Starting a New Habit

In order for this story to have it’s full potential of hilarity, I need to first share a bit about one of the boys in the house. Marcelino has been at the house the longest of all the babies, and he is now three years old. He and Luis seem to battle for the alpha male leadership position of the babies. Marcelino is very small for his age, but makes up for it in his spunkiness.

As I was putting pajamas on him tonight, he was lying on his back and watching Luis try to sneak out of his playpen and run into the kitchen. Marcelino was yelling from on his back at Luis to stay in bed, while pointing and shaking his finger to get Luis in trouble. After Luis had successfully landed on his pajama footed feet and scampered out the door, Marcelino clapped wildly for Luis, as if to say “way to go” on the escape.

He is quite the character and is always doing something to make people laugh. Another thing that he does that is entertaining, happens when new toys arrive at the house. He is a playpen hoarder. By that I mean he takes all the new toys that he really likes and throws them in his playpen, so that no one else is able to play with them. Sometimes he is so extreme in his hoarding that he has a hard time finding a place to lay down to sleep at night.


A few days ago, the girls of the house received little sets of glamour dress up accessories. They were little darlings with their beaded necklaces, sunglasses, high heals, and lip gloss. Their nails were done, and they carried purses that contained little stuffed puppies sticking their heads out of the top. The girls were all dolled up and strutting around the house as if the world was their runway. It was very cute and everyone around the house shared in the admiration of the little diva wannabes.

Meanwhile, the boys played with their new Superman toys and trucks. Marcelino was not satisfied with his newly acquired toy and was throwing a temper tantrum. It was soon apparent that he was suffering from a bit of jealousy. He quickly fixed his situation by grabbing one of the girl’s new pink sunglasses. He put them on and it was obvious that his mood changed because of his pretty pink shades.

Later that day, I walked in from a quick trip to the market and was greeted by Marcelino with his sunglasses and also a pretty pair of glittery pink plastic high heals. He evidently had been practicing his walk while I was gone or was a natural in them, because he had no trouble running around the backyard effortlessly in his new shoes.

That night, I noticed that the pink sunglasses were next to his pillow as I tucked him in bed and told him I loved him. He quickly grabbed the sunglasses and put them on his face upside down smiled and waited for my to reaction. I just stood there and smiled in admiration.

Tonight, after I had put him to bed, I heard a playpen being scooted across the floor by one of the little boys. A few minutes later I heard Rika walk into the boy’s room. She then escorted Marcelino in where I was sitting and this is what I saw:


He had scooted his playpen across the room to where all the baby’s clothes are stored in an organizer. He had found the bin that had all of the girl’s shoes in it, and emptied all of its contents into his bed. He had stripped down to just his diaper, found and put on one of the girl’s socks, and was trying on all the girl’s shoes. It appeared that he has taken a liking to lady’s clothing. It may be a new habit that Papa Pieter will have to deal with in the future.

When the pink boot was taken off of his little foot, and he was forced to put on his pajamas, he was very upset. He lay there in his bed grasping his pink sunglasses while crying himself to sleep.

The kids are adorable and little stories like this fill our days and make us all laugh often. I am definitely going to miss all of the kids when I leave to return to the States. It is hard work and very tiring, but it is so rewarding to see the impact that your love can make in each of their lives. The smile and squeeze that they each give, as you put them in bed at night is more than enough to make it seem like the obvious choice to do it all over again the next day.