un dia tremendoso!

what a great day. i got up, unpacked a bit, and did two loads worth of nasty dirty clothes. i was on my way to hold the baby when teddy and the rest of the boys (sergio, jose, alejandro, and antonio) said hi to me and told me to come over. they live separate from the big house. i spent the rest of the day with them, and it was so fun. there's a new worker they call chewy who grew up at gabriel house and has some some spinal disabilities but just came back last week to work with the boys. he understands way more english than he lets on and is the strong silent type, but also a lot of fun to be around. he's been helping me with my spanish and also laughing at my ridiculous mistakes hahaha. the brothers - jose, alejandro, and antonio don't speak much but they are so full of expression. they sign a lot, which is cool, and their faces say a lot more than words can. we took their hand pedal bike out one by one and went to a little store to get a treat. it was great to spend time with them and continue getting to know them individually. teddy is the most vocal of the group and he said hi to a man as we passed him on the road. the man invited us into his house, and teddy, being as friendly as he is, started scooting on in and i was like oh snap, i can just see where this is going and i haven't even been here a day...
but jamie was really nice, and his wife juanita worked for gabriel house for about 9 years. she said she'd show me how to make tortillas sometime! jamie showed me about 200 pictures of anyone who had ever been to their house, and those people's kids, grandkids, stepkids, aunts, uncles, and cousins. it was really sweet, and teddy just sat there the whole time with this big smile on his face.
it was so fun to be out with the boys, especially jose, because they can go so fast on that bike. in their wheelchairs or on the ground they're just stuck in their bodies, but on that bike, man, they are free. now if only we could get them an olympic size pool...

i met with ted and renie for about 2 hours to talk about my role at gabriel house. it went really well, and renie and i share a passion for the kids she calls "the treasures," like lidia and the sisters and about 7 more kids. i told her my dream is to work with the kids who are the farthest away from achieving their potential. i want to work with the kids who sit there all day every day with not much to do. i want to engage them and stimulate their minds and help them do and learn as much as they can. so for the next couple of weeks, i'll be working monday through friday from 8-5. i'll spend about an hour with each of the 11 kids one on one, getting to know them individually and figuring out what they can and can't do. after that, i'll assess them, and then start a program based off of those assessments and my time with the kids. it's going to be a lot of work but i'm really excited to get started. i just have to remember to take it one day at a time, and that for kids who have sat around for 7, 8, 9 years, or even way more than that, baby steps are awesome. we shall see what happens!