Day 2

Last Monday was my first official day at PSP with the infants. After checking in with the security guard, I was directed to the infant and toddler room. As I entered the room, I was quickly introduced to the full-time staff that works in the room while I looked around at my surroundings. There were two babies about one year old sleeping in the cribs, and there were about three other babies about the same age playing with toys in the play area. There were two very little babies around the age of maybe five months old laying on pillows and crawling around, exploring. Two of the little boys were twins and easily distinguishable through their haircuts. The toddler side was blocked off by shelving units and blankets so that the two sides were separated clearly. The introductions were quick, but after I washed my hands in a nearby bathroom, I asked them where they wanted me to be placed. They told me that I could help out with the infants today. 
Upon entering the sectioned off play area, I was instructed to hold one of the babies that had been crying for a while to calm her down. She was the youngest of all the infants and she had big brown eyes with thick black curly hair. After picking her up, she immediately stopped crying. I sat in the rocking chair with her for over an hour and a half, periodically standing up to walk her around the room and show her things. As I was sitting in the chair, I looked around at the other children in the room. There were five African American children, one Caucasian boy, and one Hispanic girl. One of the instructors was putting the kids down for a nap one by one. Nap-time would be too difficult to get them all down at the same time because most of them need to be held and rocked in order to fall asleep. As she was doing that, the other full-time instructor was changing random diapers and taking notes on the babies. The notes she is taking concerns when they ate, napped, and got a diaper change or even notes for things that might seem odd, but mostly just anything that seems worth it to inform the parents when they pick them up. 
The rockers we were using were brand new and recently donated. One thing I observed is that a lot of the clothing they are wearing is noticeably older and probably given to these children through hand-me-downs. It was comforting to hold this baby and know that I could keep her from crying, though. I was only there for two hours, but about halfway through, the instructor who was always taking notes picked up all of the kids and put them in this half-circle table where they can all sit in special seats in the table facing the instructor. The little ones were given a snack and then entertained until the parents came while they sat at the table. All of them seem to get along really well and the only one that was showing any aggressive behaviors was one of the little boys. He would pull on the instructor’s hair while he sat on her lap. Around 4:00pm, the parents started to come and pick up their children. It was nice to see the parent’s smiling faces when their baby recognized them and ran over to them in their waddling gaits.