Girls' Day Out

Yesterday afternoon we had some giggly girl time with our 4 big girls at the Baby Home!

Our oldest 4 range in age from 2 1/2 - 5 years old. They are such a fun group and caring for them is totally different from caring from our babies at House 1. It was a treat to get to go out together.

Our first stop? The 3 younger girls have been asking to go to see our kindergartener's school, so it was high time! They came with me to pick her up and loved seeing her classroom and meeting her profesora.

Giving a little classroom tour...we just had to show the younger girls the puzzles!

Taking it all in :)

Next stop? A picnic in the park...downtown in the Plaza Principal

Picnic-ing...we WERE sitting in the grass...until the sprinkler system all of a sudden came on soaking us and sending 4 little girls squealing around the plaza!

We fed the birds, too. For the record, I think that this is completely disgusting...like feeding rats with wings...but thanks to one of the four who really gets excited about all animals, I gave in...easily.

These 2 below are sisters! They have quite the history, and if you're interested, you can check out a little post from the CDA website about when they arrived about 2 years ago: http://hogardeamor.blogspot.com/2009/05/child-history-80.html

This sweetheart has been my little project over the past few months.

I try to go out of the home with kids as often as possible, as it's so important for them to be socialized. I'll never forget the first time I planned on leaving with this 2 year old during my first week or two here...she flipped out.

We were going to church, and as soon as she figured out that I was talking about leaving the house, she began screaming and sobbing. I didn't know then that she has always had tremendous fears of change..especially leaving the house for any reason. Wellllll...obviously we had to do something about that! One of the other tias who this little girl adores and I have been taking her out in slow increments...first just walking to the corner to buy a popsicle...then walking a little bit further...then taking a taxi somewhere..baby steps. And little by little we saw progress...instead of screaming when we mentioned leaving, she didn't scream until we got to the gate, for example, ha! I am finally happy to report that she can now head out of the house with a smile on her face, and that smile stays put wherever we take her! She's definitely timid, but I am just thrilled that we can get her out now. We have lots to see! :)