We just finished spending the afternoon loving on lots of babies. We kissed, hugged, fed, played and even got peed on! I am going to make a file called Gracie's Room March 2012 for our pictures.
It was an amazing experience today. The room which was void of interactive toys and color, quickly turned into a rainbow as I took toys and playmats out of my bag and handed them around. I truly felt like Santa Claus, I got choked up as each child's face lite up as I passed out toys.
Cathy was a pro at assembling the activity gyms, and play mats and feeding the cleft affected babies with the new bottles, Angela was the baby whisperer, and quickly had them asleep in her arms singing softly to them. Ian (when his camera wasn't in his hands) was the human ferris wheel, lifting them into the air with squeals of delight. Moya the eagle eye, was the voice and eyes of Gracie's Room, looking to see where we can place toys and bottles, talking with director all the while with a baby in her arms, Andi (her 8yr old daughter) was a great Jie Jie (big sister) to all the babies, tossing balls and teaching them how to play with the toys, and I tried to be the babies advocate, making sure files and babies matched with diagnosis, and birth dates, if we felt a baby was sick, I made notes to have the baby receive medical care, I explained to the nannies why the toys were important for the development of muscles, brain and motor skills.
We were quite the crew, and all worked well together. The nannies were at first reluctant and shy at all the toys and mats coming out, but once Cathy placed a child on the mat and within seconds she started to bat at the toys and shake her legs and laugh, the nannies were accepting and started to place babies onto the play mats, and place toys into the hands of the little ones. For some of the older (2 to 3 yrs) kids, the interactive toys were a big hit, like the shape sorter, xylophone and the ball drop.
We also visited a classroom with around 7 kids and a teacher. One of the children, a little girl, is being adopted very soon and was actually taken out to have her pictures done for her passport. I managed to quickly measured her foot for her mom and it is tiny!!! ( only about 4 inches long) She is a cutie and was all smiles for me! Earlier in the day we spent an hour at a foster care home, meeting 3 children and all the foster parents, there were 2 boys and 1 girl. OH MY! So much fun! The kids were so cute, and obviously cherished by their foster parents. We could clearly see the benefits of foster care. They shared drinks and treats with us, and we shared chocolates with them!
We got great video and photos of the visit. I played with the little girl (who is being adopted very very soon) and although she was shy of me at first, she warmed up and by the end of the visit, would run into my runs laughing so hard, she was drooling!! It was a hoot! The little 4 year boy recited a poem for us and we have it on video. He is delightful! Oh, by the way, if your child comes home with cavities, blame Cathy, as she was handing out bubblegum lollipops and chocolate to all the kids!
We had a great day and I'll upload photos very soon.
Krista Dolan
Director of Gracie's Room
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