I decided to go back to the toddler room today. Despite it being only the second time these toddlers had come to the program, you could notice an immediate difference in their behavior. (The classes were scheduled Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 9 am – 12 pm or Tuesday and Thursday from 9 am – 1 pm so this was only the second day for the children from Monday). For example, one of the toddlers I had held the entirety of Monday. Every time I had tried to set her down she would start crying again. She also would be unhappy if I tried to hold another toddler at the same time and she would try to push the other toddler off my lap. On this day, she did want to be held some of the time, but part of the time she was willing to sit contentedly by herself, which was marked improvement from day 1. A lot of the other children had also improved, realizing that their mothers would indeed come back for them, although separation from their mothers was still hard for them. I was also amazed at the director of the Mommy and Me program who somehow managed to continuously go from room to room checking on all the children, the vast majority of which she knew by name despite it being the first week of classes, often while carrying a child on her back to soothe him or her. (Many of the children were accustomed to being carried on their mothers’ backs tied in by a scarf fashioned into a sling wrapped around the mothers’ bodies.) She was also exceedingly gracious and supportive, giving us encouragement and making us feel exceedingly welcomed at the organization. Afterwards, I went to volunteer at Cafe Clarkston again.
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