This morning was a typical morning at the shelter full of
playing and feeding the kids. Clinton
even got to experience getting vomited on by one of the babies. Once again the Mommas were there to clean up
the sick kid.
Today is the birthday of two of the girls at the shelter;
they turned 7 and 1. Tables were set
outside with decorations of balloons and banners. The toddlers and preschoolers gathered around
the tables as two cakes were brought out with chocolate and strawberry icing. Most of the kids waited patiently in their
chairs for the cakes to be cut. The
girls opened presents, we sang happy birthday, and the cakes still were not
cut. Amazingly only one or two of the
kids tried to dip their fingers into the cakes.
When they were caught and told no, they obeyed. The well behaved kids demonstrated amazing
patience and willpower in not falling into the temptation of dipping their fingers
into the dessert. I can’t think of any birthday
cakes of mine that were not dipped into by a sibling (And I have home videos to
prove it).
Finally the cake was served
and each kid received a generous portion of gooey goodness. The seven year old played with her new
present; a potty training doll. She fed
the doll a bottle then a few minutes later cried out, “She actually wet
herself!” All of the kids laughed but
she quickly replied, “Don’t make fun of my baby!” I loved watching her rock the baby doll back
and forth as she must have witnessed the Mommas do many times.
After the kids played off some of their Birthday cake
energy, one of the Mommas asked me to help her in the baby room. On the past three Wednesdays the shelter had
admitted three new babies one on each Wednesday. One of the babies was left by her mom at a friend’s
house, one was found on a road with the umbilical chord still attached, and the
final baby’s mother is in prison for burning her father. Each baby was only a few days old when they
were admitted; the youngest is now 12 days old.
As I sat rocking one of the very fussy newborns I counted the beds. There were ten occupied cribs all containing
babies under 12 months old. I thought of
the septuplets that I have seen on TV.
Their parents always have multiple people at the house to help out. This baby room is staffed by two Mommas at a
time. They are constantly on their toes,
but the babies get fed and changed on a regular basis. This is an amazing facility, but it can not
provide the interaction and attention that a family would. After I helped with the feeding I started
playing with one of the baby girls. She
grabbed my fingers, so I pulled her up and tried to get her to walk. By the end of the evening she was motoring
around by coasting with a stroller while she laughed and chuckled. She seemed to be cracking herself up as she
realized her new found freedom of moving where she wanted by walking.
