Out with the bad air, in with the good

Sorry folks.

It's been a while since I've written anything, so shame on me. Since we last gathered together to learn of the ways of Massey, Amanda and I went back to Helping Hand Home to do our 2 hours of observation at their Residential Treatment Center and we are now CPR and First Aid certified. We'll start with our observation.

Helping Hand Home is not just a Foster/Adoption Agency, but they are also a treatment center for kids who still need a little more TLC before they are matched with families and homes. In order to be fully certified to adopt we had to complete 2 hours "observing" which we did last Saturday afternoon. To be honest, observing is a total misnomer as to what we were actually expected to do. We really had no idea what was going to happen. Were we going to be behind a glass partition with clipboards watching the staff interact with the kids? Were THEY going to be behind the glass watching us? In reality, it was much closer to #2, just without the glass or clipboards. What they did was have us interact with the kiddos who were living there and just kind of hang out with them. HHH has 5 homes  for their kids, and the kids we were with were in the home where they needed more 1:1 interaction. Whereas the other 4 homes have a ratio of 1 staff member to 4 kids, ours was 1 staff member to 2 kids. Amanda got to be with a girl who was probably 9-10 years old and they got on great. She liked to craft and so she and Amanda were like peas in a pod. My kiddo was 7-8 year old boy who was very much of the "SQUIRREL" variety. We did a lot together, including making one of those things were you put the plastic bead things down in a pattern and then you iron it and it melts and makes a glob of whatever you made. He made a heart and I made a J. But his attention waned and then he wanted to play baseball, which I was all for. But that lasted for about 10 minutes until he decided he didn't want to let anyone else play, or hit the ball. Then he decided to go play on the playground but what he didn't notice was that he locked me inside the "inner" playground area, so I was stuck with some other kids who happened to be playing in there. Because he had thrown some tantrums during the baseball activities he had a staffer with him and so she took him to the playground, but what they fail to tell you is that each area is only accessible if you have a key card, which I of course didn't have, and when they went off to the playground they just kind of left me at the altar. Some girls asked me to play with them and I couldn't just say "no, I don't want to play with you, I have to stand here awkwardly." We actually had a lot of fun, the best part being when I went up to bat, hit the ball fairly hard and small girl playing with a doll yelled "Holy S#$%!!" It took all I could not to die laughing. After a while the girls decided to go inside, but another boy came out and I hung out with him and played cars for a while. It went much faster than I expected it to, and it wasn't some traumatic exercise. After our 2 hours were over we had a nice little debrief about what happened, but there wasn't a whole lot to discuss other than "kids are kids, some have more issues than others, be prepared." 

Last night we drove to Round Rock to take our CPR/First Aid class, which was held at a day care center and we all had to sit in the little kids chairs, and I'd be willing to say that 40% of my actual rear was making contact with the chair for the 2 hours the class lasted. I learned quite a bit during the class, such as adult CPR only requires chest compressions and no mouth to mouth. The whole time all I could think about was Dumb and Dumber when Jim Carrey attempts to perform CPR on the guy they accidentally killed with the spicy burger. 

This will go easier if you just sit still.

We learned how to use the defibrillator, which is apparently idiot proof to use. The thing talks to you, tells you what to do, and there are pictures. It's like Siri that saves your life and doesn't call people you don't want them to call. Maybe thats what the iPhone 11 will come with next, a defibrillator. We got to learn the Heimlich maneuver, which is apparently punching somebody in the gut but in a strategic way that doesn't involve assault charges. We talked about how to handle seizures, falls, burns, impalement, basically an episode of Game of Thrones. CPR/First Aid classes should really be called "What to do after you've called 911, and if you haven't called 911, CALL 911." I really hope I'm never in a situation where I'll have to do any of these things, and lets be honest, I'll probably be the one in need of help, considering my track record of cuts, impalements, etc. 

We get our respite children this upcoming week and we are pretty excited. Our routine is about to get blown to smithereens and replaced with a new one but I feel like its going to be a fun adventure, and if its not then at least Amanda will know how to revive me from the heart attack I suffer after I accidentally leave the kids at the Target Dollar spot. So, next week this blog will be filled with anecdotes and news! Whoohoo!!