Friday Morning Ramble

Good morning! It's Friday and this week has been busy as heck. In fact, this past month has been busy as heck (hence why I haven't posted in over a month). Well here's what's new with me. I started personal training this week, which has been crazy because I always thought I was going to be an ungraceful, clumsy little weakling for my whole life. I decided I wanted to get healthier, build some muscle, lose some weight, and most of all improve my energy, self confidence, and mental health. So far, I think it's working. I have worked out every day this week except yesterday (I had a 13 hour work day, so I literally couldn't). Speaking of yesterday, I had a one-off new client, a Memory Care unit almost an hour away from me. I was covering for one of my coworkers who is on a leave of absence. I am the most comfortable working with children, and adults with ID/DD, and I feel very out of my depth when I work in memory care. I want to help folks reminisce, but they typically aren't fully aware of where they are or what's going on - except for when I'm singing to them. They can remember words to Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree, and Blue Suede Shoes, but if I ask them what they used to do when they were younger it's hard for them to find the words. Anyway, it was nice to do something outside my comfort zone, brush up on my crooners and oldies, and meet new people in the process. Right now, our cat Pesto is resting in the sun on our armchair, covered in a blanket to protect the upholstery from tempted claws. We are listening to workers outside chopping down a huge, towering, dead American Elm tree outside our apartment building. They are basically dismembering it, because of how big it is, they can't just yell "TIMBER" and chop it down in one fell swoop. They have to cut it apart piece by piece, and right now they're using a forklift to get all its massive fallen branches into a huge dump truck. For months, there have been orange x's on the trees, sprayed on like a surgeon marking where to cut, and today is the big day for the procedure, for the tree to be hauled away. I don't know why but I feel a strange sympathy for this tree, which probably has hundreds of rings in the trunk and has seen decades of history. Just for the world to pop up around it and deem it a nuisance or a public safety hazard. I hope the birds living in the tree are okay and can find somewhere else to go. Yesterday was also so busy because I babysat for 2 young kids, aged 3 and 1. I watch them every Thursday night. I wanted to pick up some hours babysitting to learn more about child development and get more involved in my community. I feel like I am starting to become an honorary family member of this family, which I love. I am seeing 3 year old Z meet more and more milestones as I watch her grow. She has been speaking in longer sentences, engaging in more creative imaginative play, using more advanced words, and asks about a million questions every time I come over. Because I want to be a mom someday, it's been so helpful watching Z so I can learn behavior management strategies. Like yesterday, she didn't want to eat her dinner, but she wanted to read a story at the dinner table. So I told her, "okay, every time I turn the page you have to take a bite." This turned dinnertime into a game rather than a chore. She ate over half her dinner with this strategy in place! I like using challenging behaviors as opportunities to connect rather than fight for control. It really makes me feel like I am healing my own inner child, in a way, to be patient and calm with the kids I work with. Anyway, I'd better wrap up this post as I have to start getting ready to see my first client of the day. It's in the 30s here, and I'm not ready to go outside in the cold, so I am kind of dreading it! But I didn't move to Minnesota expecting gentle falls and winters :). Hopefully I will keep posting more. Ta ta for now!