No Soy Mamá

Me, Tutui















Me, Michaela, Nicole




I know it's been a little while since you've heard from me. As you can tell from my last post, things have been absolutely crazy. I'm going to hold off on posting updates concerning the situation with those 3 boys. Veronica is going to help me figure out exactly what's going on, so I can make it more factual and less rumors/speculation. Hopefully that will happen sometime this weekend.


Meanwhile back at the house, the kids that are still there are enjoying their new toys. I bought them a set of Legos, because I've never met a kid who didn't like playing with Legos. I know I loved them. Well, I didn't buy Legos exactly. As I mentioned before, anything imported from the US or Europe is ridiculously expensive. A box of Legos was in the $20-25 range. And yes, that's US Dollars, NOT Pesos. So, I found the local version: Blocky. I knew I had made the right choice when, as it was taken out of the bag, their eyes got wide and they started exclaiming to each other, "Wow! It's just like on TV!". That was yesterday. Today, when I arrived, they were STILL playing with them. I wouldn't be surprised if a few little building blocks spent the night under each of their pillows. On the back of the box, there are pictures of other Blocky playsets that are available for sale. They pointed out one they might like, if possible. Fabian found one of the other ones interesting, but he didn't want to sound greedy. So he pointed to the one he liked and said (rough translation) "And after that one, way, wayy wayy way after, like FOREVER after, much much much later after you buy that one, could you maybe see if you could bring this one?" It was so cute. Thanks to some generous donations from people back home, I should be able to buy both of those sets that they want so badly. That was so nice of you guys--and I want you to know that the kids and I all appreciate it very much.

Tutui is an absolute angel. He grins at me and then wraps his arms around my neck as tight as he can about every 5 minutes. Sometimes he just wants to look at me and run his hands over my face and through my hair. He looks like he's trying to memorize me. I think I'm the only person that shows him the kind of love and care a 3-year-old should have. Sometimes if it's been a while I say, "Tutui, I want a hug!" He absolutely lights up and comes running toward me with open arms. He has quite the grip on my heart. I recently learned that his REAL name is Jonathan. Interesting. I thought it was Tutui--no one calls him by anything else. If you ask him though what his name is, he will tell you that it is Jonathan. But, if you ask him what he is called (The more common way of asking for names in Spanish), he will say "Tutui". I kept asking everyone where the name Tutui came from if his real name is Jonathan, but no one seems to know. As if he wasn't already adorable enough, he commonly speaks about himself in 3rd person. He'll say things like "Tutui is going to play with these!" or "Tutui has to go to the bathroom!" Today he looked at a picture on my camera in which he was blinking, and said "Tutui is doing [and then proceeded to blink at me rapidly]". Somehow the fact that all of this is in Spanish makes it even cuter.

I really wish I could bring all these kids home with me to stay...or at least to meet everyone. They're not going to know what happened when I leave. Michaela (the 7 year old girl who has her mouth wide open in the picture up top) is old enough to understand that I'm not her mother, but that doesn't stop her from whispering to every other kid when I go to pick her up from school "That's my mama". She thinks I can't hear her. Milagros, though, is still seriously confused. She calls me "Mamá" or "Mami" even more often now. Sometimes I try to set her straight, and say "No soy Mamá" (I'm not Mama), but she just laughs and laughs. She thinks that's just about the funniest thing she's ever heard. I have no doubt she's thinking something to the effect of "Silly Mommy..."

Anyway, I'll have more news soon. Hopefully good news...

Buenas Noches!