My Girls (and a few boys too)

I don't know how to explain this week in the orphanage, it was really hard for me, but at the same time I've been able to get to know a lot of my girls this week. I wanted to tell everyone a little bit about all of them. We have a ton of kids in my room, a lot more than Justin and we keep getting more and more so I'll try to just give a brief synopsis about all my kids, I’m supposed to be in the girl room, but not everyone is a girl. =) Here goes:

Paula (Paow-la)—Paula is a 7 year old girl with autism. She has darker skin and the most beautiful head of curly dark hair. She is very curious and gets in a lot of trouble with the workers because she can't seem to stay out of anything. She has a wheelchair that she is in sometimes, but she can walk by herself just fine, she just looks a little wobbly. She is really sweet and comes running to greet me every time she sees me. She would walk around in the hallways all day if she was allowed, she hates sitting still.

Simona Mare (that means big Simona, there are two girls named Simona in my room)—Simona will be 12 in a few months and they told me she has Chronic Infantile Encephalopathy, which I am completely unfamiliar with. She has big brown eyes and a super cute smile that doesn’t come out very often without coaxing. She is in a wheelchair and she can wheel herself around. She loves to pick up string or yarn or pieces of carpet and twirl them in her fingers. I haven’t gotten to know her very well yet because she is pretty shy, but she is coming around.

Stefan—He is one of the lucky boys at the orphanage who gets to be surrounded by girls all day long. The past girls all differ on his diagnosis, some say he has autism and one girl said that he was given bad medication that stopped his progression, so I’m not really sure. He is nonverbal, for the most part and he has been a little more difficult for me to connect with. Every time I go by him, he always tries to get away! This Thursday he finally let me play with him for a while and all of a sudden he started smiling really big and he grabbed my hand, I was pretty excited and looked away for a second and the next thing I knew he was biting my hand! Little stinker! I thought he was smiling because he liked me, but he was just smiling because he was about to bit me. Hahaha! It’s actually pretty funny if you think about it. He is really content just playing with toys in his chair, I’m going to have to try a bit harder with this one.

Adina—Adina is so smart. She has autism and gets to go to school outside the orphanage most mornings. She can count and she knows her colors and she knows all the words to the songs “book of mormon stories” and “popcorn popping”, along with all the actions. She really craves attention and vocalizes it when she wants it. She is about 8 years old and loves to dance, sing and play, just like any 8 year old girl. She is a big help in the room and likes to push wheelchairs and help the others get their shoes on. She is a handful, but really fun and I’m really glad that I can talk to her and practice my Romanian, even though I don’t know what she is saying half the time.

Pitrica (Pet-ree-ka)—I thought he was a she because of his name, but he is an 8 year old boy with Downs Syndrome and Severe Low Tone. He is in a wheelchair, but he can stand, kind of, if you hold him up. His legs are just so weak that he can’t support his own body weight. Pitrica loves to be held! Whenever I get close enough for him to touch, he will grab on to me and pull himself as close as he can get to me. When I hug him back he gets really excited and starts making all sorts of crazy noises. When he gets really excited he bites, not to hurt, he just doesn’t understand that biting hurts, he is just happy. So needless to say I’ve been bit a couple of times. I really love when he starts squawking because that means he is so happy he can’t contain himself and he does it every time we hug, I love it.

Fraga (just roll the R and you’ve got it)—I just got to spend time with Fraga at the end of this week. She is in a wheelchair and is usually sleeping. I read in past write ups that she is blind and can’t tell the difference between night and day, I’m not sure how accurate that is, but who knows. She was lying on the mat this week and I went up and started tickling her, she loved it and has the cutest laugh. I also sang a few songs to her which she just ate up and she even started singing back to me. We’ll have to continue our sing-a-longs.

Georgiana—She is this super cute 7 year old with autism. She too goes to school outside of the orphanage most days along with Adina and Maria (who I haven’t talked about yet). She is the cutest little girl, but she can also be really mean to the other kids in the room. When she thinks no one is watching she will go up to one of them and give’m a good smack across the face or pull their hair. It is sad to see her do that, but honestly it is what she has learned from watching others do it. She really likes sensory things and loves it when I run my fingernails on her arms. She also really loves when I bounce her on the giant ball. She makes a few noises when she is scared or upset, but besides that she is pretty non-verbal. I think I’ll be working on no hitting with her this semester. =)

**Told you there were a lot of kids in my room**

Larisa—I love Larisa. She is in a wheelchair and loves to talk and sing and dance. She knows the words to most songs on the radio and even if she doesn’t know the words, she sings anyway. She knows my name and we talk a lot. She even teaches me some new words in Romanian. I’m not sure what her disability is, the past interns have a few things, but I’m not sure how accurate they are either. Larisa can really brighten the mood of the room. She really wants to be included with Adina and Maria, but because she is in a wheelchair she usually isn’t which can make her sad sometimes, but she is so fun to be around.

Maria—Maria is really adorable! She goes to school with Georgiana and Adina in the mornings. She has autism and cleft palette and is 9 years old. She loves, really loves to look at books. I know that they have books in my room, but for some reason Maria isn’t allowed to get them out and look at them very often so I went and bought a few books and I bring them to the orphanage and she absolutely loves to look at them. I have one book that is a compilation of a bunch of different Disney stories and it has lots of really colorful pictures and she will look at it until it gets taken away. She is really sweet.

Simona mic (Small Simona)—I love this girl. She was the first one in my room that I connected with. She is 8 years old and has autism. My first week in my room she came up to me and grabbed onto me and wouldn’t let go, so I picked her up and just held her for a long time, she really loves cuddling. I’m not sure how she does it, but she can screech super loud, it is one of the loudest noises I have ever heard come out of any living thing. It is incredible. She is really cute and is super ticklish, and her laugh is priceless.

Raluca (Raw-luka)—Raluca loves to sing! She is perfectly content just sitting in a chair and singing along with the radio. It is really cute to watch her singing when she doesn’t know you are, she looks toward the ceiling and shakes her head back and forth to the music while singing, it is super cute. She has some developmental delays and is really unsteady when she walks, also she shows a lot of problems from being institutionalized. She loves to help out the workers and the other kids in the room. She will do anything you ask her, she really is the sweetest girl.

Niculina (Nick-oo-leena)—Ah! I love this girl. It took me a while to connect with her because I wasn’t sure how aware she really was, but she is so smart. On Thursday I took her out of her wheelchair and walked with her and she is a really great walker, she just has a back deformity of some sort so she can’t stand on her own, but if I just hold onto her torso she knows just what to do. She loves getting high-fives and if you say, “sus sus” (up, up) she will put her arm in the air so you can give her lots of high-fives in a row, she just laughs and laughs. Ever since we made our connection whenever she sees me she tries to get my attention so I will come over and play with her. I am amazed at how aware and smart she is and am so excited every time I get to play with her.

Iulia (U-lee-a)—I don’t know Iulia that well because usually she is in the bedroom and not out in the room with the rest of the girls, I’m not sure why yet. She is in a wheelchair and I’m fairly certain that she is blind too. She is non-verbal, but really likes to babble. She too, like many of my kids loves to sing and listen to music. She has this little piano toy that plays music that she can’t get enough of. She also loves it when I hold onto her feet and pretend like we’re running really fast, that is a sure way to get her to laugh.

Paulo—Paulo just joined my room this week, I actually met Paulo at the hospital on my first day there. I think he recognizes me or at least my blue scrubs because he ALWAYS tries to get my attention. Whenever I go over to play with him he smiles really big and gets really excited. I’m not sure how old he is, I don’t have any paperwork on him, but I know he has Cerebral Palsy. I pretty sure that he is more aware of what is going on then everyone gives him credit for, I just wish I could speak better so I could talk to him more.

I’m not sure if I’m missing anyone, but I can’t think of anyone else at this point. These are my kids, they all have such wonderful personalities that I didn’t see clearly the first few days I was in my room, but I’m so glad that I get a chance to know them all. I just hope that it won’t be a one sided semester and that I can help them as much as they are helping me.