rEcess met again, for the last time this school year.
It was a good night. This time i was not assigned to watch one particular child, so i got to spend time with any and all of them who needed looking after.
This meant i got to spend time talking to and smiling at Lana, whose mitochondrial illness makes for a very bad prognosis. She smiles in spite of the wheelchair, feeding tube, and inability to really communicate much. She is just happy, as she is, a lesson in itself.
Taylor returned, and we cheered him at basketball and table hockey, foosball and pool. He really couldn't tolerate the movie, he hates the silliness of most children's movies.
Trey was ill, but his brother Evan came. Trey is so severely autistic that he has to be followed and monitored at all times, and poor Evan gets very little of his parent's time. He needed the night away, and his mother looked terribly tired. It was nice to be able to give him some attention and let him play with the volunteers' kids. It gives him a bit of time to shine under the attention of grownups who don't have to keep leaving him to tend his brother.
Emma tends to be shy to try new things, combining mild autism with a bit of mental retardation. She loves to watch the others on the playground, though, as they do the things she thinks look too scary. Go down a slide or ride the little merry-go-round? No, those are too much, but she smiles and gladly watches the others do it, seeming to have more fun enjoying their fun than anything else.
The volunteers' kids got a share of my attention, as i ran them around the playground, or to the game room, or up and down the stairs, sometimes following two-year-old Ian as he toddled off to climb, or timed the bigger girls on the mini trampoline so everyone had the exact same amount of time.
Being the "floating" volunteer this time gave me the advantage of being able to interact with all of the kids, siblings, and volunteers' kids, so i got to know all of them a bit better. It also gave me a chance to spend time with some of the other volunteers who were in the particular room with us with their charges.
It was a good night, and i'm sorry it is on break until September. A special night out where people watch your special needs child is so important for parents of these kids that i wish we didn't have to skip the summers.
It was a good night. This time i was not assigned to watch one particular child, so i got to spend time with any and all of them who needed looking after.
This meant i got to spend time talking to and smiling at Lana, whose mitochondrial illness makes for a very bad prognosis. She smiles in spite of the wheelchair, feeding tube, and inability to really communicate much. She is just happy, as she is, a lesson in itself.
Taylor returned, and we cheered him at basketball and table hockey, foosball and pool. He really couldn't tolerate the movie, he hates the silliness of most children's movies.
Trey was ill, but his brother Evan came. Trey is so severely autistic that he has to be followed and monitored at all times, and poor Evan gets very little of his parent's time. He needed the night away, and his mother looked terribly tired. It was nice to be able to give him some attention and let him play with the volunteers' kids. It gives him a bit of time to shine under the attention of grownups who don't have to keep leaving him to tend his brother.
Emma tends to be shy to try new things, combining mild autism with a bit of mental retardation. She loves to watch the others on the playground, though, as they do the things she thinks look too scary. Go down a slide or ride the little merry-go-round? No, those are too much, but she smiles and gladly watches the others do it, seeming to have more fun enjoying their fun than anything else.
The volunteers' kids got a share of my attention, as i ran them around the playground, or to the game room, or up and down the stairs, sometimes following two-year-old Ian as he toddled off to climb, or timed the bigger girls on the mini trampoline so everyone had the exact same amount of time.
Being the "floating" volunteer this time gave me the advantage of being able to interact with all of the kids, siblings, and volunteers' kids, so i got to know all of them a bit better. It also gave me a chance to spend time with some of the other volunteers who were in the particular room with us with their charges.
It was a good night, and i'm sorry it is on break until September. A special night out where people watch your special needs child is so important for parents of these kids that i wish we didn't have to skip the summers.
Arrival Day -- Guyana
Bevrijdingsday (Liberation Day) -- Netherlands
Bird Day -- go out and watch your feathered friends
Bonza Bottler Day
Buddha Day -- Cambodia; Malaysia; Singapore
Cartoonists Day -- celebrates the first color cartoon ever published, The Yellow Kid, on this day in 1895.
Children's Day -- South Korea
Cinco de Mayo / Anniversary of the Battle of Puebla -- Mexico, and anyplace that beer brewers want to make a minor battle into a big deal to increase beer sales today
Clun Green Man Festival -- Clun, Shropshire, England (spring festival ending with the Clun Green Man battling and defeating the Frost Queen to end winter; through the 7th)
Constitution Day -- Kyrgyzstan
Coronation Day -- Thailand (crowning of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 1950)
Europe Day -- Council of Europe
Fairy Ring Day (Receiving) -- Fairy Calendar
Free Comic Book Day
Herb Day -- an international celebration of herbs and all the flavor they add to our lives; try a new herb to season a dish today
International Day of the Midwife
Join Hands Day -- uniting young people and adults to do community service projects
Kentucky Derby Day -- Churchill Downs, Louisville, KY, US
Kodomo-no-hi (Children's Day)-- Japan
Liberation Day -- Denmark
Lusophone Culture Day -- Community of Portuguese-speaking countries
Martyr's Day -- Albania
Mindfulness Day -- Zen Buddhists (day to be especially mindful of all that you do, or don't do, and how it affects all sentient beings)
National Chocolate Custard Day
National Hoagie Day
National Homebrew Day
National Scrapbooking Day
Patriot's Victory Day -- Ethiopia
Senior Citizens Day -- Palau (trad.)
St. Judith's Day (Patron of Prussia)
Totally Chipotle Day
Birthdays Today:
Danielle Fishel, 1981
Tina Yothers, 1973
Brian Williams, 1959
Tammy Wynette, 1942
Pat Carroll, 1927
Ann B. Davis, 1926
Alice Faye, 1915
Tyrone Power, 1913
James Beard, 1903
Nelly Bly, 1864
John Batterson Stetson, 1830
Karl Marx, 1818
Soren Kierkegaard, 1813
Today in History:
Rebel barons begin a chain of events that leads to King John of England's eventual signing of the Magna Carta, 1215
Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire, 1260
Jews are expelled from Speyer Germany, 1430
Christopher Columbus lands at Jamaica and claims it for Spain, 1494
In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614, 1789
Citizenship is denied to Jews of Canton of Aargau Switzerland, 1809
Mary Kies becomes the first woman issued a US patent, for a method of weaving, 1809
The American Bible Society organizes in NY, 1816
Emperor Napoleon I dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena, 1821
In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen, 1835
The American Medical Association forms in Philadelphia, 1847
Cinco de Mayo in Mexico: troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla, 1862
The first train robbery in the US occurs in North Bend, Ohio, 1865
Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army, 1877
The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor, 1891
Cy Young pitches the first perfect game in modern baseball history, 1904
Coco Chanel introduces Chanel No. 5, 1921
John T. Scopes is arrested for teaching evolution in violation of Tennessee's Butler Act, 1925
West Germany gains full sovereignty, 1955
Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, 1961
Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27, 1981
The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army, 2006
Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek debt crisis, 2010
Dear Mimi,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful thing to be a part of, and how beautifully you have described it to us. Could someone somehow arrange for maybe a few dates to be done in the summer? Just wondering...
This special event sounds like such a worthy endeavor. You are right to be proud of it and your participation in giving these parents a night off is so generous.
ReplyDeleteKay, i wish they could, but it's actually sponsored by a national non-profit, and they set the parameters.
ReplyDeleteStephen, it's giving back is all.