Adventures with Teleton

I think I have mentioned before that one of my responsibilities here at CdE is taking 5 kids to their Teleton appointments in the city.  Maryuri goes for numerous reasons and several times a month.  Their appointment booklets, especially hers is at times confusing.  It is not in date order.  Maryuri was scheduled for appointments on both November 9 and December 9.  On Monday when I was checking to see what time we needed to be there, I looked at the time for December 9, and it said we needed to be there at 6:00 AM.

I woke up at 4:30, cleaned Tibbie's poo and pee in my parent's house, brushed my teath and hair and was ready to go at 5:00 as planned.  Because we left so early, the 2 hour trip in heavy traffic only took 45 minutes.  We got in the line to secure our appointment, and about 30 minutes later, I was looking at Maryuri's booklet while we were in line only to realize that Maryuri's appointment for November 9 started at 11:30.  I planned on being back in Santa Ana to pick Matt up from the hospital when he got out.  As usual, in Honduras, nothing went according to plan.

I had to figure out what to do for the next 5 hours with a 7 year old.  I didn't want to spend much money or gas.  I decided that first we would go to Dunkin Donuts.  Maryuri was so excited to get to pick out her own flavor of donut.  She had a strawberry one, and I ate my favorite - doble chocolate.  That lasted all of 30 minutes.

We stayed there and talked until 8 when the pharmacy opened and I could buy new minutes for my phone.  My next plan was Mall Cascadas.  I figured that I could easily entertain her in Wal Mart and the play ground until time to go to her appointment. (Walmart is the only store in the mall open before 10).  Maryuri played for about 10 minutes before she told me she was ready to go home.  I convinced her to keep playing.  At 10, my dad called to tell me he would meet me in 30 minutes with Matt and Haley.

We got back to Teleton a few minutes after 11.  At 11:30, I went to the psycologist's door and knocked, but didn't receive an answer.  I asked a nurse if she was there today, and I was assured that she would be out in a minute.  Thirty minutes later, Vilma came out and told me that they had a meeting since 10.  She had tried to call the number that Maryuri was registered with, but that is a number of an employee that no longer works at Casa.

As annoying as Teleton appointments are sometime, the thing I like most about them is the relationships I build with the children.  I especially love when it is just me and Maryuri.  She becomes very clingy to me for many days following her appointment.  Today, when we walked into the psychologist's office, she said "This is my mommy."  This afternoon, she wanted to be right by me, and if one of the other kids asked her to play something else, Maryuri would say, "No, I am with my Mommy."  While my plans were changed to day, (like always, I live in Honduras), it was special to give Maryuri a little bit of special attention.