I Can't Wait!

Those were Little Girl's words when she realized that, after Grandma and Grandpa left, she and i would have rEcess that evening.

We had five special needs kids this time, and 9 siblings, plus two new volunteers.  It was a very active group, with lots and lots of running and playing.

Even Jack and Lynn got in on the action.  It was a huge surprise to all of us that both Jack, whose spinal and leg trouble make his limbs almost totally stiff, and Lynn, with her severe metabolic disease, can now walk with assistance!

Then, there was Gracie.

Gracie has a new lovey.

She is beginning to learn to play more with others, including the children her own age.

Gracie and Ella play drums together.

She ran around much of the evening with balloons, and got in on the balloon "fights".

Balloon fights are fun!

One of the best things about the evening, though, was when we were drawing on the board.  Gracie drew a picture of which she was very proud.  "Look at that!" she said, and then added, "yellow, orange, green!"

Her picture, with yellow, orange and green.

 That's the most i've ever heard her say at once.  She is also talking a lot of nonsense words, as children do when they are babbling and really learning the rhythms of speech patterns. 

The improvement in these kids is amazing to see, and i can't wait for next time, either.




Today is:

Arizona Renaissance Festival -- Apache Junction, AZ, US (the official sister event to the Robin Hood Festival in Sherwood Forest, England; Saturdays, Sundays, and President's Day through Mar. 30)

Boy Scout Day -- celebrates the birthday of Scouting in the US

Cowtown's Last Old West Gunfight -- White Elephant Saloon, Fort Worth, TX, US (annual reenactment of the last gunfight in what was then Cowtown, between White Elephant Saloon owner Luke Short and former marshal T.I. “Longhaired Jim” Courtright on this date in 1887)

Death of Kelp-Koli -- Fairy Calendar

Farm Toy Show and Auction -- Sauk Center, MN, US (come watch the kids have fun with farm toys, and be one yourself again!)

Hari Kuyo -- Sensouji Temple, Japan (Festival of Broken Needles, in which all of the worn or broken sewing needles from the previous year are put in a sacred resting place.)

Hold Onto Your Head Day -- invented by someone for people like me, because heaven knows i'm losing mine!

Laugh and Get Rich Day -- a day to recognize the power of laughter

Love May Make the World Go 'round, But Laughter Keeps US from Getting Dizzy Week -- annually, the week before and including Valentine's Day; dedicated to Victor Borge’s notion that “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people” and Joel Goodman’s notion that “Seven days without laughter makes one weak.”

National Molasses Bar Day

Orchid Festival/Tropical Extravaganza -- Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, London (through March 0)

Preseren's Day -- Slovenia (Honors their national poet, France Preseren, often called Day of Slovenian Culture)

Rebel Day -- birth anniversary of James Dean

Royal Hobart Regatta -- Queens Domain Hobart and Derwent River, Tasmania, Australia (Australia's largest aquatic event, includes an Australian Wooden Boat Festival; through Monday)

Scout Sabbath -- BSA (Boy Scouts are encouraged to wear their uniforms to synagogue and represent scouting to their congregations)

St. Jerome Emilani's Day (Patron of orphans; Taos Indian Pueblo)

Tako-ichi -- Kita-ku, Tokyo, Japan (kite fair dating back to the Edo period)


Anniversary Today:

Founding of Universiteit Leiden, with the motto Praesidium Libertatis, 1575


Birthdays Today:

Josh Keaton, 1979
David "Phoenix" Farrell, 1977
Seth Green, 1974
Alonzo Mourning, 1970
Gary Coleman, 1968
Claudette Pace, 1968
Vince Neil, 1961
John Grisham, 1955
Mary Steenburgen, 1953
Brooke Adams, 1949
Robert Klein, 1942
Nick Nolte, 1941
Ted Koppel, 1940
John Williams, 1932
James Dean, 1931
Jack Lemmon, 1925
Audrey Meadows, 1924
Freddie Blassie, 1921
Lana Turner, 1921
Elizabeth Bishop, 1911
Lyle Talbot, 1902
William Tecumseh Sherman, 1820
Jules Verne, 1828
Samuel Butler, 1612


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Good Times"(TV), 1974
"RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day"(TV), 1952
"Danses Concertantes"(Stravinsky Ballet), 1942
"Two for the Show"(Musical), 1940
"The Plough and the Stars"(Play), 1926
"The Stars and Stripes"(US Armed Forces Newspaper), 1918
"The Birth of a Nation"(Film), 1915
"Boris Godunov"(Mussorgsky Opera), 1874
"Flora; or the Hob in the Well"(Cibber's Opera, first opera performed in the Colonies), 1735


Today in History:

Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, 1587
Isaac Newton reads his first optics paper before the Royal Society in London, 1672
French and Indian troops set Schenectady, NY, afire, 1690
A doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony suggests that two girls in the family of the village minister may be suffering from bewitchment, leading to the Salem witch trials, 1692
The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia, 1726
The first opera in the US, "Flora," opens in South Carolina, 1735
A minor earthquake shakes London, 1750
The strange phenomenon called the "Devil's Footprints" mysteriously appear in Devon, England, 1855
Martin Robinson Delany becomes the first black major in the US Army, 1865
The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce, 1910
D.W. Griffith's controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles, 1915
The Stars and Stripes newspaper is published for the first time, 1918
Swiss men vote against women's suffrage, 1920
Radio arrives at the White House, 1922
Allende meteorite falls near Pueblito de Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico, 1969
The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time, 1971
After 84 days in space, the crew of the first American space station Skylab returns to Earth, 1974
The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night, 1983
The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" takes place, 1996
A freak storm in the Hindukush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, 2010