I had two home visits to do today at work.
At one of them the little 18 month old girl hid in the kitchen and would only peek around the corner at me occasionally. I've interacted with her every week for months now, but she looked so scared. As I looked down at a pamphlet her mom had given me, the little girl snuck out from the kitchen and climbed into her mother's lap where she held a little Elmo book that I had brought for her. Her face was expressionless. No one at The Nurturing Center has ever heard this little girl speak before. There's a lot of violence that goes on in her home... so I think she's spent a lot of her little life peeking out from the kitchen corner...
The mom asked indirectly if we had any milk at The Nurturing Center, which we don't during break. When I told her we didn't, she said, "Oh..." and got quiet. Then she said that they didn't have any milk to give her daughter and didn't have any food in the house and her WIC wouldn't come on again until the next week. So I'd like to thank all of you who gave me money for Christmas because today I spent it all on groceries for this family.
At the other home visit I did was to a family who lives in one of the housing projects in Columbia. The little two year old boy was hilarious. And when she let him out of the Pak'n'Play, play pen after I came in, he was boppin' around the place and bringing me different things like cough medicine that he found on the ground, the tv remote which his mom yelled at him about, and some shredded paper he had gotten his hands on. His mom is quite the talker and very animated as she speaks. So at one point while she was talking to me about her job search and goals, he climbed onto the couch between us and starting babbling in the same tone as his mom and adamantly motioning his arms in JUST the same way as his mom did. The mom didn't seem to notice, but I was trying REALLY hard to not crack up and pay attention to what she was saying and also because I was worried that his mom might get mad at him. Sooo funny, though.
In the mean time, Eliza spent the day with her Oma! When I pulled up in the driveway, Eliza came running out to my car barefoot and beaming and shouted, "Mom! I'm sooo glad you came home!"
I love her SO much. I'm going to spend all day with her tomorrow. Someday maybe I'll catch up with work? I hope!!!
3 comments:
Amy- I admire you so much! I bet your job is bitter sweet. There's so much sadness and trauma, but you are that light that comes into the lives of these people. What a gift- for you and for them!
You are such an amazing woman to do what you do for so many people! I am sure that it can not be easy to see children who are not being treated the way they should be though. I always thought about social work and still wish that I would have gone in to that instead. I really admire what you do!
I always knew that you would go into something that involved helping others. You've always been a very giving and caring person.
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