People never cease to amaze me!

This week has so far been rather challenging and yet rewarding in its own way. I've had to deal with patients not rocking up for treatment, although in their defense I must add that it was extremely cold today. Not only that, but our Rehab Dept is hosting a Down Syndrome Awareness Day tomorrow, and the dates given to people were wrong up until yesterday due to poor communication / emails being deleted by non-participating parties, etc. Now I'm waiting to see who will pitch for our awareness day tomorrow.

Right now I'm also sitting here and WISHING that the stupid Jetta (my parents' car that they borrowed to me during my studies) would get sorted out so that I could get it back to my parents, 120km from where I stay. I'm thinking up the most elaborate schemes to get rid of this car, but we'll see if I can manage to organise any of these schemes.

Besides for all these complaints, I do have highlights in my week (including last week) so far:
1. I met an extraordinary woman, Betta, who turned 60 about a week ago. But what makes her really amazing is that she is now attending adult / afternoon school to learn how to read, write and calculate (on paper)! She attends these classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for 2 hours at a time (from 15H00 - 17H00). This was really cool to me, and she says that it is important to know how to use an ATM, and have the literary ability to read the ATM-screen. I'm very happy for this woman who decided to make a change in her life!

2. One of my very hyperactive kiddies came for treatment yesterday. Now this kid has Cerebral Palsy of the spastic, hemiplegic (right side) type. However, if you are not watching closely, you would just thought that he is clumsy, not disabled... I guess in his mind he ISN'T disabled, as he is able to dress and feed himself - quite a feat at 4 years of age. It just comes to show what an influence parents' attitude has on a child's "normal" development!

3. I had to babysit my 3rd brother's children last night (I'm one of 6 children, of whom myself and 3 other siblings reside in Jo'burg). I got there, and as always my nephews and niece had a "show" prepared for me. Now let me tell you, these shows are SUPER cute! We had an almost-ventriloquist, an acrobat, a stand-up comedian (I was included in the show...not that I'm that good at comedy), and dancers. What a show ... and all in the confines of these kiddies' bedroom! I cracked myself at these kids, and they just absolutely made my day.



Now what I wanna ask is, how many of us used to put on "shows" that our parents, and whomever we could get hold of, had to watch? I remember that my youngest brother and I had little sketches for the rest of the family. The point is, how many of us still encourage fantasy play in our children, nieces, nephews or kids that we are close to? I know that as an OT I am constantly trying to convince my patients (most of whom are kids between ages 1 - 8 years) that a box can be anything from a taxi to a conveyor-belt, and therefore trying to encourage fantasy play. It is awesome to see a child lose him/herself and suspend reality for a good dose of a world so fantastic, adults can't even dream it up. But enough of this...

I just had some thoughts, complaints and amazing moments to share today... Wait... one more complaint. My mother-in-law just called to say that we have incurred a R400 speeding fine, which sounds really dodgy! Oh well, will survive this...my husband says that he will contest the fine. There goes my day!