Fun Night

Last night was another fun night at rEcess.

It went very smoothly.  Lots of volunteers, and plenty of action with the kids.

Katie came, for the first time since her mom had another baby.  She now has two little brothers.  That's a handful, although Katie is doing better.  She is beginning to understand that she can't put her hands in her mouth all of the time, and she can feed herself small amounts of food now.  At age 4, she's still about the size of a 2-year-old and non-verbal.

Katie, quite a handful.

Gina came with her four siblings.  Her feeding tube is giving her trouble, but that doesn't get in the way of her enjoying herself.

Lynn, with a volunteer.  She was playing queen.

You can tell from the flowers in the volunteer's hair that Little Girl had brought flower wreaths again.

She loves making flower wreaths to wear.

The night wouldn't be complete if Jack didn't come along.

Jack is going to move along, with or without the chair.  He just doesn't stop.

It was wonderful watching Lynn crawling all around again.  She's only become able to do that in the past few months.

She was never expected to be able to do this at all!

Then, there was Gracie, who made a new friend.

Gracie and Gargantua, the stuffed elephant.

 Every time she comes back, we are all impressed with how much Gracie is improving.  Early on, she pointed to her feet and kicked and looked at me expectantly.  When i asked her if she wanted to take off her shoes, she practically yelled, "Shoes off!"  She then said, "Socks off!" in an equally imperious tone, so we did just that.

She's happiest without these.

Happy feet, with her new friend nearby.

Gracie's vocabulary is growing.  She draws on the board and calls out "Ta da!" when she is done with each picture.  She identifies colors, and when i mentioned that her lunch bag has a frog face on it, she hopped like a frog.  Also, while i've seen her smile a lot, i've never heard her giggling and laughing so much as she did while calling out "Pop, pop, pop!" as she and one of Gina's sisters played with bubbles.

We played air hockey, and when some of the older siblings and adults were shooting pool, she sneaked up and stole a couple of the balls, which she then rolled across the floor and chased with glee.  She and all of the kids were very active, with loud games and making shamrock crafts and chasing each other all over the church basement.

She also conned any man she could into getting a ride.

She loves rides, a perch from which to watch all of the action.

We all had fun, and as it was time to go, Gracie's mom told her, "Tell them good-bye!"  Gracie then waved and called, "Good-bye, Ms. Mimi!" as she got in the elevator.

It's a wonderful night when we can see obvious improvement in so many ways.




Today is:

Bear Tie Ball -- Chicago, IL, US (the Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation's black tie fundraiser; this year's theme is "Into the Wild: A Road to the Cure")

Celebrate Your Name Week -- Saturday:  Geneology Day, begin or continue the journey to learn about your family

Daylight Saving Time begins tonight -- Bermuda; Canada (most regions); Cuba; Haiti; Mexico (some areas); Saint Pierre and Miquelon; The Bahamas; Turks and Caicos Islands; US (most areas)(begins 2am tomorrow morning, so "spring forward" one hour before you go to bed tonight)

Day of No Interest to Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Finnmarkslopet -- Alta, Finland (the world's northernmost dog sled races, since 1981)

Girls Write Now Day -- on International Women's Day, encouraging girls as the makers of future history to put pen to paper and make their voices heard

Highland County Maple Festival -- Highland County, VA, US (this weekend and next)

International Fanny Pack Day -- started by someone who really likes the things (although i do admit they come in handy for keeping your money with you at all times when you have a garage sale)

International Women's Day -- also celebrated as:
     Day for Women's Rights and International Peace -- UN
     Mother's Day -- Afghanistan; Albania; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Kazakhstan; Kosovo; Laos; Macedonia; Montenegro; Republic of Moldova; Russia; Serbia; Slovenia; Tajikistan; Vietnam

Natchez Spring Pilgrimage -- Natchez, MS, US (tour of 25 antebellum mansions, some of which are private homes; through Apr. 8)

National Peanut Cluster Day

National Proofreading Day -- to promote accuracy in written messages

Revolution Day -- Syria

St. John of God's Day (Patron of alcoholics, bookbinders, booksellers, dying people, firefighters, heart patients, hospitals, hospital workers, nurses, publishers, printers, sick people; Tultepec, Mexico; against alcoholism, bodily ills and sickness)

Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign -- Canisteo, NY (San Juan Capistrano has swallows, and Canisteo has living trees planted to spell out the name of the valley where the turkey vultures/buzzards return each year, traditionally on St. Patrick's Day; this weekend and next enjoy living history events, dealers, and demonstrations on Amish farms -- but only on Saturdays on the farms)


Anniversary Today:

Harry Hamlin marries Nicollette Sheridan, 1991


Birthdays Today:

Marcia Newby, 23, 1988
Bob, Clint, and Dave Moffatt, 1984
Kat Von D, 1982
James Van der Beek, 1977
Freddie Prinze, Jr., 1976
Kathy Ireland, 1963
Camryn Manheim, 1961
Aidan Quinn, 1959
James Edward "Jim" Rice, 1953
Carole Bayer Sager, 1947
Micky Dolenz, 1945
Lynn Redgrave, 1943
Susan Clark, 1940
Raynoma Gordy Singleton, 1937
Cyd Charisse, 1923
Alan Hale, Jr., 1921
Claire Trevor, 1909
Louise Beavers, 1902
Kenneth Grahame, 1859
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1841
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, 1714


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Mary, Mary"(Play), 1961
Symphony No. 2 in D major(Sibelius Op. 43), 1901
"Don Quixote"(Straus Op. 35), 1898
"Emilia Galotti"(Play), 1772


Today in History:

William Claxton completes his translation from French into English of Mirror of the World; as England's first printer, he will soon turn this into England's first illustrated print book, 1481
John Casor becomes the first legally-recognized slave in what will be the United States, 1655
Anne Stuart, sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1702
Thomas Paine's "African Slavery in America," the first article in the U.S. calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery is published, 1775
Gnadenhütten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity are killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indians, 1782
The New York Stock Exchange is founded, 1817
The first train crosses the first US railway suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, 1855
Everett Horton of Connecticut patents a fishing rod of telescoping steel tubes, 1887
International Women's Day is launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women's Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, 1911
Mahatma Gandhi starts civil disobedience in India, 1930
Daytona Beach Road Course holds their first oval stock car race, 1936
Phyllis M Daley is the first black nurse sworn-in as US Navy ensign, 1945
Ghana joins the United Nations, 1957
The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4, 1978
Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc publicly for the first time, 1979
Martina Navratilova becomes the 1st tennis player to earn $10 million, 1986
The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the murder convictions of Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing, 1999
The first comprehensive map of the debris field of the RMS Titanic is revealed, 2012