June update

This month's blog again was special because one of the full time staff took the time to write an extra long update. I can't even imagine how much time it must take to write such detailed letters for all of these kids in their care. This time it was Joyce, their teacher, and she made us feel like we were right there looking at Peterson & Gaëlle's every move. I'll just include a few paragraphs.

Last week we had a spelling list of common food in Canada and the U.S. The kids loved bragging about all the macaroni and cheese, hamburgers and French fries they would eat once they got home. I picked out a few of the special items from the grocery store for the kids to try on the Friday of their test. Peterson and his class got to try lucky charms cereal with cold vanilla milk first. The cereal was a huge hit. Peterson enjoyed the marshmallows and saved most of them for last. Next was craft dinner. I pulled out the macaroni and cheese and the kids looked excited. They started digging into their bowls and became a little disappointed with it. Most of them only managed to get three or four bites in before putting the rest back in the big bowl. Peterson was one of the kids that didn’t enjoy it and kindly asked if he could put his leftovers back. The last treat was ice cream sandwiches. The kids don’t have ice cream very often so it is a lot of fun to watch their faces as they bite into the cold ice cream. The ice cream was the favorite of most of the children and Peterson was well pleased with the messy treat that he managed to get all over his face and up and down both arms.

Gaëlle’s class received temporary tattoos as the end of class last week. Gaëlle held on to her tattoo tight when she was headed up the stairs while bragging about how Peterson was going to help her. She sure knew what she was talking about. All she had to do was run up to Peterson and show him what was in her hands. He grabbed her arm and headed right for the bathroom. Peterson asked her where she would like him to put it and she chose her arm. Peterson gently placed the piece of paper on her arm and carefully wetted it down. He held the tattoo close to her arm for a few minutes then lifted up just a corner to see if it was ready. Gaëlle could hardly wait and asked him many times if it was finished. Peterson simply told her to wait a little longer. Peterson finally lifted the paper off and there was a tiger on Gaëlle’s little arm. Gaëlle was so excited she sprinted out of the bathroom to show off her tattoo to all the kids and the nannies. Gaëlle was so proud of it and Peterson was really happy about the help he gave to his sister.