Movin' on

I won't deny that the memory and conversations about yesterday occupied much of my day, but right now there are some fantastic and more important things to think about!

I went to Mensajeros for a couple of hours with Lindsey today, and it was pretty great. We got there just as some other volunteers were leaving, so we got to talk to them a little bit about their experiences. Most are here for three months, I think just doing volunteer work at various organizations, and they are from all over the US. They don't speak spanish, which I imagine makes this situation very difficult, but they seemed positive.

Maria and Teresa were in good spirits, even though we stayed inside the whole time. I made a conscious effort to work with Maria on stacking blocks, which she does easily when she wants to. She prefers to fling the blocks around, drop them on the floor, or smash them on the table. Very much like a toddler, I think, but a little different because she's a relatively developed young woman, physically. We did make some progress, however, because eventually when I said "otra vez," or "another time," she would begin to stack them. Most of the time. :) After I'd had enough of the smashed fingers and block-to-table racket, I decided to try something more physical with her. I turned on some music and started swaying with the beat. She put her arms around my waist and copied for a while, and then decided it was too controlled a motion and she needed to flail around for a while. Great. I started marching in place, she laughed, and then more or less followed me around the room, marching and poking at my sides. I tried jumping, which she loooved, but couldn't keep up for very long. Her balance isn't great, and she has practiced terrible posture her whole life, so jumping was kind of dangerous. It was much better when I could get her to hold my hands and look me in the eyes as we jumped. Oh, and she likes to put her shoes on the wrong feet... always. We'll get them on straight, and minutes later I realize she's switched them back. I sometimes have trouble walking with matching feet and shoes, so I can't imagine what it would be like to look down and have my left and right switched. She's a sweety.

F-U-N! It felt good to be doing things with a specific purpose in mind, seeing if I could use some behavioral reinforcement tricks to get her to do what I wanted. Those psychology classes are paying off!

Teresa and Lindsey spent the entire two hours playing with beads and string. Teresa knows how to make patterns, and Lindsey tested her by handing her the wrong bead, finding that she would give it back and ask for another!! Quite smart. She does not mind at all, however, which is becoming frustrating for me. She has been diagnosed as completely deaf, so we have to physically restrain her or get in her line of vision to communicate with her. As of yet, she doesn't respond to tapping or vibrations on the floor. I wonder if we can teach her to be more sensitive to things that like. When we approach her and say "no" she recoils, closes her eyes, and lets out her famous grunt/scream... and then she usually gets what she wants. I'm open for any ideas.

Little Meleni was at school again today, finally. She was "sick" the last two weeks, so she was in the house when we visited, making it very difficult to focus on the other children. She's hyper and trashes the house with her toys, and is attention spoiled, methinks. That ruins her cute-ness for me. I always imagine what Mom and Dad would do or say to her, and I chuckle a bit. Mom's famous eyebrow and a firm "that is not acceptable" from Dad would do the trick. She'd learn in a hurry!

I just remembered JD's "those are not the rules!" retort. Ahhh, to be young.

Ahhh, to be able to read Harry Potter instead of Surge La Nacion... to work, to work!