A High-Energy Evening in the Children's Home

"Jack! Jack! Hurry up!" Annie said.

"Is he still there?" Jack panted.  He ran up the hill as fast as he could.

No, we're not talking Titanic here (though we seriously did belt out a couple of rounds of "My Heart Will Go On" tonight.  Geovany is a kid after my own heart).  It's something akin to the text in one of the Magic Tree House series, and tonight we're on an adventure in Dinosaur Land with seven and eight-year-olds Annie and Jack.  I'm reading Annie in a high-pitched voice that makes Jefy look at me from time to time with a big smile--he's evidently delighted but not quite sure what to make of it.  He chimes in as Jack.  We switch turns reading the narration, something I suggested since we're on reading #2 of the chapter book.  Jefy reads extremely well, conveying expressive intonation with the dialogue and tackling most of the pronunciation correctly.

Two pages til the end of the book, we're distracted by an opportunity to play Dutch Blitz.   Shortly after, Pam (aka Mommy) walks in to take a few kids back to the apartment for a discussion.  Gerson and Lupita go with her.  They don't know it yet, but they get to go to the movies tomorrow, potentially seeing Toy Story 3.  It's a reward for doing their chores two days in a row without being asked.  It's a little experiment Pam and Zucy decided to do, seeing if the kids would maintain their daily responsibilities without being reminded.  I think five of the 20 kids received the reward.

On the table next to us, the nine-year-old boys are playing the card game Sleeping Princesses.  I can't pick up on it by watching.  Of course, after looking after Carlos's shoulder, I'm pretty sure they were all cheating as he rifled through the stack to pick one of the better cards--the magic wand. They end their game with ear-deafening cries of "I won!"  "No, I won!" "Just lay the cards here!" and "Quiet!" 

Teenager Brenda plays DJ, turning the dial from Spanish rock to Reggaeton-sounding to English stations.  The fork antennae is periodically adjusted.  Nothing funnier than hearing eight-year-old Steven belt out the opening lines to a pop tune about girlfriends.  Sammy and I discuss favorite artists (yeah, okay--not a topic I'm well-versed in, but Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" isn't too bad, right?), and the rewarded kids return.

Then Carlos brings out his yarn ball and bounces it off walls and other people.  Perfect analogy for his state of being at the moment. I confiscate it for a minute and stick it on the fridge and eventually in his room, though he continues to accuse me of having it on my person until I prove to him it's on his dresser box.  By now, Brenda is snoozing on the couch.  They're up later tonight since there is no school tomorrow.  Several girls come in from watching a movie in the meeting room, and I take my cue to head out, a little curious how the nannies will corral them.  I think someone fed them sugar pills tonight...of course, having no school the next day does that to you, too. :)