August 09, 2004 - 7:35 p.m.

Back to Busy-ness

Last week was pretty busy, but in an enjoyable way. I guess I needn't have worried about how I would fill the hours between 9AM and 3PM when the kids were in camp. I adapted to being a part time nanny pretty quickly. It is really amazing how quickly the time can pass.

It certainly helped that I volunteered at the hospital on Wednesday in addition to my usual Friday shift. Wednesday's shift kept me very busy, despite the fact that I pretty much only had to deal with two kids. One little girl, E, was the most distracted child I have ever met! I am not exaggerating when I say that she couldn't stay with an activity for more than five minutes. She asked me to read to her and wandered off about three pages in. We decided to play a board game, but she flitted over to something else before I had even set up the pieces. I did manage to get her to stay focused for about 6-7 minutes while she painted a giraffe. It was exhausting just trying to keep up with her mentally, much less physically. Luckily her parents were around much of the time, so I wasn't entirely responsibile for her. Having been a preschool teacher, having to handle as many as 20 kids at a time, it's a little daunting to feel outmatched by a single five year-old girl! She was cute and fun, though. Except when she insisted on calling me Kristy, despite my frequent reminders that I prefer Kris. I eventually just gave up, since it's really not important. Later, the other child I was playing with kept reminding her for me, quite emphatically, in fact.

The other child, L, was almost as active, and very sweet. He was a pretty serious kid without a lot to say, but his smile lit up the room. We played together for a long time, then he left the playroom with his parents. A little while later, he came racing back to get me. It turned out it was his birthday, and his parents had brought in cake, ice cream, balloons, etc. He wanted me to join in the celebration, which was really touching. He had apparently really latched onto me emotionally, though, because when I started to leave the birthday bash to get back to my playroom duties, he wanted to come with me! We managed to convince him to stay with his family, since they couldn't stay long, but in less than ten minutes he was back in the playroom with me. It wasn't really a reflection of his feelings towards his parents, though, since when they left a while later (after joining him in the playroom for a bit) he curled up on the floor and cried with his head in my lap...

It must be so hard for kids like him whose parents can't stay with them at the hospital. They are in an unfamiliar environment, undergoing often painful treatment, being poked and prodded by lots of strangers, all without the comfort of their loved ones. I guess they are better off than the children whose families can't afford medical treatment at all, but it breaks my heart to see them so alone. That said, the hospital (or maybe some community agency - it isn't clear to me) does provide a sitter/companion for some kids, including L, but there isn't any certainty of continuity from day to day. And some, like one of L's from Wednesday, are all but useless, watching the child but not interacting with him. At least the nursing assignments seem pretty stable, which is one of many things the hospital seems to do right.

On Friday I got to see L again, and he both remembered me, and was happy to see me. I spent a lot of time with him that morning and with another 6 year-old boy. It was a pretty quiet morning filled with basketball and dinosaur play.

One of the things I have enjoyed about volunteering with these kids is discovering that I have a talent for winning over a child's trust. It feels so good to watch a child transform from the shy, quiet boy who sticks close to his parent into the chatty, laughing kid who is happy to stay and play with me even when the parent leaves the room for an extended period of time. It's really not all that hard, but I am proud of the ability nonetheless, since it seems that not everyone has the right mix of humor and attentiveness to connect quickly with a child.

On Friday I also got to sit down with the Child Life Director and ask him all kinds of questions about what working as a Child Life Specialist is all about. He gave me some interesting insight into the job, which just exacerbated my excitement about it. He also encouraged me with my plan of trying for the internship. I was a little worried he might recommend a graduate program, but he said that most academic programs in Child Life are of undergraduate quality. He agreed that the internship would be a good way to get myself into the field, and later I can get a masters degree in a related field that would be a little more versatile. It was great to have my plan approved by someone in the know. :)

So, it was a good week in the volunteer arena. In terms of my current job, though my hours were substantially shortened, the stress level was still pretty high. That was partly due to having to get the kids dressed, fed, and out the door on a set schedule and partly due to how tired and cranky they are after a busy day at camp. With a week of this under my belt, I have learned to let the complaints and whining roll off my back, at least until they have had a snack to raise their blood sugar and turn them back from monsters into children.

The weekend was great. I saw Shaolin Soccer on Friday, and it was a hysterically funny parody of the kung fu genre. It was laugh out loud funny. I have seen very few kung fu movies, so I can attest to the fact that it stands alone as a funny film without prior knowledge of fu flicks. On Saturday, I drove down to Cape Cod to pick up my ex who was visiting various folks in the area this weekend. It's a lovely drive, and the waether was gorgeous, so I was happy to do him the favor of picking him up. And I was rewarded by a complete absence of awkwardness on the drive back. Apparently our ability to enjoy each other's company hasn't really been hampered by the breakup.

We came straight back to my place, since various friends were gathering here for dinner and games. Sam and I cooked dinner for everyone, and we all spent the rest of the evening hanging out and having a lot of fun.

On Sunday, a bunch of us went to the Lord of the Rings exhibit at the Museum of Science. Since we are all a bunch of geeks, we enjoyed it immensely. It really was incredible to see the design detail that went into everything related to those films, from sets and effects, to costumes, makeup, and combat choreography. It blew me away. I cannot think of another single film, much less a trilogy that was built around such a carefully crafted vision of a world. Not a single detail was too small to be thoroughly thought out, and it shows. As big as the budget was for the films, once you see the quality, quantity, and variety of work that went into them, it is hard to believe the final bill wasn't much higher. But, I digress...

After the exhibit, I went out to dinner with Sam and another friend, and later fell into bed. It was certainly a very full weekend. I am looking forward to the second week of the kids being in camp and having extra free time.

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flutter back - fly ahead