My Handsome little "date"

Everyday seems to be full of things that we need to tell you, but the day gets too full and we aren’t able to tell you. Then the next day more things happen and we get even further behind.
On Thursday last week, I (Lorenda) had such a great day! I had not been by the babies’ home for a while so I decided to stop in there for a visit. During the four months I spent at the babies’ home, I would often say that I didn’t have a favourite baby- there was something special about each and every one of them. However, if forced to choose a favourite, it would have been one of the older kids there. He was very ill as a baby and continues to have asthma now. Due to his health condition he has remained at babies’ home even though he is around 2 years old- most other children get moved out to Suubi babies’ home at 4-6 months of age.
There are many things I love about this kid. He is so smart- he just sits and watches things (like how to open the gates and escape), he watches and watches and then one day he just goes for it. He also loves to figure out how things work- he would be one of those kids that would dismantle everything in the house just to see how it works. In spite of, or maybe because of, all that he has been through in his short life, he is very “stubborn” and very determined- when he wants something, he WANTS it! The very best things about this gorgeous little boy is his smile that melts your heart and the cuddles he gives when he gets to know you well enough to deem you worthy.
Last Thursday I spent most of my time at babies’ home cuddling this gorgeous little man. I only had a couple of hours that I could spend there so the time came very quickly for me to say good-bye. I told the nanny in his room that I didn’t want to leave him. She said, “So take him with you then” and I did! We got a car seat, put it in my car and off we went. He absolutely loves riding in the car- he waves at everybody like he is the king!
First we went to Watoto Central to do some visiting there. Greg was in a meeting, but his team members sure loved my boy. Next I took him for ice cream- he loved it and gobbled down every last bit of it! Our next stop was at one of Watoto’s guesthouses where I had some work to do. My boy explored the entire compound while I did my work- the girls at the guesthouse thought he was the cutest (and he is!) Greg called to see where we were and wanted us to come back to Central so he could see my boy so back to Central we went. My little man loved the maintenance office- he could pull tools out of the cupboard and try to figure out how all the stuff worked! He had a blast there! By this time, we had been out and about for nearly four hours so it was time to go back to babies’ home, but he cried and cried when I left him.
The next day, one of Greg’s team needed to go to babies’ home so I volunteered to take him. As soon as I got out of my vehicle at babies’ home, one of the supervisors said to me, “That son of yours!”
It seemed that my boy thought he needed to go for another car ride so every time a vehicle left the babies’ home compound on Friday, he wanted to go. When he didn’t get to go along, he would have a tantrum and throw himself on the ground- often on top of another child (and remember I said that the oldest kids here were only 4-6 months). After a couple of those tantrums, the staff had to put him into a chair to protect himself and everyone else. He screamed so much and got so upset in the chair that he ended up having an asthma attack! When I arrived, he was in the clinic getting a nebulizer so I got to cuddle him while he got the treatment.
Oh- I love that kid so much! He is so feisty and full of mischief! Even though I love what I am doing now, I sure do miss my daily cuddles with that gorgeous little man!