Good morning, toddlers!

At the baby home, there are 2 groups of tías. They work either 12 hour or 24 hour shifts, every other day. Depending on the day, there are either 3 or 4 childcare tías on duty. (Everyone who works here is either a Tío (uncle) or Tía (aunt), but not everyone cares for the kids... some work in the office and we also have Tía Silvia, our chef.) 

The shifts begin at 8am, and if they have a 12 hour shift, they usually leave between 7:30-8pm, after the babies have gone to bed. The two who stay overnight work until 8am the next morning. 

The babies start waking up at about 6:30am, but as a volunteer, my morning shift doesn't actually start until 7am. By the time I start, most of the babies have already had their diapers changed and are ready for the day. However, they all have to stay in their cribs because from 7-8am, the overnight tías are showering/getting ready to change shifts, so it's much safer to keep the babies in their rooms than it would be to send them all alone to the play room. 

I have really been enjoying these early morning shifts because it gives me a full hour alone with the kids! I've really gotten into a routine with the toddlers and spend most mornings with them.

So a typical morning looks something like this...

-Go upstairs and see who still needs to be changed

-If bottles haven't been passed out, pass them out and then head to the toddlers' room

-Toddlers drink milk out of cups, so I have them sit down in their cribs to drink their milk

-After milk is finished, everyone gets 2 board books to look at while in their cribs

-They LOVE looking at books and it can keep them occupied for almost the full hour... which lets the tías get ready without worrying about what trouble the toddlers are getting themselves into ;)

-While they're reading, I usually wash the bottles/cups and then go see the little babies or 1 year olds

Sometimes we also sing songs together which they love, too. Although it is in English, "Ring Around the Rosy" is a huge hit! If they're out of their cribs when I come in, one or two will come up to me and say "Mano?" ("Hand?") and try to walk in a circle. They don't know all the words, but when we sing "We all fall down!," they say "down" and fall to the floor. It's too cute!

I took these pictures of the toddlers reading their books on Saturday morning, although it's become a common scene every morning...