First Trip to Guatemala - Day 3

Well, if I was tired the morning of Day 2, it was nothing compared to the morning of Day 3. I had another night of fitful sleep, zooming out of bed each time Nelson moved to make sure he was adequately covered and wasn’t about to fall out of bed. I learned over the weekend that while it’s easier for him to fall asleep, he’s much more mobile in bed when he is asleep than Vilma. Vilma hardly moves an inch – when she’s out, she’s out. Conversely, each night Nelson ended up perpendicular to the bed, sleeping lengthwise between the pillow and the covers. I was persistent about covering him with the blanket we had brought him, but he was equally persistent about pushing it off. To give myself more piece of mind, I moved the arm chair to one side of his bed and wedged a pillow between the night-table and the bed on the other side of the bed. I needn’t have worried, he ended up doing just fine.

Day 3 began much like Day 2, with Jim and I welcoming our children to the new day saying “buenas dias, ti amo Nelson! Ti amo Vilma!” My conclusion from our short time with them is that they wake up happy from a good night sleep. After I had removed Nelson’s diaper, I rummaged through their clothing drawer to find something that would fit… my fingers landed upon a cute little set of overalls – those at least wouldn’t fall off! As soon as I pulled them though, Vilma announced “mio!” (mine!) I thought to myself, well this will be interesting… The tag on the overalls said 18 months. I pulled out a very cute white shirt with ruffled sleeves and a pretty embroidered heart and proceeded to dress Vilma. The overalls fit her perfectly! Good thing I had two pairs…

After we had them dressed, I lifted Vilma to wash her hands and face – over the course of the last couple of days this had proven to be one of her favorite activities. Each time that she had to go potty, she was very good about washing her hands, and often times, she would simply say “Manos! Manos!” (hands). She’s so little; I have to pick her so she can reach the faucet with her hands. She’ll smile at me and giggle while she rubs her hands together under the water, then asks “shampoo, shampoo!” scrubs her hands with soap all the way to her elbows, then places the soap back on the soap dish and after rinsing them, she’ll start splashing and scrubbing her face. Takes you by surprise the first time she does it, that’s for sure! That morning, I decided to try the toothbrushes I had brought for them. They watched me brush my teeth that morning and seemed interested. They both managed this remarkably well – first brushing their smile and then opening wide – giving me the impression they had had their teeth brushed before, which I took as a good sign.

When we had them dressed and ready to go we headed for breakfast using the strollers which by now we had become quite attached to – thank goodness for strollers! That morning, they each got a cup of yogurt, which they absolutely loved. This was a perfect opportunity for Vilma to feed herself with the baby spoon that I had brought. She was definitely more selective with the food that morning, electing to pass on some things and indicating specific things that she liked in particular. Interestingly, she really liked grapes, but was very particular about having them peeled. I had to cut them in half and some of the time she would scoop the meat of the fruit out of the skin with her teeth and other times, wait for me to peel the grapes. Both kids ate whole bananas that morning. It was pretty funny watching Vilma – she kept putting the banana back together again and pretending to peel it and seemed quite impressed with her accomplishment.

After breakfast, we thought we might take the kids to the zoo. The zoo is pretty close to the hotel and we thought it might be nice to get out with the strollers and have a change of scenery. As Jim was asking directions, I was strolling Vilma around the lobby. She saw some kids running around with balloons and was anxious to get her hands on one herself. The convention for mothers and babies that we had noticed on our first day was still open. I had thought that the convention was specifically oriented towards pregnant women, which I immediately dismissed as irrelevant. But we decided to investigate. I asked whether we could have a balloon and the attendee explained that you could get one if you went inside, that inside they had lots of booths for kids and a play area…. That sounded interesting indeed! Once we went inside, we couldn’t believe we had ignored this terrific resource for two whole days! The place was jam packed with things for kids – computer games, toys, children’s photographers, booths on different preschools, strollers and other equipment and once we weaved our wave through the aisles, a playground for kids!

This ended up being pure heaven. Vilma and Nelson hesitated at first, but after a while of making a fool of myself bouncing around and falling on the soft cushions and after watching other children at play, Vilma was ready to explore. We played chase around some big cushions that you could slide down, jumped into a bowl of colorful balls and had a ball throwing war with Pappa that illicited an eruption of giggles, and after that, Vilma needed no encouragement at all - everything was fair game. Nelson soon followed and before you knew Jim and I were running around trying to keep up with the two of them running up and down slides, sliding down slides, crawling through tunnels and playing peak-a-boo… we were having a blast!

Jim left the kids with me and reviewed the products available at the convention more closely. He found a double stroller that was reasonably priced that we could use with the kids and leave with Jessica, thereby fulfilling one of her wishes and our commitments, and he found a few other things that the kids needed. All in all, a goldmine! We couldn’t believe that it had taken us so long to investigate. Good thing Vilma wanted a balloon.

After lunch Jim set out again to find some clothes that would fit. Most of the clothes that we had brought and the clothes Jim had bought were too big and we didn’t want to leave without having provided some decent clothing for them. While Jim was out, we played in the room and after a while, decided to try out the new stroller. I took them outside and we just went back and forth just outside the hotel. The kids were absolutely mesmerized by this… it was so relaxing. We kept passing the same people and each time we passed, they would smile understandingly. It didn’t take long for the two of them to fall asleep. Finally, a nap that was reasonably timed during the afternoon… we were getting better at this.

Jim came back and we headed upstairs. After last night’s meltdown in the restaurant, we decided it would be best for them to wake up in our room. This meant that we needed to take them out of the stroller because the stroller would not fit through the door. I carefully lifted each child out of the stroller and placed them on the bed. They were sound asleep.

If memory serves, I think this was the time that we talked to mom and dad again. It was a comfort knowing that everyone was getting timely information about our trip and it was neat to share our experiences with them on a real-time basis. After doing some preliminary packing and putting aside the things we planned to leave the children, we got a phone call from our lawyer, he was downstairs in the lobby and asked if we had any other questions and whether he could come to our room. We were surprised to hear from him, but it was really nice to have an opportunity to ask additional questions now that we had been with the kids for a few days.

Both Vilma and Nelson have been very itchy, so we asked whether he had information about any kind of skin condition that they may have. He called Jessica on his cell phone and inquired and we learned that they have scorosis. Jessica had not been able to purchase the medicinal cream they needed for this condition to be treated. We also asked about some scars that we found on Vilma’s arm and leg that looked like she might have been burned at one point in time in her past. We learned that they had been in poor health at the time that they entered foster care, they weren’t really sure what had caused the scarring. No matter – we would take care of our precious daughter and make sure nothing like that every happened again. We also asked what the magic secret was to bedtime. Jessica’s answer, only a one hour nap in the afternoon and at bedtime, turn out all the lights, kiss them goodnight and leave the room. Well that explained things! We had left a desk light on at Vilma’s request and I never left the room – not once the whole night! The good news, we learned what techniques to use to bring them to bed, the bad news, they had already been sleeping for two hours! Oh well, we would do our best. Live and learn.

After speaking with Osskar, we woke up the children by playing some very soothing music. I had brought some little teddy bears that played music when you pulled the handles on both ends. This turned out to be the perfect way to wake them up – no crying, no meltdowns. Hurray! Once they were thoroughly awake, we went for a final tour through the convention and spent some time at the playground. After that, we headed to the dining room for our last dinner.

There had definitely been a shift in their eating habits over the course of the last few days. Initially, they seemed ravenous. But each subsequent meal, they seemed to eat a little less and became a little more particular as to what they wanted to eat. They still seemed to like everything, but they had their favorites and didn’t eat everything to the same degree. They also got the itch to get out of their high chairs earlier. That night, we let Vilma and Nelson run around a little. The dining area was pretty empty and we were sitting outside. The kids were running and squealing with delight just begging us to come and get them, and then peeling with laughter when we got them and threw them in the air and kissed their bellies. We were the evening’s entertainment – people couldn’t help but watch and laugh – their giggles are just contagious. We had come a long ways over the last few days earning their trust and maybe even some of their love and affection. It was bittersweet when we took them back upstairs to get them ready for bed.

When we got to room, we cycled through some of our favorite activities, standing on the balcony watching the cars go by, calling out the colors, playing peek-a-boo around the edge of the bed, taking our last bath, having our last snuggle session all wrapped up in the towel. Both Jim and I were trying to soak in every last moment. Jim finally got frustrated with Nelson’s pajamas and cut about five inches from the legs with scissors – aah! Freedom! No sooner had Nelson been freed from this burden when Vilma asked for the same in spite of the cute little ruffles on the cuffs of her pants. She was willing to make the sacrifice. Then finally, it was bedtime.

Now we were armed and dangerous… we were informed! All the lights went out and we laid them in bed and explained that it was bedtime. Before Jim could escape and leave me trying to get them to sleep, I left the room. Let him try it for one night! I was pooped! But shortly after I exited the room, Jim followed, and immediately, the crying began. Jim made me promise to wait 10 minutes before going into the room. I paced back and forth listening to Vilma yell “Mommy! Mommy!” Ugh… heart wrenching! Nelson expressed some initial cries, but quickly fell silent, apparently happy to let Vilma carry the message that they were unhappy. We tried peaking through the door to see what was happening, but that just made it worse because she could tell by our shadow that we were there. Wouldn’t you know it, after nine minutes Vilma was quiet. I crawled underneath the desk to peak through the door. I had to squeeze my nose shut to keep from making any noise I was laughing so hard. There those kids were, sitting up in bed talking, and wouldn’t you know it, eating! You could hear the crackle of the cereal bags as their little hands sought cornflake after cornflake… for our two snuggle-muffins, absolutely typical!

Finally, I had an opportunity to get to bed on time! But you know, after all the events that weekend, I just couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about how much I love these kids and what a great dad Jim was proving to be… what an amazing weekend this had been. After lying awake for a while, I snuck out of bed and packed my suitcase, hoping to buy some time the following day. Then finally, I fell asleep.