Lucia y Luis

For the last two weeks I have been helping out with Luis, a now three-month-old baby who weighed about four pounds when he was born and hardly gained a thing in his first month at home. So he spent 3 weeks in the hospital and then came to CRN. When I first met his mother she was sitting on the edge of the bed with tears running down her cheeks, despondent over her situation - missing her other children who were at home, the house she shares with a sister and brother-in-law and their children. She said that her sister doesn't love her (Lucia's) children, and the father of the baby "se fue" (is gone, presumably for good); she obviously was feeling hopeless. I took a picture during the first week. You might be able to see Luis's fuzzy forehead. This black fuzz is a common sign of malnutrition. (Sorry about the orientation; I should have posted it vertically but I can't change it.)

Now the fuzz has almost disappeared. Luis is still terribly floppy, but his eyes are bright and he's begun to make baby sounds and follow my keys when I move them across his field of vision. And he's got a smile like a jack-o-lantern!! His mother's spirits have changed completely, so much so that it's obvious she was suffering from severe depression. I'm working on a follow-up picture to post.