Like I said before, little victories are what keep you going. I was on FaceTime with my mom and telling her about how much crying there was from the 3 year olds. She said, “Imagine you were three and I put you on a bus with a bunch of strangers that don’t speak your language. You would have bawled.” I started to think about that and it put into perspective how hard it must be for these moms to put their hitting and screaming three year olds on a bus with a bunch of people that they don’t know. I’m not a mom, but if I was I don’t know if I would be able to do it. I’m almost 18 and still struggling with being away from my mom, friends, and family.

But through all the kicking and screaming the kids are learning. We’re loving on them as they hit, bite, and scratch us. At 6:20, I get to go out on a bus route and pick up all the little kiddos. There’s this one little boy named Enmanuel. The first bus ride he was okay, but day two he was not having it. Sam (the only guy intern here) had to literally bear hug him to get him to sit on the bus and calm down. Enmanuel did NOT want to calm down. He called Sam the devil and bit him, but I had the joy of having Enmanuel in my group:) From seeing him that morning I thought oh no he’s not going to listen he’s going to bite me, but he was the best kid in my group. When he got back from the office after the bus, he sat down at my table and I hugged him and asked him is he was okay. He said yes and we moved on. Later that day we were singing a song and he had the biggest smile on his face. I looked at him and said, “Enmanuel thumbs up” and he looked at me and gave me two big thumbs up and said “THUMBS UP.” Enmanuel probably receives little love at home, so what he was doing on that bus route was all learned behavior. But I love that I get to have an impact on his life. He still threw a fit the next day, but he’s learning and loving doing it. His thumbs up was my little victory.

The next little victory is a kid names Dahian. He has a growing disability and a seizure disability, but at the age of 3 his mom got the courage to send him to school with us. While he wasn’t in my group, he still came through my center and it was very hard to get him engaged. When he got mad he would start to hit his head on the floor because he couldn’t control himself. There was one time that I literally had to catch his head from hitting the concrete ground and just hold him for a second. But, in my center one day we had little tykes sets out. There was a little wagon that Dahian found and he started pushing it around like it was a walker. You would have thought he won a million dollars based on the smile on his face. He LOVED that thing and that little smile was my little victory.

Of course I couldn’t get either of those things on camera, but heres some pictures of their cute faces:)