One small step for man...

Some of you may already be familiar with this photo, so I thought it might be a good idea to give a little background to it...

The girl's name is Moira, and at 2 and a half years old she is one of the youngest girls at the Hogar. She is also one of the most recent additions, only arriving in August a few weeks before I did.

She was in quite a bad state when she arrived. She had been abandoned by her mother and was a very grumpy girl. In my first month, I don't think I saw her smile and she didn't get on too well with the other girls - often preferring to sit alone in the toy room than play with the others.

Having said that, things have changed rapidly for Moira. She is visibily getting better with every day. She now plays with the other girls, and it's not unusual to get a smile out of her - although she's still quite grumpy! She is prone to sitting down, throwing a fit and refusing to move, but this is happening less often (thankfully!). Although she does know a few words, she usually refuses to speak, but with this too we're encouraging her step by step...

Anyway, to get to the photo. Every Sunday morning all the girls from the Hogar walk to Mass at a church about 10minutes walk away (that 10minutes can feel a heck of a lot stronger in the burning sun...). Moira can (in theory) walk the whole distance there and back, but will often refuse to walk (she loves to be picked up and carried, and hates to be put down - possibly down to being abandoned by her mother...). After Sarah had particularly stressful time trying to get her to walk one Sunday (she threw a fit in the middle of the road that they were trying to cross), she suggested that I give it a go...

So, the following week, I took her by the hand and we walked. And we walked. And we walked the whole way to church. (Okay, so it took us twice as long as normal and we were overtaken by everyone else on the way, even the 'too cool for school' 14-year-olds who drag their heels at the back, but still we made it). In fact, we made it all the way back too! I was chuffed.

And, even more surprisingly, we managed it the following week too! We did have a minor problem when had a fit after Mass and just sat on the Church floor as everyone filed out, but eventually we were on our way... Once again Moira made it all the way back to the Hogar without being picked up. I was proud.

All we need now is to get her to start talking..!

Grumpy Moira.