Monday, November 6, 2006

This morning I was soooo excited to get back to Dancu after not having been there for like a week and a half. Shannon apparently is having a hard time, because of a conversation she had with Megan about autism. She didn’t really tell me what they talked about but I gathered it was just one of those conversations where you realize how horrible the situation really is here and you feel like everything is depressing and you’re not helping enough and you’re like “why am I even here?” I totally understand and wish I could help. I like our relationship. It was good starting our normal schedule again and seeing all the things that either changed or stayed the same since we were last there. Like, Nicolai, the old man in the wheelchair is back and didn’t die after all and the poor little dog at Dancu is looking better and Bullet is still there, etc. When we got in the apartment it was so happy to see Mihai sitting in the chair smiling over at us. And once we actually walked in the living room my heart just skipped a beat when I saw Petrica sitting there and I just showered him with hugs and kisses and was soooo happy at how happy he was to see me and he was totally responding to me and I could just tell, like I KNEW that he knew me and loved me and was excited to see me. I mean, all day today I would catch him staring at me and he’d smile as soon as I talked to him – I didn’t even have to touch him. And he’d always lean onto me and grab me when I sat next to him, like, every time. He didn’t do that when we first came. Really. Yeah, it made my day. I love that boy. I keep thinking maybe I’m just lying to myself and I don’t really love him as much as I say I do and it’s just because I want to have a connection with him, but I keep proving myself wrong. Seriously, I really do just love him that much. I’d adopt him if I could. Then every day I’d have someone who could cheer me up. Shannon was having a hard day though. Iuliana totally regressed while we were gone and she wasn’t doing all the great stuff that we’d gotten her to do by the time we left and all that. I mean, this is how I look at it. It’s good in that I feel like at least this way we can be happy that we actually did make that much progress, and that it’s possible for us to do it again. But it still sucks that we lost it and she regressed. Maybe now that we know what we’re doing and maybe since she was juuuust there, she’ll be able to regain the progress faster. Anyway, also, she just couldn’t connect with Mihai the way she usually does, which was upsetting, especially since I was actually connecting with him quite well. Part of the problem was that they moved around the furniture, which makes it even harder to not watch the TV now. Suck. Corrina and some other lady were working at Dancu today and I don’t like either one. They, again, said the kids were sick and wouldn’t let them be on the floor. I really really really hate that and it makes me so mad. They didn’t feed us and they wouldn’t let us feed the kids either. At the hospital, I started on the 6th floor with a kid named Denisa, who is from Donald Duck. She’s a doll. She’s really cute and smiles a lot and eats well! After a little while, Shannon came in and took over, and I wandered around and looked for kids with Melissa. Eventually we discovered that right now, the hospital looks like this. Octavion on the 7th, Denisa on the 6th, no 5th, no 4th, Iulia, Daniel and some other little boy who’s like 4 and wouldn’t tell Megan his name on the 3rd, Ionella on the 2nd and Andreia, Ionut, and 3 other new babies on the 1st. Eleven kids. Anyway, so I ended up with Ionella on the 2nd floor, who I’d never met before and who was just preeeecious. She six and gorgeous. When Melissa and I first got there, we asked the nurse about the kids and she went over to her room to show us and she wasn’t there. So she asked one of the other people where she was and went to go get her. I just remember turning and seeing the nurse lead her by the hand down the hall toward me and she just had the bigger grin on her face. As soon as she got to me she just gave me the biggest hug and then she took my hand and led me to her bed and the whole time she never took her eyes off of mine and never stopped smiling. She just stared up at me the whole time and didn’t say anything. Finally, we started playing with my bubbles for a while, which she really enjoyed. Then we played for a while with my top and she would get sooo excited when it would light up (because it does so only so often) and she’d yell “lumina!” Then, after a while we started playing with my magnetic board thing that you draw on. I’d tell her something to draw and she’d try and draw it. Eventually, we started doing it with the other girls in the room too. There were two really nice teenage girls, a grandma with a little girl and a mom with a little girl. The two teenage girls would tell her to draw things and would draw things themselves too. They would also talk to me a lot and try and teach me things. I really liked them. One of the girls, Ana Maria, even wrote me a really cute note that said “Te Iubesc!” on it. At the end I got out my camera and was taking pictures of Ionella and of Ana Maria and eventually everyone in the room because I’d say “cine?” and Ionella would tell me whose picture she wanted me to take and I’d ask them if it was ok and show it to them afterward. I love getting good pictures! I left a little late, because I don’t know where my watch is and just had to keep asking. On the way home, Shannon and I stopped by the corner store, got a gogos and got some really yummy bread. I was supposed to have internet time when I got home, but unfortunately the internet wasn’t working, so I just ate and got on my computer instead. I like this whole scheduled computer time thing, because I get so much more done! FHE was pretty cool. We heart attacked the president’s door and made him cookies. I had a good long talk with Elder Hackett too. I love that kid. I hope we hang out when we’re back in Provo. Yay for Utah guys – they’re so much nicer.