Running Free on May Day in Poland
Gliwice, Poland - May 1, 2004
This is Lawrence. I got up at the usual time (6:00). My mission this morning was to cross the road and go for a run to see if this was, indeed, a good area to take the children for a walk. There is a nice wide sidewalk that goes on for miles. I ran for about a mile and a half (and back, of course). It looks like the walks will be very fun.
While running, it occurred to me that the children are really now running free. I suspect that “I” would play soccer with me from dawn until dusk if we let him. They simply do not want to stop running around outside. So far, this May Day has beautiful weather. Which is nice since it is a holiday here, but nicer still for our family adventures.
Today is the first day that the children will be spending the entire day with us. So, this is an historic day. Oh, by the way, it is also the day that Poland joins the European Union. The hotel seems to have very few guests this weekend. So, we may be able to use the hallways for some games too. We are planning to take the children to Tesco, they have the new stuffies that brother Ross sent. Also, Jozef gave them each a little toy that shoots bubbles. I expect the air to be thick with them. We will write a full report of this day latter, but since I had a few moments, I wanted to talk with you.
BTW, today in Chelmsford is the Town-wide Clean-up. Hooray to all of the scouts who are working hard to make Chelmsford look nice!
====================================================
Nie Lody, Tak Parasol
Gliwice, Poland - May Day 2004
This is Elaine. Whilst Lawrence was running, I got a call from my brother. We spoke for a bit about the children. Then Lawrence came back from his run. We were running late and there was no “Swedish Table” as there are very few guests here this weekend. To make matters more complex, the waiter working today speaks as much English as we do Polish so we broke down and asked the front desk clerk to help us order eggs with the whites cooked. Nearly every adult Pole we have met has part of a second language under their belts. Sadly for us, the waiter taking the breakfast order 2nd language was German.
It turns out that we only had to add “very much” to the sentence, but we afraid that would end with lots of eggs rather than eggs cooked more. The Polish custom is to cook eggs where there is still a little runny white and a very runny yellow. Lawrence likes his eggs all hard and I like my whites to be totally cooked.
Jozef comes down for his coffee. He says that we couldn’t post today because of the aforementioned May Day/EU thing. We check out to see if Tesco is open and it is. Our big mission was to buy a some kid friendly food in the room and perhaps buy an umbrella stroller. We still have Ross’ at home but someone told us that umbrella strollers were cheap in Poland. Not no more. The cheapest one was like nearly 200 Zloty. (For those of you playing at home that is like 50.00 bucks). We decided that Lawrence is a big strong man who could carry them if need be on this first trip.
On the way over to the orphanage, we ask more questions about the court appearance and when is the earliest we could come back. Jozef said that depended a lot on who was the DA on the case. Experienced DA’s usually will let the process be quick and newer ones will want to enforce the maximum wait time. We won’t know ahead of time who is the DA is.
We pick up the children at the home. They have their usual knapsacks but some extra knapsacks with their PJs and other accoutrements. Sister F didn’t say the usually “Dob VySenYa” in her farewell to us but it did sound familiar. My mind finally translated it and I haven’t heard it since my Babchi on my father’s side died. She said “Go with God”. Lawrence wondered if she knew something we did not.
Lawrence and I both flaked and had not taken our money with us. So we stop at the hotel and Dad runs upstairs. Then Jozef (big surprise) goes to make a phone call. Then Lawrence comes back. Well, of course, “D” had to go to the ladies. Then we come back, and then the two boys have to go. So when Jozef comes back, half of the people aren’t there.
Finally, everyone is ready and we go. We get to Tesco, which is busy, busy as usual. Jozef says how long do you need, we say 30 minutes, thinking that we needed 45 minutes and Jozef is always behind himself doing a million different things. So here we are, in a foreign land with three small children who have never seen such a place with our minimal Polish, flying solo in a busy grocery store.
We get two carts, which are by the way, are the type that you have to leave a deposit for. We put the boys in one cart and “D” and the stuff in the other. Most children the age of "M”’ have been in a shopping cart hundreds of times but he didn’t quite know where to put his legs. We go in the store, which is both a food and department store. The aisles are crowded and it is wall-to-wall people. The kids are all pointing to stuff for us to look at and, of course, buy. Lawrence tries to explain to “I” that we already have three soccer balls in America. I get a little annoyed with Lawrence because he is talking to me in his normal tone, which by Polish standards, is very loud. We have a 20 second tiff and then we stay closer and he talks quieter. I was concerned that someone would hassle us because it was obvious that kids were Polish and we were not.
“I” kept asking for chips and we finally found them. He must have said “chips” 200 times. The funny thing is that the Polish word for chips is chips. So, we understood him from the first time that he asked for them. We checked out and went outside. We are glad that we ran late and had exaggerated to Jozef because he showed up five minutes after we were done. He asked how it went. I said we went shopping with three small children, how did you think it went? However, it actually went really well.
At places like the Tesco parking lot, there are beggars that constantly hassle you for money. Many sit there and make their children beg. They use the money for booze. As we loaded the car, we saw several beggars sitting on a low wall. One got up and started to cross towards us. Lawrence put on his “do NOT mess with me face”. I’ve seen my brothers- in-laws make this same face. Very scary. Very effective. When he saw that look on Lawrence’s face he thought better of it and turned back to sit down.
By time we get back to the hotel, it is time for lunch. Since it is not busy, the desk clerk helps Lawrence haul the bags and boxes to the second floor. At that same time, the woman who owns the hotel was delivering the crib for “M” and starting to make up the couch for the other two. We ask her only to show us how the couch opens and we will do it at bedtime. This is both for practical reasons of not wanting it open all day, but also that it is vital that the children see that we can easily take care of their needs.
We asked the hotel for three more dining room chairs so that we can eat at the table together as families do. We also asked them for a hot pot so that we can make tea in the room. Black tea for the parents and herbal tea for the children. I cannot wait until Babchi Nana sees the children drinking tea. They love it. They especially love it with sugar.
Jozef bought the children each a little toy that shoots bubbles while it makes noise. So, as soon as we got back to the room, the children wanted to play bubbles. About 10 times later in the day, they asked to play it again. The toy was a big hit.
The boys went on a little errand with Lawrence to buy some ham and mustard for the simple lunch we plan to have. We open up the leaf in the table so it is now the same size as our table at home. As Polish custom dictates, Lawrence insists that Elaine sit at the head of the table. Lawrence takes his ham, cheese, mustard, and bread to make a sandwich. Although sandwiches are not served here, “I” decides to have his as a sandwich. As at every meal, he offers Lawrence some of his food. One of the key phrases that Mimi sent us is; “there is plenty”. We say this to them often.
There was a very funny moment at lunch and a very sad one. As we are offering the different items of food to each child, we ask if they like it. “Do you like ham?” Questions like that. “M” - who is only three - answers “I like lunch”. He is the best eater of the three of them and the only one who is not mostly skin and bones. The sad moment was when “I” told us that his water was a beer. We talked to him about this, and we think that it was not appropriate. However, it was a sad reminder of how these sweet babies came to be in the care of the good sisters. By the time we leave for the second trip, our house will be a beer-free. Lawrence likes a beer whilst watching football, eating Polish food, or after a day of yard work, but I’ve asked him not to drink beer in front of the children until we feel they totally trust us.
After lunch, we headed outside to play. The desk clerk had dug out the swing that goes to the play structure. The children loved it so much. Lawrence had trouble hooking it up because little “D” tried to get on it before he had hooked up the second side. He was looking up and could not figure out why he was having trouble reaching the second ring. However, she is so lightweight that she was able to sit on the swing with him (unknowingly) supporting her on one side. After it was hooked up, both she and “I” used it a lot. “I” even swung while standing up.
We also played with a cheap, small badminton set that we bought in the morning. “I” liked doing this with Tata. Several times the shuttlecock was stuck in the strings of the racket. Very funny.
We did lots of stuff in the afternoon. Watercolor painting outside, watched Bugs Bunny cartoons in Polish, and throwing a small Nerf American Football around the hall. Boy, the children ran and ran. One of the few quests here is nice, older German fellow who is an engineer on a long-term assignment who speaks relatively good English. Herr B gave us a pack of cookies for the children to enjoy. We will do so tomorrow.
During the course of the day the children would go look at the photos that we laid out yesterday. These include the pictures of Ross in his soccer uniform. “I” asked me how to spell Ross and I wrote it out for him. He referred to him as his second brother.
At 17:00, we headed down to the supper that Tata and little “D” had pre-ordered. She had told him that she liked the red cabbage. However, she is not a good eater. Meals in the orphanage are at specific times and only last for a set amount of time. Makes sense when you have 92 children to feed every day. Well, we make her sit and eat regardless of how long it takes. I think she is finally getting this, but it will be a battle. She will win this battle and she will eat. At lunch, we had gotten her to eat the yogurt by offering one chip for each spoonful of yogurt. It worked.
For supper we had fried chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes, and the red cabbage salad. “I” had tried to get us to order fries again, but that did not happen. The boys ate very well and “D” ate well enough. When we offered “M” the last of the red cabbage salad, he grabbed the bowl, dumped it onto his potatoes, and finished shoveling it home.
In all of the meals, we ask for “French Serving”. You will remember that this is what we Americans call “Family Style”. Tonight, both the chicken platter and the red cabbage came with radishes cut in the shape of flowers. The children were fighting over them. Not as you might expect, they did not want them as objects of art. They ate them.
At the end of supper, the nice Herr B who had given the package of cookies asked if he could order ice cream for the children to celebrate the holiday. We agreed. The kitchen put together beautiful sundaes with fruit, ice cream, nuts, whipped cream, a cookie, and a little paper umbrella sticking out of each one. The children had no idea what to do with them. They had not seen ice cream (lody) before. They kept complaining that it was cold. We would tell them that it was supposed to be cold. The nice German fellow tried to explain. The waiter tried to explain. The children were not buying it. However, they did like the little paper umbrellas. “M” got a fork and started feeding Mummy the fruit from his and Daddy ate about half of the one for “D”. Finally, “I” ate about half of his.
After supper, we started getting ready for bed. Mummy bathed “D” and got her dressed. Tata bathed the boys - first “M” and then “I”. Mummy got them dressed. There is no other way to say this. We knew that “I” and little “D” were thin. We all know thin children. However, they are extremely thin. They are count every single rib thin. They are breaking your heart in half thin.
All of this being said, the children seem very healthy and strong. The sisters have done a wonderful job. Words fail us to describe just how wonderful these nuns are. Simply cannot.
With French Serving we put seconds and thirds on their plates. Snacks are like a fourth meal of the day. We most likely have too much food in the suite. All of this is done because we want to understand with us that there IS plenty.
After baths and pajamas we put on “the going to bed movie” that is on Polish TV at 19:00 each night. This is a different story each night. Sort of like the same bedtime story being read to the whole nation each night. Children know that they go to bed just after this at 19:30. Jozef even called and reminded us what station it is on. Well, not tonight. You see, this is a big holiday here AND the day that Poland joined the EU. A recap of the events of the day was on instead. The children did not seem to mind. They were excited when the Polish flag was displayed. It was not “Pooh”, but they were happy.
As we expected on the first night, there were a number of rounds of good nights. They were very exited. “D” told us that the bed was great. “M” fell asleep first. Since “I” and “D” are sharing the pullout couch, there were territory issues to resolve. Yet, by 20:00 they were all asleep. This was exactly as it should be.
We cleaned and organized, studied a little, and I previewed part of a new Polish DVD we bought today. Lawrence was so happy to make us a pot of tea with the hot pot that Jozef had the hotel folks send up. All was quiet . . .
Then we hear “thud” in the other room. “D” has fallen out of bed. She was on the floor whimpering in her sleep. I pick her up and tuck her back in. I put one chair besides her side of the couch and Lawrence put at second one. I write for a little more and then “give the con” to Tata.
===============================================================
The Night Watch Man
This is Lawrence here. After Elaine went to bed, I continued writing and listening for the children. Sort of the officer on watch.
At 23:30 we heard one of them crying. I ran quickly and quietly out there and Elaine was right behind me. Even though sound asleep, she heard, jumped out of bed, and was there in a flash. Mother ears you know.
“I” was crying because the blanket we had put on him was too much and he was hot. Crying. The blanket that little “D” has is one of those fleece blankets that we are so fond of at our house. We had had two of them in the suite, but one was taken away today when the room was cleaned. So, after we got him somewhat calmed down, Elaine stayed and held his hand while I rushed downstairs to get another blanket like “D” is using. This seemed to help a lot.
However, the commotion woke “M”. Not wide awake, but awake. So, he starts rocking back and forth. Quite vigorously. It took us a second, but sadly, we realized that he has learned to rock himself to sleep. I picked “M” up to rock - because he should not have to do this himself - and Elaine continued to comfort “I”. In short order everything was dobsha again.
I know that this is a long post, but the truth is that I could not have gone to sleep until I wrote this all. Elaine had poured out a lot and I needed to also. So, I had asked Elaine to go to bed at 22:00 to try and catch up a little for tomorrow and so that I could have the chance to write. It sounds pretty quiet out there now. Guess I’ll lay down too. However, before I do, I want to say that I am glad that you are enjoying the journal. Knowing that you are all reading bolsters us. This journal is also written for ourselves. This is an intense experience and we want to remember it all. We also want to let the children read it when they are older.
So, realize that things are going well and that we are fine. We miss Ross and all of you. So, keep us in your prayers and thoughts. Write if you can.
This is Lawrence. I got up at the usual time (6:00). My mission this morning was to cross the road and go for a run to see if this was, indeed, a good area to take the children for a walk. There is a nice wide sidewalk that goes on for miles. I ran for about a mile and a half (and back, of course). It looks like the walks will be very fun.
While running, it occurred to me that the children are really now running free. I suspect that “I” would play soccer with me from dawn until dusk if we let him. They simply do not want to stop running around outside. So far, this May Day has beautiful weather. Which is nice since it is a holiday here, but nicer still for our family adventures.
Today is the first day that the children will be spending the entire day with us. So, this is an historic day. Oh, by the way, it is also the day that Poland joins the European Union. The hotel seems to have very few guests this weekend. So, we may be able to use the hallways for some games too. We are planning to take the children to Tesco, they have the new stuffies that brother Ross sent. Also, Jozef gave them each a little toy that shoots bubbles. I expect the air to be thick with them. We will write a full report of this day latter, but since I had a few moments, I wanted to talk with you.
BTW, today in Chelmsford is the Town-wide Clean-up. Hooray to all of the scouts who are working hard to make Chelmsford look nice!
====================================================
Nie Lody, Tak Parasol
Gliwice, Poland - May Day 2004
This is Elaine. Whilst Lawrence was running, I got a call from my brother. We spoke for a bit about the children. Then Lawrence came back from his run. We were running late and there was no “Swedish Table” as there are very few guests here this weekend. To make matters more complex, the waiter working today speaks as much English as we do Polish so we broke down and asked the front desk clerk to help us order eggs with the whites cooked. Nearly every adult Pole we have met has part of a second language under their belts. Sadly for us, the waiter taking the breakfast order 2nd language was German.
It turns out that we only had to add “very much” to the sentence, but we afraid that would end with lots of eggs rather than eggs cooked more. The Polish custom is to cook eggs where there is still a little runny white and a very runny yellow. Lawrence likes his eggs all hard and I like my whites to be totally cooked.
Jozef comes down for his coffee. He says that we couldn’t post today because of the aforementioned May Day/EU thing. We check out to see if Tesco is open and it is. Our big mission was to buy a some kid friendly food in the room and perhaps buy an umbrella stroller. We still have Ross’ at home but someone told us that umbrella strollers were cheap in Poland. Not no more. The cheapest one was like nearly 200 Zloty. (For those of you playing at home that is like 50.00 bucks). We decided that Lawrence is a big strong man who could carry them if need be on this first trip.
On the way over to the orphanage, we ask more questions about the court appearance and when is the earliest we could come back. Jozef said that depended a lot on who was the DA on the case. Experienced DA’s usually will let the process be quick and newer ones will want to enforce the maximum wait time. We won’t know ahead of time who is the DA is.
We pick up the children at the home. They have their usual knapsacks but some extra knapsacks with their PJs and other accoutrements. Sister F didn’t say the usually “Dob VySenYa” in her farewell to us but it did sound familiar. My mind finally translated it and I haven’t heard it since my Babchi on my father’s side died. She said “Go with God”. Lawrence wondered if she knew something we did not.
Lawrence and I both flaked and had not taken our money with us. So we stop at the hotel and Dad runs upstairs. Then Jozef (big surprise) goes to make a phone call. Then Lawrence comes back. Well, of course, “D” had to go to the ladies. Then we come back, and then the two boys have to go. So when Jozef comes back, half of the people aren’t there.
Finally, everyone is ready and we go. We get to Tesco, which is busy, busy as usual. Jozef says how long do you need, we say 30 minutes, thinking that we needed 45 minutes and Jozef is always behind himself doing a million different things. So here we are, in a foreign land with three small children who have never seen such a place with our minimal Polish, flying solo in a busy grocery store.
We get two carts, which are by the way, are the type that you have to leave a deposit for. We put the boys in one cart and “D” and the stuff in the other. Most children the age of "M”’ have been in a shopping cart hundreds of times but he didn’t quite know where to put his legs. We go in the store, which is both a food and department store. The aisles are crowded and it is wall-to-wall people. The kids are all pointing to stuff for us to look at and, of course, buy. Lawrence tries to explain to “I” that we already have three soccer balls in America. I get a little annoyed with Lawrence because he is talking to me in his normal tone, which by Polish standards, is very loud. We have a 20 second tiff and then we stay closer and he talks quieter. I was concerned that someone would hassle us because it was obvious that kids were Polish and we were not.
“I” kept asking for chips and we finally found them. He must have said “chips” 200 times. The funny thing is that the Polish word for chips is chips. So, we understood him from the first time that he asked for them. We checked out and went outside. We are glad that we ran late and had exaggerated to Jozef because he showed up five minutes after we were done. He asked how it went. I said we went shopping with three small children, how did you think it went? However, it actually went really well.
At places like the Tesco parking lot, there are beggars that constantly hassle you for money. Many sit there and make their children beg. They use the money for booze. As we loaded the car, we saw several beggars sitting on a low wall. One got up and started to cross towards us. Lawrence put on his “do NOT mess with me face”. I’ve seen my brothers- in-laws make this same face. Very scary. Very effective. When he saw that look on Lawrence’s face he thought better of it and turned back to sit down.
By time we get back to the hotel, it is time for lunch. Since it is not busy, the desk clerk helps Lawrence haul the bags and boxes to the second floor. At that same time, the woman who owns the hotel was delivering the crib for “M” and starting to make up the couch for the other two. We ask her only to show us how the couch opens and we will do it at bedtime. This is both for practical reasons of not wanting it open all day, but also that it is vital that the children see that we can easily take care of their needs.
We asked the hotel for three more dining room chairs so that we can eat at the table together as families do. We also asked them for a hot pot so that we can make tea in the room. Black tea for the parents and herbal tea for the children. I cannot wait until Babchi Nana sees the children drinking tea. They love it. They especially love it with sugar.
Jozef bought the children each a little toy that shoots bubbles while it makes noise. So, as soon as we got back to the room, the children wanted to play bubbles. About 10 times later in the day, they asked to play it again. The toy was a big hit.
The boys went on a little errand with Lawrence to buy some ham and mustard for the simple lunch we plan to have. We open up the leaf in the table so it is now the same size as our table at home. As Polish custom dictates, Lawrence insists that Elaine sit at the head of the table. Lawrence takes his ham, cheese, mustard, and bread to make a sandwich. Although sandwiches are not served here, “I” decides to have his as a sandwich. As at every meal, he offers Lawrence some of his food. One of the key phrases that Mimi sent us is; “there is plenty”. We say this to them often.
There was a very funny moment at lunch and a very sad one. As we are offering the different items of food to each child, we ask if they like it. “Do you like ham?” Questions like that. “M” - who is only three - answers “I like lunch”. He is the best eater of the three of them and the only one who is not mostly skin and bones. The sad moment was when “I” told us that his water was a beer. We talked to him about this, and we think that it was not appropriate. However, it was a sad reminder of how these sweet babies came to be in the care of the good sisters. By the time we leave for the second trip, our house will be a beer-free. Lawrence likes a beer whilst watching football, eating Polish food, or after a day of yard work, but I’ve asked him not to drink beer in front of the children until we feel they totally trust us.
After lunch, we headed outside to play. The desk clerk had dug out the swing that goes to the play structure. The children loved it so much. Lawrence had trouble hooking it up because little “D” tried to get on it before he had hooked up the second side. He was looking up and could not figure out why he was having trouble reaching the second ring. However, she is so lightweight that she was able to sit on the swing with him (unknowingly) supporting her on one side. After it was hooked up, both she and “I” used it a lot. “I” even swung while standing up.
We also played with a cheap, small badminton set that we bought in the morning. “I” liked doing this with Tata. Several times the shuttlecock was stuck in the strings of the racket. Very funny.
We did lots of stuff in the afternoon. Watercolor painting outside, watched Bugs Bunny cartoons in Polish, and throwing a small Nerf American Football around the hall. Boy, the children ran and ran. One of the few quests here is nice, older German fellow who is an engineer on a long-term assignment who speaks relatively good English. Herr B gave us a pack of cookies for the children to enjoy. We will do so tomorrow.
During the course of the day the children would go look at the photos that we laid out yesterday. These include the pictures of Ross in his soccer uniform. “I” asked me how to spell Ross and I wrote it out for him. He referred to him as his second brother.
At 17:00, we headed down to the supper that Tata and little “D” had pre-ordered. She had told him that she liked the red cabbage. However, she is not a good eater. Meals in the orphanage are at specific times and only last for a set amount of time. Makes sense when you have 92 children to feed every day. Well, we make her sit and eat regardless of how long it takes. I think she is finally getting this, but it will be a battle. She will win this battle and she will eat. At lunch, we had gotten her to eat the yogurt by offering one chip for each spoonful of yogurt. It worked.
For supper we had fried chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes, and the red cabbage salad. “I” had tried to get us to order fries again, but that did not happen. The boys ate very well and “D” ate well enough. When we offered “M” the last of the red cabbage salad, he grabbed the bowl, dumped it onto his potatoes, and finished shoveling it home.
In all of the meals, we ask for “French Serving”. You will remember that this is what we Americans call “Family Style”. Tonight, both the chicken platter and the red cabbage came with radishes cut in the shape of flowers. The children were fighting over them. Not as you might expect, they did not want them as objects of art. They ate them.
At the end of supper, the nice Herr B who had given the package of cookies asked if he could order ice cream for the children to celebrate the holiday. We agreed. The kitchen put together beautiful sundaes with fruit, ice cream, nuts, whipped cream, a cookie, and a little paper umbrella sticking out of each one. The children had no idea what to do with them. They had not seen ice cream (lody) before. They kept complaining that it was cold. We would tell them that it was supposed to be cold. The nice German fellow tried to explain. The waiter tried to explain. The children were not buying it. However, they did like the little paper umbrellas. “M” got a fork and started feeding Mummy the fruit from his and Daddy ate about half of the one for “D”. Finally, “I” ate about half of his.
After supper, we started getting ready for bed. Mummy bathed “D” and got her dressed. Tata bathed the boys - first “M” and then “I”. Mummy got them dressed. There is no other way to say this. We knew that “I” and little “D” were thin. We all know thin children. However, they are extremely thin. They are count every single rib thin. They are breaking your heart in half thin.
All of this being said, the children seem very healthy and strong. The sisters have done a wonderful job. Words fail us to describe just how wonderful these nuns are. Simply cannot.
With French Serving we put seconds and thirds on their plates. Snacks are like a fourth meal of the day. We most likely have too much food in the suite. All of this is done because we want to understand with us that there IS plenty.
After baths and pajamas we put on “the going to bed movie” that is on Polish TV at 19:00 each night. This is a different story each night. Sort of like the same bedtime story being read to the whole nation each night. Children know that they go to bed just after this at 19:30. Jozef even called and reminded us what station it is on. Well, not tonight. You see, this is a big holiday here AND the day that Poland joined the EU. A recap of the events of the day was on instead. The children did not seem to mind. They were excited when the Polish flag was displayed. It was not “Pooh”, but they were happy.
As we expected on the first night, there were a number of rounds of good nights. They were very exited. “D” told us that the bed was great. “M” fell asleep first. Since “I” and “D” are sharing the pullout couch, there were territory issues to resolve. Yet, by 20:00 they were all asleep. This was exactly as it should be.
We cleaned and organized, studied a little, and I previewed part of a new Polish DVD we bought today. Lawrence was so happy to make us a pot of tea with the hot pot that Jozef had the hotel folks send up. All was quiet . . .
Then we hear “thud” in the other room. “D” has fallen out of bed. She was on the floor whimpering in her sleep. I pick her up and tuck her back in. I put one chair besides her side of the couch and Lawrence put at second one. I write for a little more and then “give the con” to Tata.
===============================================================
The Night Watch Man
This is Lawrence here. After Elaine went to bed, I continued writing and listening for the children. Sort of the officer on watch.
At 23:30 we heard one of them crying. I ran quickly and quietly out there and Elaine was right behind me. Even though sound asleep, she heard, jumped out of bed, and was there in a flash. Mother ears you know.
“I” was crying because the blanket we had put on him was too much and he was hot. Crying. The blanket that little “D” has is one of those fleece blankets that we are so fond of at our house. We had had two of them in the suite, but one was taken away today when the room was cleaned. So, after we got him somewhat calmed down, Elaine stayed and held his hand while I rushed downstairs to get another blanket like “D” is using. This seemed to help a lot.
However, the commotion woke “M”. Not wide awake, but awake. So, he starts rocking back and forth. Quite vigorously. It took us a second, but sadly, we realized that he has learned to rock himself to sleep. I picked “M” up to rock - because he should not have to do this himself - and Elaine continued to comfort “I”. In short order everything was dobsha again.
I know that this is a long post, but the truth is that I could not have gone to sleep until I wrote this all. Elaine had poured out a lot and I needed to also. So, I had asked Elaine to go to bed at 22:00 to try and catch up a little for tomorrow and so that I could have the chance to write. It sounds pretty quiet out there now. Guess I’ll lay down too. However, before I do, I want to say that I am glad that you are enjoying the journal. Knowing that you are all reading bolsters us. This journal is also written for ourselves. This is an intense experience and we want to remember it all. We also want to let the children read it when they are older.
So, realize that things are going well and that we are fine. We miss Ross and all of you. So, keep us in your prayers and thoughts. Write if you can.