Thumbs Ups and High Fives at the Haven

                Today was completely worthy of all thumbs up and high fives given. I’ll start with what may not seem like a thumbs up worthy moment. Naughty behavior has been an issue for us, as activities with 17 2-5 year olds will usually illicit. The issue of discipline has perplexed us as “No” only goes so far and time-outs aren’t enforced regularly enough to make sense to the kids. We’ve had several moments lately where shining moments of progress have appeared but today brought a concrete accomplishment. Sibu is an adorably mischievous child, who ran up to me screaming “Mama” today, alerting that he was feeling a little extra excited. He remained positive until after lunch, when he proceeded to hit Manthe in the head with a chalk eraser, threw a plastic chair at Tylo and hit Tylo with a large Lego square in the face. Witnessing all three things in such quick succession and realizing no was simply not going to cut it, I picked Sibu up and brought him to the far side of the room and sat him in a chair by himself explaining that since he did something hurtful he had to stay there in time-out for a minute. Surprisingly enough, he listened and when his time was up, he came over to me with sad eyes. Tylo was there and I asked Sibu to say sorry to him. The sweetest “sorry” with a long rolled “r” was given to Tylo and reciprocated with the same. I said good job and asked them to hold hands and be nice, which they did. They gave each other and me big smiles and were given high fives and thumbs up in return. I was pretty proud of Sibu for listening and for following through and playing nice. I know this wasn’t the most sophisticated way to discipline and may not point to giant leaps and bounds but it was certainly a step in the right direction.
               Now we’ll turn to the moment that definitely elicited an “aww” from me, brought to you by Cedriono, who we know as the sad one to whom our hearts always reach. Today, he was immediately playful, a sight that fills our hearts due to its rarity. The last two mornings, he has immediately come up to me and started to play. His favorite game is when I pick him up and he flops backwards so his head is close to the ground. The only problem with this game is that he gives no warning as to when he is going to become a limp noodle. Nonetheless, it puts a big smile on his face. After about 20 minutes of hanging on me and attempting to elicit laughs, he decided it was reading time. This usually begins with a story read to him, asking simple questions throughout (what color is this? Or Is that a dog?). I’ve found this just makes him shy and he will simply nod in reply. So today I let him flip the pages and point at things, all the while making sure I was watching by turning my face back towards the book if I talked to another little one. Our little process was wonderfully interrupted with the sweetest little voice uttering a simple phrase, “this is a cat”. Though my heart jumped and I beamed that he was finally comfortable enough with me and his surroundings to utter more than very quiet Xhosa phrases to himself, I kept it in and acted like it was normal. Shortly after that I heard the same regarding a dog and then a horse, even sliding in an “air-o-plane”. I gave him a big thumbs up and said “Good job, Cedie!” and he reciprocated with a big smile, hug and another story. Renee overheard me telling someone about a cat and inquired as to what I was talking about and when I relayed what Cedie had done, she beamed and explained how proud she was of him. I have to say I completely agree. I love the days when these adorable little monsters make us proud and these moments will certainly imprint their little faces in our hearts.