Traditional Thursday

Day 17

Another Thumbs up Thursday has come and gone. This Thumbs up Thursday was probably even more unsuccessful since my last since I am not evolved in feeding group with the little babies. Besides that, today was a good day. Some of our group is starting to feel sick and worn out. I pray that we will get better and continue to have high spirits as we share our lives with these children and allow God’s to work through us.

Today I first worked with Ruth. She is a twin of Marcus in the TB room, which I have talked about before. Today she did very well. She did all her stretches, but she did not do well during tummy time. She did not attempt to lift her head very much, but at the end of the session she was demonstrating good head control when we worked on sitting upright without aid.

During the next session I worked with Lincoln. He is a very, very smiley happy baby. These are the best kind of babies. They make the session go so fast with the giggle and smile at you as you work with them. Today Lincoln rolled from his front to his back and then back to front for the first time. Also, Leo started crawling for the first time during our session. It was rewarding to see theses milestones first hand. After our two morning feeding sessions I worked one on one language with Leah again. She again was so happy and giggly. She made the time go by quick as we laughed and talked and talked.   

Today was our traditional Zambian meal of the week. We had Shema which is ground corn, roots and milk. We also had rice, chicken, cabbage and rolls. It was all very good just like the first time. I really enjoy eating the Zambian food. I wish I had the opportunity to eat it more often.

The afternoon feeding class went well. I worked with Louise. She was very hungry at the start of the session so I fed her. She at very well but during our later stretches and muscle stimulation I think she probably spit up 40% of what she ate. It was disappointing to watch, but she did very well with all the stimulation and stretches.

Once the feeding class was over I headed over to Haven 3. Today the group that was already in there decided to play a terrible joke on me, and some others, by locking me out and putting a sign up in the window saying that I was not allowed in! They know that we love Haven 3 very much and always come there at the end of our day. Eventually after much pouting the let me in and I worked with Heath. Heath is the floppy baby I have mentioned before. He just doesn’t have a lot of muscle in his arms, legs or neck. So this afternoon I worked on reaching out with toys, and we had tummy time (working on lifting our head, and upper body) and then we worked on hold our head while sitting upright, (with assistance). Though Heath is a floppy baby he is very happy and usually as a smile which makes him very fun to work with. I think he is continuing to improve. I look forward to seeing what he can do by the end of our time here.

Thank you for all your prayers!

Ben