozart, rock, pop, mariachi, opera, country, Bollywood, salsa, traditional Afghan tunes, poorly recorded Arabic worship music--basically anything that has ever been inserted into my laptop has now been played for my girls. And they LOVE it.
After a few months of me poorly performing my Punjabi dance moves and making kids dizzy by spinning them in circles while songs play, all girls are becoming more open and showing their love for music. Stephanie, who shows very little initiation in anything, now requests to "sing a song, sister!" every time I sit near her. Naomi has changed from the kid who giggles at my antics from her spot in the corner to the one who starts the dance party. Jeanette has transformed from having me wave her arms to the beat to jumping around as soon as a good beat comes on. It's fantastic to watch them all grow and continue to discover who they are.
Especially Paula. This twelve year old is kind of hard for me to reach--she can communicate, she behaves well, etc. so it's not that. She just is so independent and doesn't seem to "need" me or want affection ever. Again, twelve year old girl. :) She will sit in front of the computer for hours, even though I have the screen turn off after a minute of inactivity. She also loves looking at her reflection in the black screen, and from her kneeling position on the ground head-bops and shimmies and bounces her way through every song. We have to beg her to come eat when it's time for dinner!
Tonight, I got a special treat. We had been listening to music through dinner, through the fingernail painting, and I was just sitting on the floor with her. She asked me for a hug, which I gave. But she didn't let go. THEN I realized she was trying to change the songs on the laptop while I was facing the other way. After laughing about that, she continued to hug me as we talked about music she did and didn't like. I played the "fast songs" she wanted to hear, most willingly. And then, I moved from our awkward, back-breaking position to pulling her in my lap. If you know anything about pre-teenagers with spastic cerebral palsy, this wasn't the most comfortable position--but yet it was. We stayed that way for a good hour, her head against my shoulder, arms around me; my arms around her, my legs providing trunk support so she wouldn't just slide off my lap.
It was beautiful, and I'm glad that while she is discovering who she is, I get to be there to watch.
I think I've mentioned that I usually look in a mirror once a week or so, and otherwise, I use my webcam. (Not entirely reliable when you are looking at bug bites on your face, but it works for the most part). Well, it doesn't take much imagination to think that kids in orphanages get even less time looking at themselves. There was no mirror in our apartment, until today.
See, I've spent most of the money donated for my children's Christmas on both them and their other "siblings" who live in other apartments and don't have foster mothers. There are toys galore that we purchased from the local toy shop. There is a shipment from my online shopping spree headed this way. And there are loads of toys and girly things currently being packed in suitcases to come with my friends from India.
I'm so grateful that you all have blessed my children in such ways. And I am SO excited to see the glee of the children who currently do not have foster mamas here to dote on them. They normally miss out on "fun" and pampering. This year, Christmas day is gonna be PHENOMENAL!!!
--**--Insert break to know I just started to yell at a child who smashed her doll into my laptop because I thought she was her little sister who does such things frequently. Turns out it wasn't the little sister, but Phoebe, who is blind and had no idea I was sitting here, much less with my laptop. (Whoops!) Ohhhh the life of working and living with children with disabilities....--**--
Okay, so back to where I was: Christmas in Ongole is going to be unbelievably awesome this year. But, when you have all these toys and curious kids who have never seen so many toys in their lives, much less been able to touch and play with all of them, you do what I did: You use some of that Christmas money to buy a bureau that has a lock so that nail polish and glitter doesn't mysteriously appear on every school uniform. But I wanted even the bureau to be special for the girls. I went to the market and wasn't too impressed with any in particular, but then I saw a large metal cabinet on the side of the road on my way home the other day. I've seen this thousands of times by now, but have never actually stopped to realize it was a bureau shop and not a shop for tools or whatever I thought were in the bureaus. But, voila! After returning with my Telugu-speaking ayah for bargaining purposes, we now have a bureau that is pretty and purple and has a full length mirror.
Since they came home from school this afternoon, I have caught 5 of my 8 girls standing in front of that mirror when they thought no one else is looking. (This is a very high statistic when 2 of the 8 are completely blind lol). They make bug-eyed faces at their reflection, they move their shoulders up and down, they puff out their cheeks. They are not yet to the point where they make every facial expression imaginable (like teenagers do when they get their first camera). They simply open their eyes wide, squint, open eyes, squint, puff cheeks, smile, wrinkle nose, giggle, etc. It has been adorable to watch from the doorway, and it is even cuter when they know they've been caught. They are discovering themselves.
They do this through music, too. I keep music on in our apartment whenever I'm around. Rap, Mozart, rock, pop, mariachi, opera, country, Bollywood, salsa, traditional Afghan tunes, poorly recorded Arabic worship music--basically anything that has ever been inserted into my laptop has now been played for my girls. And they LOVE it.
After a few months of me poorly performing my Punjabi dance moves and making kids dizzy by spinning them in circles while songs play, all girls are becoming more open and showing their love for music. Stephanie, who shows very little initiation in anything, now requests to "sing a song, sister!" every time I sit near her. Naomi has changed from the kid who giggles at my antics from her spot in the corner to the one who starts the dance party. Jeanette has transformed from having me wave her arms to the beat to jumping around as soon as a good beat comes on. It's fantastic to watch them all grow and continue to discover who they are.
Especially Paula. This twelve year old is kind of hard for me to reach--she can communicate, she behaves well, etc. so it's not that. She just is so independent and doesn't seem to "need" me or want affection ever. Again, twelve year old girl. :) She will sit in front of the computer for hours, even though I have the screen turn off after a minute of inactivity. She also loves looking at her reflection in the black screen, and from her kneeling position on the ground head-bops and shimmies and bounces her way through every song. We have to beg her to come eat when it's time for dinner!
Tonight, I got a special treat. We had been listening to music through dinner, through the fingernail painting, and I was just sitting on the floor with her. She asked me for a hug, which I gave. But she didn't let go. THEN I realized she was trying to change the songs on the laptop while I was facing the other way. After laughing about that, she continued to hug me as we talked about music she did and didn't like. I played the "fast songs" she wanted to hear, most willingly. And then, I moved from our awkward, back-breaking position to pulling her in my lap. If you know anything about pre-teenagers with spastic cerebral palsy, this wasn't the most comfortable position--but yet it was. We stayed that way for a good hour, her head against my shoulder, arms around me; my arms around her, my legs providing trunk support so she wouldn't just slide off my lap.
It was beautiful, and I'm glad that while she is discovering who she is, I get to be there to watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment