Another good day

Another good day today. This job is a bit like a lucky dip, I don't know what the day is going to hold.  

I stayed up latish last night, got to watch the Prison Break episodes.....oh that Wentworth Miller is just divine.  Smart, quiet, intelligent, caring, brilliant, and just yummo to look at!  (big sigh)  So I stayed up when I should have gone to bed, although I felt quite good last night even though my day was huge.

I dropped the kids off and drove Sheila into town and arrived at school at around 8.10am. I spoke to the classroom teacher, and was pleasantly surprised that it was an academically based classroom. No wheelchairs, and no nappies!  The class was smallish, six kids, with one who is severely autistic - he basically needed one on one all day long. The kids were just delightful.  I had a ball with them. In many ways these kids are easier than mainstream kids.  Its more intense, and you have to be even more watchful as their safety is a huge issue, but you don't raise your voice like you do when you have 25 (or 40) in a class.  I left the autistic child with the aide for most of the day as she knows him really well, and I can't walk in there all guns blazing so to speak.  In the afternoon though I sat with him, I spoke to him, got him to use his words when he wanted me to do something for him.  He would cut out small squares of paper, colour them in yellow and then write a word on them. By the end of the day he was getting weary, as he asked me to colour them in for him. He would write a word, and then invariably sing a portion of a song. He kept singing the same lyrics all day long, and finally I realized what he was singing.  It was 'Islands in the stream'. He sang the lyrics, and I continued the singing, and the look he gave me was just priceless. I got goosebumps. At that precise moment, for that one split second, I actually penetrated his solitary mind. It was an incredible feeling.  He just looked at me, and then continued to sing with me. I had connected with him - fleetingly, but in a way he could obviously comprehend.  My aide saw this happen and she said that was amazing because she said when she sings he hates it.  I said to her, I was stunned, because when I used to sing to my eldest when he was a baby, he used to scream!!  Never under estimate the power of music.

After school, I went and did the groceries, took them home and unpacked them, put a load in the dryer, made the lunches for tomorrow, and then took the kids to training.  I got home and had a shower, started preparing the kids' dinners and then sat down with a glass of wine. I have now organized our own dinner and the kids are fed and have had dessert and are sitting quietly and enjoying a movie. The machine is on again, with another load of mud sodden clothes from football training.

I wonder what tomorrow holds.

My days are far from boring

I know I am capable and organized (most of the time) and all that, but it's interesting to reflect on a day where I have been seriously challenged.  

Two days running, I have been placed with the older kids. Today I arrive, to find out that we are an aide down, and actually two down on what we had yesterday.  I had my day already planned out for me, but it was becoming increasingly obvious, that the challenge of 'just cook some muffins' was going to prove quite difficult.  I had eight kids, one down syndrome, two non verbal but basically able, one with the intellect of a 4 year old, one who has violent outbursts (she was the one who hit me last term) one boy who spoke and was well behaved, another girl who was well behaved and verbal and able..........   At this point trying to keep them all around the table was  challenge, but we had sung some songs and read a story and it didn't look like I had any aides coming any time soon.  So I took them into the kitchen, only to have two aides arrive and basically take over!!  Half an hour later they left me to feed some of the other students, and left me with muffins cooking, and more to cook, children I had to supervise and keep muffins up to them as they walked around the school selling them - I even had other teachers ringing me asking where the muffins were!!!!! Meanwhile another kid had arrived, who was really hard work. He kept touching the other kids and destroying everything that he came into contact with!!  And I was alone!  

I kept patient, I kept strong, I kept going and managed to cope with the day. I did ask for help at one stage, as it was obvious that 9 to 1 was not going to work.  I had another teacher come in and help me. It was great because he was physically strong enough to hold one of the boys. We took them to the gym and it took two of us to keep him on the treadmill, we had him nailed to the handle bars while he was trying to stop it. He enjoyed it, but wants to create havoc more!  We had to lock ourselves in, to keep kids from going out - well that one in particular. We couldn't keep him on that treadmill for ever. He got a great workout and so did the others, it was good fun teaching them shoulder presses and putting them on the rowing machines..... My aides spent most of the day in the toilet - no wonder I had to cope on my own. Toileting is quite labour intensive when you are dealing with wheelchair bound kids - and apparently one of the hoists was out of action.

The afternoon I assisted the other teacher and that was pretty cruisy!  I wasn't on my own - and the difficult kids were in another room.....

I am sitting quietly and enjoying a glass of expensive semillion.  MMMmmmmm, I think I deserved it. 

Had a great day - wonder what tomorrow has in store for me!

My little cherubs - NOT today.

It's the last day of the school holidays for us. The rushing, chaos, and stress levels start to rise again in earnest early tomorrow morning. It's been a great fortnight - very relaxing and I am ready to face the term head on.  Luckily for me I have worked teed up for the rest of this week, and hopefully next week too - so that's awesome news.  It's close to home, so that's even better. The pay won't be huge, but I am not in a position to knock back a short contract, and I don't mind the short ones where the light at the end of the tunnel shines rather brightly.

My three sons, are currently sitting on the lounge - no TV, no computer, no playstation, no gameboy!!!  The lady from two doors down came to the front door and let me have it. She just yelled at me about my kids!!  Apparently my cherubs have been up to their old tricks of putting sticks in her letterbox and calling out to her. This lady was not happy and neither was I. So the kids had to apologize to her, and were incredibly ashamed when they came inside. That mood will no doubt continue as they get used to having all their play things taken off them!!  It really annoys me that they have been so stupid.  I know kids are kids, but they are generally kind hearted but something about this lady has made them annoy her. She is a grumpy lady, (so would I be if my kids were harassing me like that!!) and I think they felt like they could annoy her..........  I think they have learnt their lesson. They know that kind of behaviour is just not acceptable, no matter how grumpy or mean they deem the recipient to be.  Ah parenthood, the joys.  Wait until Dear Bunny finds out, he is not going to be impressed.  Ah well, hopefully they will have learnt their lesson this time.  No more sticks in the letterbox, no more throwing stones, no more running down near her yard...... no more being painful! Will post again when I have more time DB has arrived home for dinner.