Today’s post is a bit different, it’s not about our daily activities, but about the special days where we all try to give a bit more to the kids to make them feel like they can do anything they want (ish… haha) and be anyone they want.
On Fiesta days, the kids can come dressed however they please, and express themselves to the maximum. We have no solid schedule, it all varies according to whatever we are celebrating, and we try to teach them through the activities the meaning of the special day.
In the past few weeks we celebrated Children’s Day (Día del Niño) on the 9th of September and Independence Day on the 15th of September. A bit about both days below, with lovely pictures of the kids having fun!
Día del Niño is all about fun and food – my favourite combination. And, of course, what can we possible think of doing other than…Piñatas! We also wanted to get our Niños something special to eat , soooooo we got them Happy Meals (YAY!) and a few of the moms baked yummy cupcakes and got ‘take home’ goodie bags for everyone. It was special. Most of the kids had never had Mc.Donalds, let alone a Happy Meal with a toy! Really got them going crazy. As for the Piñatas, they were lovely, one had Disney Princesses on it and the other had Spider-Man – a lovely mom made them for us – it was such a nice surprise. Seeing the kids in their costumes hitting the Piñatas with their tiny hands was so cute. Finally, Sylvia gave us all a lovely learning session about the importance of Día del Niño; in Costa Rica, it recognizes and guarantees the rights of children and celebrates childhood. So that’s what we did! It was fantastic.
For the celebration of Independence Day, we made flags with the kids and played the national anthem for them – they sang and played all day. AND – the next morning, they all showed up wearing National Dress. They looked Lovely!
As I had mentioned earlier, the first 2 to 3 weeks I had the pleasure of spending time with the kids, while sharing all these lovely activities with them. I hope, with these first few posts, you were also able to feel like you are part of our family here, and became more acquainted with the children.
We really should never underestimate the affect the few hours we have with them. Being with us keeps them safe from the outdoors, helps them learn, share, be kind, and most importantly love one another.
I have selfishly been learning more from them than they have from me. The love and kindness they are all giving us – Sylvia, Evangeline (she always comes and helps) , the parents and the beautiful kids – make my smile even bigger (if possible!) and my heart glow.
You should all be proud, of being there for us, supporting us, and offering to help every single day. I am so very lucky to have all of you in my life.
In the next few posts, I am going to focus on the project we are now focusing on at Maria Aux. I asked Sylvia if we could work on the space, and do a small construction and renovation project for the kids to have a better school to belong to. She was so pleased to know we wanted to help (as they couldn’t even afford a paint bucket) and so… We started! Yay! 🙂