TheBanyanTree: work?

[Sachet]

Tennis (or the 7 year old version of it anyway <g>)

Wall Ball (how many times can you consecutively hit a whiffle ball 
against the brick wall?)

Crashing dump trucks on the fort and down the slide with a 3 year old

Scooping and dumping sand in the sandbox

Walking around the playground framework (otherwise known as the balance 
beam) singing The Itsy-Bitsy Spider

Tossing handfuls of leaves down the slide until a big pile gathers at 
the bottom, perfect for sliding down into

Singing "This is the Way We Wash our Hands" while teaching how to use 
soap and water

Helping "Dora" and "Elmo" zoom down the slide

Bouncing on the trampoline

Pushing a 3 year old around the playground on a tiny 2 wheeler to teach 
about the differences between tricycles and bicycles, motor skills, etc.

Throwing a giant 3 foot Frisbee into the air....repeatedly...against the 
wind

Playing a Blindfold listening game and then writing a story about it 
afterwards

Spinning around in circles with a 3 year old, until you are both all 
dizzy-giggly just so he will say "More, spin!"

Reigning in the Mom-tendency of letting a kidlet win more than you, so 
he learns how to lose and be a good sport AND not cry or have a meltdown 
(peers harshly ridicule such behavior)

Sprawling out on the floor with PVC pipes and connectors with a 3 year 
old as he instantly understands what to do with them and considers it to 
be a whole LOT of fun

Squirting vinegar into baking-soda-filled Duplo's to work on motor 
skills (and also because he loves watching the frothing bubbles so darn 
much)

Playing "Simon Says" while walking up four flights of stairs

Running backwards down the hallway while still playing "Simon Says"

Rolling down the hill with a 3 year old until you are both dizzy and 
grinning at each other at the bottom and eye contact is made (which is 
one of our important goals and so very rewarding)

Such are the things that occurred today, a normal day at work. Each 
activity encouraged with particular ABA goals in mind, interspersed with 
"work" which consists of 10-15 minute time slots repeated throughout 
each session doing specific "tasks" to further teach each child in 
regards to a) spoken and non-spoken communications skills b) social 
interaction skills c) problems related to non-adaptive behavior (such as 
inflexibility and pre-occupation with repetitiveness).

So although we may have done each activity listed, they didn't all go 
smoothly at times. Yesterday I went home from work discouraged and 
frustrated, second-guessing myself.

This morning I woke up determined and full of ideas to try. I needed a 
day like today.....where smiles, hugs and precious spoken words won 
out.  Each 2 hour one-on-one session goes by in a blur of movement and I 
hadn't realized what all we'd done together until I sat down to write 
about it. Now I know why I'm so tired! <g>


....Sachet