Yo soy mono

(Click on the pictures to see them big)












Solamon and I sitting on a bench that's missing about
half of its pieces. Zacharia in the background.



















Ezequiel hanging off the playground
equipment. I always tell him that he
scares me, and he insists that I shouldn't
because "Yo soy mono" (I am a monkey).
I suppose it's true enough...
Michaela is in the background, with a ball
in her shirt thinking no one can see it to
take it from here if she keeps it there.
















Yesterday the lights weren't working for a time,
so we were all outside on the patio. Some more tired
than others...This is Zacharia and Milagros. He's picking
something out of her hair; I'm not sure what.


Slowly I've been able to piece together more information about the kids. When I listed the five who have a drug-addict mother, I was wrong about one. Those siblings are actually Fabiano, Gabriel, Michaela, Tutui, and Milagros. She came to visit them yesterday evening. The younger ones kept calling her "Tia" and she was getting all flustered, telling them to call her "Mami". You can't really blame them though. At 1 and 3 years old, they can't be too sure about what's going on in life at all. I'm not sure she even has the right to correct them, but I suppose that's not my call to make. I just think they deserve better. Milagros has actually taken to calling me "Tia" about half of the time and "Mami" the other half. I remind her "No, no soy Mami," but I don't think she intends to do it anymore than she intends to call her mother "Tia".



Then Zacharia, Ezequiel, and Solamon are all brothers from the same father. I didn't understand for sure whether they have the same mother or not. Anyway, the father lives somewhere nearby, but has abandoned the kids because he is with a new woman now who doesn't want them. They go visit him on Sundays. I'm not sure what you say to a father who has abandoned you for a new family, but I guess they deal with it.

That leaves only Nicole, the other baby girl. As far as I understand, she doesn't have parents around (though again, this is all coming at me quickly in Spanish so I can't be 100% sure about my details). She is gone on weekends. A lady comes and gets her, who I don't think is her mother, but maybe a relative or someone who is looking into adopting her, I'm not really sure. Maybe SHE's the one who is getting adopted, but I could have sworn it was Michaela. I don't know, we'll see I guess.