Today has been such a wonderful day..but not only today has been a wonderful day, but this whole experience! We really wish all of you girls could have joined us. The people here are so friendly, from the babies, to the college aged people, to the aunties and everyone else. The people here are just naturally joyful, and are always fun to be around. The singing is always wonderful to listen to during regular church service and children's church. We have also learned 2 songs in tongan from our friend the night watchman, Webster. We might even have to sing the songs we learned in church, but maybe Webster will forget and will not ask us to (fingers crossed).
I have been in the “feeding class” this week with Anna, Liz, and Cari. Our typical day begins in Haven 3 and ends in Haven 1. I got to spend time with Sibajene and Mary in Haven 3 and Shannon in Haven 1, which happen to be some of my favorite babies! As some of you probably already know we have been working on orally desensitizing the babies with nuk brushes and z-vibes and have been doing various stretches to strengthen their little facial muscles so they can eat better. Other babies that do not need as much oral stimulation and/or facial exercises we focus more on tummy time, trunk support, bearing weight, crawling, and pulling up. Sibajene has been able to lift his head/shoulders during tummy time and roll over, and Mary has been able to “scoot” forward and backward- no crawling just yet. Shannon tolerated all of the stretches and enjoyed the z-vibe and other vibrating toys. It is always a joy to work with the little ones because they are always so cute and funny! It is always great to see them achieving certain developmental milestones while we are here working with them! I wish you all could experience this with us.
We ended therapy early today so that we could celebrate Ian’s birthday at Jordan’s rock! Jordan’s rock is a place that Zambians have come for centuries to celebrate different events. It is this huge rock out in the middle of the African bush, which was quite a bumpy ride away from our house. This week we have had certain visitors, such as Reagan and Ashley, Dr. and Mrs. Hopper, Dr. and Mrs. Ragsdale, Ms. Ellie Hamby, and the 2 videographers. So we currently have a pretty large group here! We had a fire on the rock and roasted hotdogs and made s’mores while the sunset! It was such a fun night! We only have 5 days of therapy left. Time here as really flown by. I’m sad to leave but I am excited to see all of your beautiful faces in a few weeks! Thank you so much for reading our blogs and commenting (even though its required ha)! I hope all of you are enjoying your offsites! I cant wait to hear about it when we get back!
Lauren
Lauren!! It's so good to hear from you!! I could tell it was your writing before I even saw your name! So I was wondering if you have a favorite technique to use to stimulate feeding muscles (i.e. z-vibes, nuk brush etc.) Have you found one to be more successful than the others? I'm so glad you are throughly enjoying yourself! Miss you!
ReplyDeleteShayna
With tummy time are you simply laying them on their tummies or do you use something to stimulate head lifts and etc? HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN!!!
ReplyDeleteLoved hearing from you Lauren! What would you guys say has been the most challenging thing when working with these children?
ReplyDeleteLauren!!! Besides tummy time, do yall do any warm up movements for the kiddos before they eat to get them ready to eat? Like push-ups when holding them on their tummy, stretches, play? Enjoyed your post! Miss you!
ReplyDeleteLauren :)! It's so good to hear from you! I know you are having a fantastic time! I was also wondering what y'all do with tummy time. Do you just put the babies on their bellies and wait for them to do something, or do you try to get them to look at you? Also what have you found to be the most useful in getting the babies to eat? Have you compared their eating without any intervention to their eating abilities after doing the stretches or z-vibe? Are there any babies who refuse to eat still? Can't wait for y'all to be back! Miss you guys bunches!!
ReplyDeleteHello Lauren!! :) Tummy time seems fun and seems really helpful for those little ones! Have ya'll seen a lot of progress with your kids as a whole??
ReplyDeleteGlad you are having fun, Lauren! I also would like to know more about tummy time :)
ReplyDeleteI love Meagan's question I would like to know what has been the most challenging thing so far? Everything you guys are doing really sounds like so much fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat all are the videographers doing? Will we get to see a video of everythings you guys are doing!?! Hope so!
I just saw all of these questions and am going to answer the ones that I can. Tummy time involves placing the child on his or her tummy on the rug. The goal is that the children will lift their hands and will establish more trunk stability. We stimulate head elevation through touching the child on the side and through presenting objects visually for them to follow.
ReplyDeleteTo my knowledge all of the children are feeding now. We just had an infant named Ellen who was possibly on the verge of death make a full recovery, and we are seeing improvement in almost all of our children, even after the first week.
For me the most challenging obstacle is that the toddlers are so quiet culturally and don't show a lot of desire or motivation to speak a lot. It's hard to stimulate language when culturally it is preferred that children be quiet.
Overall we are seeing vast improvement and are learning more and more all the time. Thank you for your wonderful questions. We can't wait to see you when we get back. Love you all!