#IAmGrateful 10

Opportunity

I am grateful for opportunity--to play, to rest, to learn; to connect and to simply be.

SOTC 131/365

For those of you who think I'm dangling precariously in the top branches of this tree, you're wrong. I love climbing trees, but my position is 10ft away on the lawn.

Gorilla pod + remote shooting app = awesome.

Unjaded

I had a chance to step into my old role at work last Friday, working one-on-one with a little guy at a preschool. Well, sorta one-on-one. While he has limited mobility in his legs, and a bit in his hands, he is cognitively typically developing; a smart, confident young man. I was mostly just there to ensure driver safety with his walker.

He wanted to jump on the mini-trampoline at centre time. He bounces independently on his knees, a mix of straight up-and-down bounces with the occasional horse kick thrown in for good measure.

As I supervise just off to the side, we engage in conversation: about his full-size trampoline at home, about his older brother who tries to hog trampoline time, about how this little bouncer is harder on his knees than he's used to. 

It is quiet for a minute.

Then he comments, "sometimes people watch; they look at me a lot."

In an instant, my brain imagines all the scenarios where this little guy moves around on his knees, or in his walker, while the world around him moves unassisted on two feet. Expecting to hear him parrot whatever his parents have taught him thus far about how to respond to gawkers--and preparing myself to enter into a brief conversation about how it makes him feel when people act that way--I respond open-endedly with, "oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. It's cuz I can bounce so high."

Because the conversation was never about his disability to begin with.

How He Thinks (SOTC 69/365)

His eyes always squinty
Fingers in his mouth
not just a sensory habit,
but also
a sign of
his most thoughtful
moments.

He looks everywhere but the camera.
When I get him excited enough
to look at me
with his favourite song
or by counting,
then he is moving too fast
to get a good shot
(he gets excited with his whole body).
So I photograph him thinking.

I don't know what he's thinking.

They say a person needs to have language
to have thought.
He understands language,
but he is,
for all intents and purposes,
non-verbal.

So what does he think?
How does he think?

Does he think like the 10-year-old he is,
or like the 3-year-old the assessments say he is,
or in the 2-3 word sentences
he shares out loud?

I have asked this question for years.

I have no answer,
so I talk to him like a 10-year-old,
like a 3-year-old,
and in 2-3 word sentences.

And then I sing his favourite song,
and I don't care about his thinking,
Because I can see
what he is feeling.

SOTC 54/365

Mid Bike-Ride Snake Hunt (SOTC 54/365), a photo by gina.blank on Flickr.

Well, That's Interesting...

I've had several Big Thoughts this week--shifting perspectives and gleaning 'aha' moments in workshops attended, books read, relationship interactions had. There is still much that I am tumbling about in my brain, and likely will be for a while.

One of these Big Thoughts struck me quite powerfully this morning. I discovered something about myself. Well, sort of. I was more reminded of two things I already knew about myself, but had never looked at together side by side. And it left me thinking, "well, that's interesting..."

I was at a workshop discussing the pedagogy of play. For those readers not entrenched in the field of early childhood education, some context: play is one of the most important things we can allow children to do if we want them to be confident, competent, successful adults. And without getting into it here, experts are trying to get this message out loud and clear, because there is a rift between those who recognize the need for a play-focused classroom, and those who continue to try and argue for an academic-focused classroom for young children.

Every play workshop I've attended includes a brief definition of play. And it is generally defined including these terms:

• Play is spontaneous
• Play is apparently purposeless
• Play is more focused on the process than any sort of product
• Play is non-literal
• Play is directed and controlled by the child
• Play is intrinsically motivated and voluntary

Any time an adult imposes any sort of agenda onto a child's play activities, they run the risk of hindering the full potential that could have come out of the experience for that child. While I am not perfect, I must say, I do consider myself a pretty darn good play-er. It is generally not hard for me to let play unfold in the child's time, in the child's way. I have had many circumstances where I've gotten right into it with a child. And then suddenly, the parent walks by, or comes in to ask me a question, and looks at the mess noise play space around us. I find myself looking back up at them, scrambling to reclaim my title of Responsible Adult by declaring, "I promise we'll clean it up when we're done."

I lose my sense of time, and I lose my sense of needing to be the adult authority figure.*

I'm a good play-er. And I know this.

Now, look at that list again. Especially bullets 1, 3, and 4. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a spontaneous person, I am task-oriented, and I am quite the linear/literal thinker. I struggle so much in my adult life with these character traits.Yes, yes, yes. I know there are positive aspects to each of these traits; that being said, there are so many times when embracing the 'what if' that underlies all of those traits would be so enriching.

It is just so hard to do. And I know this.

But wait.

How is it so hard for me to have these qualities in my daily, adult activities, and yet it is so easy to do when I'm on the floor with a child?...

Well, that's interesting...

I do not have an answer for you. This revelation just happened this morning. But I wonder something. Research shows that when children are engaged in play, they have the ability to step beyond their zone of proximal development. They are able to use language, take perspectives, and act cognitively at levels up to two years ahead of where they show themselves to be when assessed outside of a play experience. They can do things in play that they can't otherwise do.

Maybe it's not so different for adults.

In children, mind you, abilities acquired in play do eventually transfer into abilities that can be carried out in their other daily activities. Because their brains are still growing and new neuron connections are being made.

But my brain is not growing. My activities serve to maintain neuron connections, but I'm not really developing a whole lot of new ones at this point. Not the way a child does.

Still, it makes me wonder... because if there is any way to transfer what goes on when I'm in the block corner to what goes on when I'm in a meeting, or out with my friends...




* Within reason, of course. Child safety trumps uninterrupted play experience.

359/365

Stuck in a bouncy castle!

358/365

313/365

Technology meets good old-fashioned play: when was the last time YOU Skyped from inside a fort?

307/365

Ready... Set...

305/365

Play = Work

Work = Play

261/365

My partner and I were inspired by this idea for our weekly playgroup. Rolls of paper towel, food colouring and water, a variety of droppers for all fine motor levels (including one turkey baster), and we have the easiest art experience ever. The kids loved dripping and squirting colours all over their canvas. After playgroup, streams of paper towel were draped over everything around the office to dry.

Then... what to do with them? While we are trying to emphasize process over product with our arts & crafts experiences in playgroup, it seemed awful to think about just putting all the paper towel in the garbage after all that fun (not to mention incredibly un-eco-friendly).



So, after using some other colleagues as sounding boards, we came up with a few ideas. I am hoping to turn several sheets into decorative flowers to add to the springtime ambience in our playroom. Other sheets were glued onto card stock this afternoon, embellished with curls and shapes, and adhered to the windows looking into our playgroup. Photos of the kids in the process of creating were then glued on top of this to create an artistic photo story for parents and staff to admire.

I have loved watching the children create and explore with the art supplies we put out; and then taking their art one step further as we display it in the classroom. I hope they like it, too!

242/365

Some together fun at the playground. Spin, swing, slide, sun.

237/365

There's pretty much no place my camera can't go.

222/365

I'm working.

Really.

214/365

"Upside down, and all around, I'll take you where the stars are found..."

211/365

1... 2... 3...                                       Yaahhhhhh!
(oh, the anticipation...)                                                                                                                                     (oh, the excitement!)

158/365

If you put the dreidel song in their heads, they will want to make a dreidel. When you ask if they have clay, they will say they can use play dough. When you ask if there is currently play dough made, Mom will say no, and she will make a new batch. They will ask what Hanukkah colours are. You will say "blue and white" but when the food colouring actually comes out, they will want every colour. You will show them how to mix the food colouring into the play dough; you will end up with a rainbow all over your hands.

In the end, you will make three unique dreidels.

You will be so touched that your niece and nephew enjoy a custom from your own culture. And you will have rainbow on your hands to remind you for the next several days. :)

113/365

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream..."*

* "...if you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream!" :)

96/365

My job description:

• Advocate for the inclusion of children with disabilities in all settings.
• Promote children's development through play-based learning.
• Facilitate effective family-centred practice.
• Work as part of a collaborative team.
• Hold bunny rabbits.

Yup; I think I

covered it all today.