Friday, December 1, 2006

This was another really really hard day. I’ll actually tell you about this one. So, it was Friday and Fridays are supposed to be good and usually are, but this one was bad from the very beginning. I wasn’t woken up by Melissa again – she seems to just not wake me up on days when she uses the computer, which is pretty frustrating, but I’m going to just let it go since we only have like a week left with her and 2 weeks total (weird!). So then I was also still frustrated from the night before and I don’t even know what all, but I was way frustrated, like with everything. To top it off, when we got on the tram, I realized that I’d forgotten my book and so then I was just like “ahh! Kill me now!” So then Shannon let me listen to her ipod J. Music always really helps. I usually don’t like bands like Yellowcard, because they don’t have very good vocal quality, but just then it was perfect. I needed something new and I needed something slightly angry, but not actually angry. I didn’t want to stop when we got to Dancu. Anni and Nuti were working. Anni was one of our favorites in the beginning, but now she really isn’t. The kids were pretty good, but not greeeat. I started off with Petrica, and just sat with him by the TV. The TV was actually really interesting because it was Romania’s Birthday and so they had all this patriotic stuff on the TV. After that I played with Mihai for a bit with the walker. He can move slowly, but surely, if he’s really trying and if you have his legs all the way back. He use to move them from the back to the front if you stuck them in the front, but now he just does a doggy paddy kind of thing with his feet. Wow, this song I’m listening to is making me so distracted (Such Great Heights by Postal Service)! Well anyway, after that I stuck him a little ways from the toy shelf, with the intent that he would be motivated to go get the toys and be able to get himself there by himself. I knew he wouldn’t if I were in the room, because I’d be a distraction, so I went in with Costica. He was good for a little while, while I sang to him, but then he got upset and wouldn’t be comforted. That’s always the sign that he’s done with you, so I went back in the other room to find Shannon with Petrica! That made me pretty happy, because I always like to share my favorites with other people. So I decided to get out my computer, which I’d brought, and turn on some music. By the time I got it on and was able to play the music, Shannon had just picked Mihai up and was starting to play with him. Well, when I turned it on (to Garth Brooks specifically) Mihai totally started crying! It wasn’t like a “play with me!” whine or a “I can’t get the toy I want” whine, it was a distressed and troubled cry! We turned off the music and were like “woah woah woah! Hey! What’s the matter?” So, we’re not sure whether it really was the music or something else, but either way, we finally slowly eased him back into the music by playing Jon Schmidt first and we got him to stop crying and be normal again. But while he was still upset he was acting really institutionalized! You may be like, “um, he is.” But the thing is that he’s one of the amazing kids that don’t ever show it (like Mihai at Dacie 7th). But started like moving his head from side to side over and over again (which is like comparable to rocking – a behavior they turn to either to stimulate or when they’re upset) and just being finicky. Like, he wasn’t interested in what he usually would be and would alternate really sad and really happy really quickly (like Iuli). That was a little worrisome. After a little while, he was still being pretty weird and Iuli started to get upset, so I took Mihai and got him pretty happy. At around 11:30, Nuti came it and asked us to leave early because she wanted to move everything around in the living room and that’s hard to do with people in there. Before we left, we told her that our last day is going to be Dec 13th and we told her wanted to have a Christmas party on that day, with decorating and Romanian Christmas music and treats (we’re going to make the gogosi things that Corrina gave us the recipe for and sugar cookies) and she seemed pretty excited about it. We got to the hospital by like 12 and were like “well, I thiiiink we’ll be the first ones to the 6th floor!) So, I started of with Andrei, because I’ve never been with him. When I got there I changed his diaper, which he didn’t like at all and he started screaming. Just as soon as I’d calmed him down again the nurse came and took him for an injection. I could hear him scream all the way down the hall from the nurse’s room. When she brought him back his eyes were all watery and he was kind of whimpering and I just held the gauze to his head (yeah, the injection was in the HEAD – ow!) until it stopped bleeding. Finally I got him calmed down for good and just played with his arms and stuff until Shannon came in and started chilling with me. About that time the nurse brought the bottle in. He doesn’t suck right, so I had to just squirt it into his mouth manually (um, I kind of hope at least one of my kids is a dysfunctional eater so I can show my skills, because that’s one thing I’ve definitely learned techniques for!). It was really funny though, because one time I was squirting it and one time I missed and totally squirted it all over him and myself and Shannon and I just started laughing! Around 2:10, I left Andrei with Shannon and went to go see Gigi, who is quickly becoming my favorite! The first few days with him, I was totally intimidated, but now I can handle him like a pro! He’s really warmed up to me too and wants me to hold him more and more, whereas in the beginning he was pretty standoffish and would pull away. I love holding him and turning in circles, because he just laughs his head off! I want to get a picture of it. Oh, I hope he’s still there on Monday!!! Also, and this was the best, he has shoes, so I decided to take him for a walk! I’d stand behind him and hold his arms up and he’d walk in front of me. We went out into the hall and started to walk around and before I knew it, all the nurses and a few moms had congregated at the end of the hall that he was walking toward and they were like cheering him on (yes, example of how the nurses really are kind of lax on working)! He started going straight toward them and when he got there one of them swooped him up and started throwing him up above her head. He was laughing sooo hard and it was sooo cute. While this was all happening though, I was just thinking about how, yeah, it’s good that he’s not shy with strangers, but on the other hand, it kind of is. I mean, mom kids have their mom who they latch onto, and everyone else they have to get used to. But with him, all of these people collectively make up his mom and he doesn’t have any more attachment to one than to the other. Anyway, so then we went back down the other side of the hall again, then turned around and went back to the nurse again. This time we walked into the nurse’s room (usually not aloud, but they love this kid) and there was one nurse on a cell phone and she gave it to Gigi and was trying to get him to stay stuff into it. While we were doing this, Jenna walked in and she was probably like “ha, woah, Sheri’s in the nurses room with a kid who’s talking on the nurses phone!” Like, I can’t explain how unusual this is. Usually the nurses just say “nu e voie! (not aloud!)” about everything and are not affectionate with the kids and we aren’t aloud to go anywhere or do anything with them, so this was kind of weird. Well, we walked a little more, but finally he got tired and just sat down. So, I picked him up and brought him back to his crib and played with him a while more. He was really tired, so all he’d ever want to do was be held, and he was getting pretty cranky, so I tried to either rock him to sleep or get him to lie down in his crib, but he wouldn’t and finally I had to leave because I was supposed to meet Megan and Jess to take Nicu. Well, on the way up to the 6th floor from the first, I was walking up the stairs and saw this little kid by the pay phone, with the receiver in his hand, stretching as high as he could, trying to stick a phone card in the slot. I thought it was really cute and was just watching him and then when I got a little closer he turned his head around and looked at me and it was Ionut! What a cute kid! I stopped to try and help him out and found out he was trying to call his dad and was trying to get the phone card in because he knew if you stuck a phone card in you could call people. I don’t think his 4 year old brain had realized that you also need a phone number, but he wouldn’t listen to me, so I told him to stay there and that I’d go get Meg and Jess (because they hang out with him like all the time). So, I went up and got Nicu from Meg and Jess and told them to go get Ionut and I spent the rest of the time with Nicu. The moms in there are really cool and good at helping you figure stuff out, especially this one. Well, apparently this one mom (who was pregnant and had 2 kids at home) had gotten her cell phone stolen, so she was using the cell of one of the moms in my room to call the police. I also figured out the to call the police, you call 112. I had a good long convo with them all and they were all four gathered around my crib explaining stuff to me when Shannon walked in. She came in and all she could see were 4 moms gathered around Nicu’s crib and she could barely see me, so she says, in Romanian “Sheri? What’s happening here?” in a kind of comical tone and “ya alright?” and all the mom’s turned around and realized how funny it looked and we all started laughing. After the hospital, Shannon and I walked home and had a good little talk and when we were almost home I felt someone rip my water bottle out of my backpack and I turned around and was about ready to deck em, when I saw Jess holding it and laughing. It was pretty funny. I got home and started making pasta and it was juuust about done and I was getting so excited to eat it, when Melissa walks in and is like “hey, we’re going to Magic Pizza, wanna come?” I’m like, “dang it! Yes!” So I put the pasta in some Tupperware and the whole apartment went to Magic Pizza (that doesn’t happen often). We had a good time laughing and chatting and decided to call it our apartment closure activity. The 5 of us ordered 2 x-large pizzas (which are like larges or mediums in the US) with 8 slices each and 8 pieces of cheesy bread. That’s about 5 pieces each. Well, we were so hungy when they brought it that we ate the whole thing in 10 minutes flat. If the people couldn’t tell we were American before (and I’m sure they could) they could tell then! Romanians DO NOT eat like that. After dinner, we came home and I wanted to get one the internet computer, but Shannon got on first, so I used mine for a few minutes and used Melissa’s for like 10 minutes before Megan demanded to get on. By the time the 10 minutes were over I went back to mine and Shannon was on! Keep in mind I’d had computer time earlier, but it was forfeited by the Magic Pizza outing. So then I was all frustrated and she said she’d get off at 7:30 and then we found out that Jess was scheduled at 8 anyway and I was like like “aaaah!” So then I was all frustrated and Shannon got frustrated at me for being frustrated and that on top of everything else just made me feel like just exploding and I was about to just walk out on the balcony and then changed my mind and was going to go sit out in the stairwell instead, when as I’m walking out the door Jessica thrusts the phone at me and says “for you!” and I’m like, “who is it?” and she’s like, “I don’t know!” So I answered and it was my mom and I was like, “yes?” and she like, “hi, how are you?” and I’m like, “bad.” And she like, “what’s wrong?” And I’m like “nothing (even though, for the record, I know that makes no sense), why did you call?” And she’s like “because I felt like you were upset.” So I went out in the stairwell and we talked and it wasn’t like I poured my soul out to her and she gave me like incredibly wise advice or anything, but she just talked to me a little and was a mom and it helped. She had to go though, because the Relief Society Presidency was on their way over for a meeting. By the time we were done, I was still frustrated and upset, but not quite as much. I decided to just go to bed right then (it was like 8:30) and then wake up really early and use the computer. Well, first I went in and started reading, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I distracted myself a little. Then, just as I was laying down my head, Shannon started to open the door, saw that it was dark, started to close it, then changed her mind and opened it. She stood there for a second and then said “are you awake?” I raised my arm and said “yeah.” And she was like, “I just want you to know that I love you and I don’t hate you and you’re not a horrible person and I’m sorry I got frustrated.” So she came in and lay down on the bed and we had a really good conversation. We talked a lot about spiritual things and the atonement and she helped me to feel better and not like I’m eternally flawed and we worked things out again. Hallelujah for Shannon! After that I started lying down to go to sleep again, but then I realized that my mom had wanted her to give me a hug for her and so I ran back out and by this time she’d taken a shower and she was in just a towel, and so we had a good laugh about the irony of that and then she just got dressed and gave me a hug and I fiiiinally went to bed.