What a great weekend! On Friday, N picked BBZ up from school early and took him to the Zoo! I was a little bummed that I couldn't go, but also really excited for the boys to have some much needed daddy-son time. I had to take my Certified Case Manager exam while they were partying at the Zoo, and I think it went pretty well. I won't find out for 8 weeks, which may seem like a long time, but an actual person reviews the test. Case Management is so different based on what type of agency you work in, some of the questions were really subjective and at the end I had the opportunity to explain and even question some of the questions. Here's an example...one question asked something like, when a child acquires a disability, parents often A. react with extreme grief and the adjust well B. continue to grieve at each missed developmental milestone C. and D. were definitely wrong. That is such a hard question! Parents could easily grieve at first, then adjust well, and STILL grieve when their child misses those milestones. So I was able to explain this at the end and I guess a real person will look at it and decide if my explanation warrants a correct answer. I had about 9-10 questions I commented on out of 180 questions. We'll see!
So then Saturday morning I volunteered for something for work and gave N and BBZ even more daddy-son time. After that I came home and fed the little man and had to turn around and leave again for a funeral. One of my past participants passed away. She was the sweetest lady. I met her when she lived in a nursing home and wanted to move into her own apartment. She had sustained a stroke and was paralyzed. by the time I met her she was walking and physically healed from the stroke, but had a bit of brain damage that made it hard for her to keep track of her bills, etc. She had this sweet little high pitched voice and I remember thinking I was talking to a young girl when we first spoke. She had cancer, but either didn't know it, or chose not to acknowledge that she was as sick as she was. She called me once and said that she was happy because a nurse started to come to her house a few times a week. When I asked the name of the agency she said "something Hospice", well hospice means a person has a terminal illness and has approximately 6 months to live. She didn't seem to know that, so I didn't tell her. She seemed happy enough not knowing.
So then Saturday morning I volunteered for something for work and gave N and BBZ even more daddy-son time. After that I came home and fed the little man and had to turn around and leave again for a funeral. One of my past participants passed away. She was the sweetest lady. I met her when she lived in a nursing home and wanted to move into her own apartment. She had sustained a stroke and was paralyzed. by the time I met her she was walking and physically healed from the stroke, but had a bit of brain damage that made it hard for her to keep track of her bills, etc. She had this sweet little high pitched voice and I remember thinking I was talking to a young girl when we first spoke. She had cancer, but either didn't know it, or chose not to acknowledge that she was as sick as she was. She called me once and said that she was happy because a nurse started to come to her house a few times a week. When I asked the name of the agency she said "something Hospice", well hospice means a person has a terminal illness and has approximately 6 months to live. She didn't seem to know that, so I didn't tell her. She seemed happy enough not knowing.One thing I must mention about her is the love she felt for her son. She talked about him as though he was a god, and to her I'm sure he was. He was her payee and helped with most of her finances. He loved her dearly, and it was a joy being around the two of them. He spoke so eloquently at the funeral about his mom, who clearly mean so much to him. I found myself wondering what she did to teach him to be such a strong, loving and caring man? Am I instilling those traits in my son? Will BBZ take care of me as I grow old and thank God for the time he had with me as he says goodbye? I can only hope so. It's so amazing how much I learn from the people I work with. She was more to me that a participant, she was my friend. She, as many people with disabilities do, lived on a very fixed income, but still found money to buy BBZ some cute flashing Christmas socks since I returned to work right before Christmas. She was a very sweet and thoughtful woman and I will really miss her.
On a lighter note, I sold the cloth diapers! For the same money I paid for them! And I was completely honest about their condition. As she left from picking them up, I said that I hope they work for her, and she said if they don't, I'll probably see them on Craig's List for someone else to try! That's funny...they will be floating around until they fall into the hands of someone who either knows what's wrong with them or has a baby that fits them. Oh well, at least I gave them a try!
The gdiapers worked great all weekend with the cloth inserts I made. It's funny, each time I made a batch (because I had to do it in shifts while watching a little boy) I changed them up a bit and they got progressively better. The last ones I made are by far the best, so I finally have the system down. We start them at school tomorrow! I'm still going to use disposable at night, at least for now, because I hate changing a soaking wet baby in the middle of the night when he would usually sleep straight through. Maybe as he gets older we can go to cloth at night too. This is a great start! As you can see in the picture, BBZ was a really great helper!
The gdiapers worked great all weekend with the cloth inserts I made. It's funny, each time I made a batch (because I had to do it in shifts while watching a little boy) I changed them up a bit and they got progressively better. The last ones I made are by far the best, so I finally have the system down. We start them at school tomorrow! I'm still going to use disposable at night, at least for now, because I hate changing a soaking wet baby in the middle of the night when he would usually sleep straight through. Maybe as he gets older we can go to cloth at night too. This is a great start! As you can see in the picture, BBZ was a really great helper! Ahhh, another weekend done. I was so busy I barely got to enjoy it! My boss comes back from maternity leave tomorrow and I am pretty pumped about it. I have been crazy stressed doing half of her job and mine, so it will be back to normal tomorrow. Thank god. Goodnight everyone!
