As many adoptive parents have done, D and I have always tried to make sure Kenson and Conleigh had pictures of us to look at while in Haiti. This, though, is problematic. Orphanages are not conducive to keeping personal property personal. It usually becomes community property and is broken or lost. We have sent Kenson photo books twice but never actually witnessed him have them in his crib. We took a photo book with us in June for Conleigh and personally put it in her crib but it disappeared within the day. So, I decided to make Conleigh a blanket with a photo of us holding her. My thought was that it would be a "lovey" for her which she might get really possessive of thus thwarting other kids attempts at running off with it plus the photo would make it easy for staff and the other children to see who it belonged to. There are kids at the orphanage who do try to help enforce the "rules" but, my reasoning is, that with a photo book, the kids/staff don't know whos family is who and they may not be able to read the names written on the book. So, I puchased a small baby blanket and then photo fabric to iron on a photo. (And of course I scrapbooked around it because it just looked cute!)
Lori, a worker at HCH, recently sent me this update on Conleigh along with several pictures of
her with her blanket.
She's still her princess self, but she is starting to get funny now! She has a different nanny now, and that allows her more interaction with the kids her age, which has brought her out more, in terms of interacting and playing!She loves that blanket you guys sent! She just gets this big grin on her face when I give it to her at night. It sits on the dresser by her bed during the day, and so far has managed to stay around! Hurray!
The pictures and update warmed my heart. Here's to hoping the blanket stays around for a LONG time!
5 comments:
What a fabulous idea!! I love it! Happy New Year! It will be a great one for us as we meet all three of our kids!! :)
Wow! I am impressed to say the least! We have never been able to keep anything for longer than a day with Avery either! I am so happy she still has her blankie! Those pictures are so cute and I hope she keeps that blankie for a long time to come!
These pictures make me want a little girl :-) It's a shame those busy blankets you made have dissappeared at the O. Not sure why they couldn't just hang in the crib...
Looking forward to 2009 and good news coming!
Yes, I knew I was taking a risk by investing time and money into those busy blankets that I took. But I also believe you have to give with no strings attached and that someone somewhere who really didn't have much of anything would probably enjoy them in some way or another. But I can't help but think "Babies need simulation. Those blankest would help brain development." Both Haitian orphanages I have visited have problems with toys and things not really sticking around. I know when I visited orphanages in Romania, the group I traveled with had the same issue of the things they took "disappearing". They often thought things got sold by the Romanian workers. Just from reading lots on different countries that have experienced significant turmoil, I have come to realize you can't force your American ethics onto people in desperate situations. I do believe there's a right and a wrong but I also believe that we have to offer grace to people who are struggling with just getting by on a day to day basis. Those people are thinking "survive" not ethics. (That doesn't mean its morally right just that we're not going to change things by coming in and telling them it's wrong.)
What nice pictures. I hope her adoption goes quickly!!
I take stuff down each time and leave it knowing that it will probably disappear before my flight home leaves : (
The activity blankets were a great idea. I suppose they took them out to wash them and never got them back up.
Post a Comment