For my last kids group I was paired with Danielle who is pretty severely intellectually disabled but can walk around....and man did she walk! Basically my weekend consisted of following her around and watching that she did not pull the other kids hair or grab some one's glasses and break them. I mixed things up by singing some songs that used knee pats and claps. My favorite (and hers) was the kit kat song...you know, 'give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that kit kat bar.' And she had an overactive metabolism so could pretty much eat all day long, so I took Claire's advice (who was been previously paired with her)and had a banana in my hand pretty much at all times and would occasionally put a piece in her hand to nibble. I was really nervous about how she would sleep because I had heard reports from past breaks about her being up most of the night and hitting her head against the wall and stuff, but she ended up sleeping on the couch downstairs with the woman came to stay awake all night and make sure the kids were ok, because we aren't allowed to sleep in the same room as them (new protocol to protect children). Danielle was a really sweet girl and my highlight of the weekend was going for a walk with her in Swords to a shop because we were running low on bread. We borrowed another girl's stroller and got Danielle all buckled in an off we went. The whole walk Danielle sat happily in the stroller singing unidentifiable songs to herself and moving her arms around like she was conducting an orchestra. She was so content and happy! Oh-the other thing that is very characteristic about Danielle is that she only really says a few things such as: 'Danielle go home?' and 'Danielle go to bed?' Or variations of that like 'Kate go home?' or 'Claire go to bed?'. Anyway, this whole time she just sang and smiled. Danielle was probably my most challenging kid that I've been paired with, but I also loved finding ways to adapt to her needs for constant stimulation. She required a lot of focus because she didn't really have a sense of danger or what would result in serious consequence (like breaking some one's glasses) and one time she got out of the unlocked door while I was grabbing something from the kitchen and I came back and she was gone!!! Ovidiu told me he saw her leave so he chased her down and she was halfway down the block, just trotting in the opposite direction of the house. I guess she finally got sick of asking if she could go home, and decided it was time to just take action. The one drawback to this group was that again, I felt isolated from the rest of the group. With the last kids group, I was with Chrissie who only really wanted to play with me and would actually tell other kids to leave if they came into the room. And with Danielle, it was difficult to incorporate her into group games or help facilitate group interaction with her attention always seemed to be somewhere else. I think that having the opportunity to hang out with Danielle, although it was not my most fun weekend, was a really huge growing and learning experience for me. The picture below is of Danielle on our walk.
This is a picture of Donal, the sweetest, cuddliest kid on the planet with Lisa who was paired with him for the weekend:
And I want to include this picture as well, for the sheer cuteness of it. This is Darren, after annihilating toast with nutella. Darren is also a kid who enjoys ketchup sandwiches.
We had some members come to the house on the Monday right after the group ended on Sunday because a Minister from the government was coming to check out CASA and hopefully provide the organisation with more funding. It was a great day. Claire and I were in charge of the food so we got to mingle with everyone! Julie, one of my first few members was there, and we were treated to a couple of her songs. The Minister was only there for a short time, and at the very end of our afternoon, but we all played domino's, card games, and chatted until he came.
The following evening Claire and I went out to Restaurant 1014 with Paddy Murray and Kay. We both felt so grateful to have been invited and it turned out to be an evening I will really remember for a long time. It was so special to be at 1014, which is a restaurant owned by CASA in which any proceeds made on top of covering costs goes directly to the charity. The food was great, the wine was great, but more than anything it was a nice way to be able to reflect on our experiences with CASA and spend some quality time with Paddy and Kay.
The week of awesomeness continued with a massage! We got his number from Dora (one of my favorite members) so called him up, and he offered us a group rate so Mary Fox, Claire, Kate and I did not hesitate to sign up. He came to the house with his massage table and music and, of course, his magic hands. We all emerged after our hour+ massage looking like we were about to fall asleep. It was 100% worth it.
On Friday we went on outings to visit members so I went to the CARA and St. Mary's. I got to say goodbye to a couple of my favorite members and it was really great just to chat with them one more time. We headed back to the house at got ready for the night's festivities. We bussed to the city centre and went to a couple pubs, tried getting into the Q bar which is the really lame dance club, but there was a newly in place cover charge which we were all too cheap to pay. So we came home and had our own dance party (which included borrowing moves from some of our members). It also involved a slow dance with Ovidiu who lifted me off the floor and spun me around the room and witnessing more hip circles than any person should ever have to see when Ovidiu hit the floor for a solo. It was a really fun night, and we had been talking about going out in the city for a while. Although I intended to take more pictures of the night's events, this one below is one of the only good ones. This was taken on the bus on the way into the city centre.
The good times just kept rolling (I'm sorry....I should stop using these sayings) on Sunday when we had a house BBQ. Everyone contributed something (Ovidiu's 'little things' which were basically sausage shaped beef/lamb burgers, homemade tiramisu from Lucy, a cold rice/veg salad from Lennart, packets of fish from Lisa, grilled veg and hamburgers from Claire and I) and we were able to sit down and have one last really nice meal all together. The night continued with a heated game of Extreme Uno and an amusing game of Pictionary.
I was up bright and early today to PICK UP MOM FROM THE AIRPORT!!!! It was so great to see her and hug her! We went out for a nice lunch at 1014 and then walked around Malahide all day. She's staying at a B&B right now and we'll head into Dublin to stay at a hostel tomorrow. It is so nice to have her here, and show her where and what has made up my life for the past 4 months. I'm excited to spend this next week and a half with her! And then I'm off on my own! And I'm gonna drop this little hint in...date of return to Canada: June 7th. It's a Monday.
And I'll leave you with this picture of flowers that are in Malahide. Claire told me that she'd never seen flowers like Ireland flowers and I thought maybe she was just exaggerating. Until I saw them in real life. And they are seriously amazing. And for some reason they always seem to be in bloom. Like this flower bed below, it's looked like that for at least a week and a half. Just thought I would prove it for all those non-believers.
I hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Kate
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