Teddy

Teddy’s Story:

“Arrived in May 2008, Teddy came to our home at about 7 months, after his mother abandoned him in a locked house for more than a week.  He was very malnourished and wak.  With close monitoring and a special diet, we nursed him back to health.  We were devastated when the judge ordered that he would be given back to his mother, who had left him for dead.  We prayed for God’s intervention, and after only a few weeks, Teddy’s mom contacted the Children’s Office admitting that she could not care for him and requested he be returned to us…  Teddy was born with webbed fingers on his right hand.  In June 2010 he had surgery to separate them” (www.rehemainstep.com).

I’ve been observing Teddy for a few days, and I’ve found that he understands some Swahili, but he responds more to physical prompts.  Teddy is no longer kept with the babies all day but is out with the toddlers.  I have yet to see him melt-down and scratch his head like I saw when I was here last April.  I find this encouraging.  Spending time outside with the freedom to come and go is better than being confined in a room with crying babies.  For the most part, the other kids are nice to Teddy and try to keep him from wandering off, but sometimes we find him back at the kitchen in search of chai!  Teddy is still not potty trained; cognitively he does not seem to recognize the feeling of needing to go, but the Aunties are supposed to put him on the training potty every hour on the hour in hopes of training his body.  Being Kenya, this process does not always happen the way it is supposed to, and Teddy spends most of the day wandering around in wet or poopy pants.

Today I started working with Teddy on communicating “more”.  I had a small biscuit (kind of like a cookie) on my knee.  Every time Teddy reached for the biscuit, I grabbed his hands and tapped them together and said, “more”, and then I gave him a small piece.  He smiled and flapped his hands and scratched the mat he was sitting on.  Sometimes he was focused on the biscuit and would grab for it three-four times in a row, but most of the time he was looking elsewhere.  As soon as he saw the biscuit, he would reach for it and we’d go through the whole hand tap “more” routine.  I also did this procedure with a sensory ball that he likes to play with and chew on.  It’s going to take a long time, but I’m hopeful he’ll learn “more”, but even more importantly, I hope he’ll feel God’s love for him while we work.