The Holiday Pounds

The Spring Festival holiday has ended and what’s the most common thing posted on your friends WeChat walls? “Why did I eat so much over the holidays?” Everyone is angry with themselves once more as they reflect on their choices. It’s amazing how far we’ve come from the Tang Dynasty beauty standard of “丰腴”, which idealized the plump figure. Now it seems that every ounce of fat must be destroyed to be beautiful and even two weeks of holiday can undo all of our progress.

Contrary to these standards, there is one group among us for which growing “fatter” is the goal. It’s almost like a competition. Last year in June, we received 3 such competitors: the two month old Yue Yue, the one month old Xia Xia and the 20 day old Zhuo Zhuo. Even in the arms of their caregivers, from their wrinkled skin and tiny frames, you can see that they are in serious need of weight gain.

Yue 

Xia

Zhuo

 These three boys all suffer from the same condition: anal atresia. They have all become members of our ever growing “club” of children with this condition. As such, they cannot process normal formula and required colostomy bags. To complicate matters, they all have additional issues specific to them. So, these three have been fighting for their lives to get fatter. After several months, they have had some success, so we can say they too have put on the holiday pounds!

Yue Yue’s transformation:

Xia Xia’s transformation:

Zhuo Zhuo’s transformation:

These once frail bodies have become strong. They had no strength but now they can crawl, roll over, sit and even stand. They continuously make great progress! 

So instead of regretting how much you ate over the holidays, think of these little ones. Because of your love they were able to gain a few pounds and start to thrive!

Dearest Dew Drops Caregivers

“In this world, having a mother is the best. It is like having a treasure.” These are the words from a famous Chinese song. Although the children at Dew Drops currently cannot experience the love of a mother, they are not alone. Instead they are filled with your love.

Here is a tribute to all of our wonderful caregivers:

My dearest caregivers

You are with me day and night

You feed me and change my clothes.

My dearest caregivers

No matter if it is raining or sunny, you come to take care of me

You give me a bath.

My dearest caregivers

You encourage me to grow stronger and bigger

You share my pain when I am crying and smile when I am happy

My dearest caregivers

You have a lot of love for me

You keep me warm each day

My dearest caregivers

Every year on New Year’s Eve

Everyone goes home to their family for a reunion

But you are here with me

You feed me and keep me warm

You hug and kiss me

My life is full of love because of you 

Thank you to all my caregivers. Although I don’t have a mother, I am still loved because of you! May we continue to share our lives and create new memories together. 

Happy Chinese New Year, my dearest caregivers! 

12 Steps to Bigger Opportunities

 

 After lunch, while the other children are napping, these three kids practice their walking. They walk quickly down the corridor with a big smile on their face. Walking may seem like no big feat, but these three joyful faces show much excitement and accomplishment.

They reach the corner and stumble upon a flight of stairs.

   

Putting their walkers to the side, here is the story of 2 children and their therapist walking into the rest of their life. 

They start the game of walking up and down the flight of stairs. To most people, we don’t even stop to think before climbing stairs, it comes naturally. But to these children, each step is a precise calculation of how much weight, what muscles to use and where exactly to step with the right posture. 

This is a tiring process, but these children do not give up. They can face frustrations but with continuous effort, they grow more and more proud of their accomplishment!

Maybe they are unable to move easily and gracefully, but their effort and outcomes bring them pure joy. 

  

 12 steps to bigger opportunities. If we believe in and love each child, then they will look positively upon themselves.