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| Potty Time |
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| Diarie |
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| Maria Ascension |
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| Lesvia |
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| Lesvia and Ana Lucretia |
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 2 Peter 1:5-7 (NKJV)
I learned in March that I was not cut out for the canaries. Looking back at my first trip to the Malnutrition Center in January of 2011, I know for sure it was God who placed me in the Chicks, the older toddlers, rather than with the babies or even the Ducks and the Squirrels who are the older children. I am right at home with the little ones that I can communicate with (in very limited Spanish), and play games with. I like working with the nannies in the Chicks and being in the main hallway that has been converted to their play area. We are not as isolated as the Canaries who are kept tucked away from the noise and confusion of the rest of the center. I was meant to be with the Chicks. But, as I prepared for this trip, I was torn. How would I explain to Nanny Christy that I was going back to the Chicks and leaving her behind in the Canaries? I teased my friend and college roommate, Julie, who is with me on this trip along with her two teenagers, that I was going to blame it all on her. She’s a good enough friend that she was willing to shoulder that burden. But, when I arrived, I found that Christy is not working this week as she hurt her knee three weeks ago and has been out of work. The Center is still paying her, but she is unable to do her job, and I know that worries her. I hope to get to go and visit her this week and spend some time with her. She lives within walking distance of the center and one of the interpreters said she would go with me. In the meantime, I am back with my little Chickadees, but there have been many changes in the last few months that will make my work with them hard. A year ago, they started putting the Chicks on pots after lunch to begin potty training them. But, now, someone, and if I find out who, I may not be able to resist asking why, has decided that the Chicks will not only sit on the potty five times a day, but they will not wear diapers anymore! These children are less than two years old. I know that potty training is helped by letting a child feel what it is like to be wet and not relying on diapers and that can work when you have ONE child to whisk off to the potty when you see signs that they need to go, but not SEVENTEEN! I feel like I spent my whole day in the bathroom or cleaning up accidents. I have transformed every children’s song I know to have potty lyrics because they only way to keep them all from crying is to sing to them while they sit on their pots. At least the bathroom has good acoustics! They sit on their pots until they go and most of them have rings around their bottom from the imprint of the pot! Here’s the deal though. I am not in charge, I do not make decisions about how the children are raised and even if I could have my way, they will go back to doing things how they like once I leave. So, this week, while I am singing in the bathroom, I will be reminding myself that I am here to serve and being a servant means doing what needs to be done without asking why!
I wonder if diapers are getting harder to come by? Could that be the reason for the early potty training? Under 2 seems a bit early but I suppose it's not unheard of. They're lucky to have you singing to them and making potty time a bit more bearable.