Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Two months since leaving the US! Well, Maria was working at Dancu, but she was having a really bad day! She usually this really happy crazy lady who never gets mad, but Petrica threw up four times, so she finally like snapped. We always tell them when they throw up, so we told her and she came in all mad and grabbed Petrica by the arm and threw him on the pad and started yelling at him. She was being REALLY rough and scary and then she dragged him in the other room to change his pants and was yelling at him in there too. It was really weird, because Petrica is ALWAYS happy, so when she brought him back in and threw him down he actually started laughing. It was the most peculiar thing and I almost just started laughing, but it was just weird and uncomfortable, like “honey, why are you laughing?” Lunch that day was really nasty. We had this gross soup that had tooons of parsley in it and the gross bread again. Since Maria was in a bad mood we didn’t get to feed the kids either. After Dancu we went to the hospital. First I went in with Mihai. When I first got there he wasn’t in the room, but the nurse told me to wait a minute. I did and pretty soon I saw them wheeling him out of the elevator in a wheelchair that was really just a chair on wheels (no straps). He looked like a little prince. He was in much better spirits and was really like a completely different kid. He was totally active and smiling and making eye contact and doing everything. Bri came in after not too long and we both played with Mihai with a ballon which he looooved. We even got him to stand up on the ground, but he’s really lazy and doesn’t like to stand for long. I really felt like he trusted me though and that we had a bond. After we were with him a long time, Marina showed me how to find Iulia who is in “recovery.” It’s in a totally different wing that we never go in and she’s in an incubator with nice, new machines attached. I was only with her for like 30/45 minutes and then spend the last 30/45 minutes with Marta. After the hospital Shannon, Melissa, Jenna and I all walked really fast to Tirgu Cucu, where we met up with Holly and then took a tram to Dacie. First we dropped off Shannon and Melissa, then Holly went with us to the 7th floor. We got there before the two girls who go to Penilla got home and it was just four boys. Costica, the three year old with Downs Syndrome, is the only one who isn’t really hyper. Mihai is 6 and has like nothing wrong with him. He’s smart and speaks well and is perfectly fine physically. He just wants to play and rough house and is just like any other boy. Marian is adooorable. He’s four and as far as I can tell the only thing wrong with him is that he has one eye that’s slightly smaller than the other. He’s really sweet and is just like a normal boy too. They both fight over toys and attention a lot. Viorel is mentally challenged, but no one knows exactly what he has. We think it might be fetal alcohol syndrome. Anyway, he’s not all there mentally, so he can copy things you do, but he can’t talk and doesn’t do much original thinking. He can walk and do stuff physically ok, but doesn’t have the best balance and isn’t very good with precision stuff. He can also get upset for seemingly no reason, but he’s mostly good natured and I think he’s a little sweetheart. My heart goes out to the kid because he tries sooo hard and all he ever wants to do is whatever the other boys are doing. I just give him lots of praise and encouragement. He also really loves to “do” my hair. Costica is three but is much better developed than Petrica. He can walk and really likes to interact with you. He can play simple games with you and will actually come seeking your attention and look at you straight in the eyes and interact with YOU. I’m going to try and have him help me figure out how to help Petrica. He’s such a bundle of joy. He loves to cuddle and will just waddle over to you and start hugging you and it just takes you by surprise and is such a sweet happy thing. He really brightens my day. The girls who go to Penilla are Catalina and Georgiana and I met them both when I went there. Catalina likes me just fine and is a total sweetheart. She has a speech impediment, so I can’t understand what she’s saying a lot of the time, but she’s always really nice. Georgiana is not as immediately accepting. I can tell she’s not quite used to the fact that we come yet and was eying me warily today. She softened a little and came and did my hair after I told her she was pretty, but she was still ready to walk me to the door when it was time to go. I like her though. After Dacie we came home and I’m pretty sure I went to bed as early as I could because I wanted to wake up early to use the computer.