July 7th

******Handwritten on the actual date, but typed in on July 23, 2009.*******



July 7, 2009



It’s ~10:45am and I’m 15 minutes into a 45 minute break. Just tried calling Billy, but he’s probably doing court stuff (went straight to voicemail). I’ll quickly (try anyway) go over yesterday and today. I get Thurs. am off so I’ll hopefully be able to do some serious writing then.



Sarah Barrett has been absolutely amazing wif Amanda. She’s from Australia, so maybe Amanda likes her accent…who knows. In the am Melissa was supposed to take Amanda, but Sarah and I got her ready and went down to breakfast. I don’t remember what was for breakfast, I just remember not eating it, opting instead for granola. I vaguely remember sausage and white bread with only one side toasted. I do remember rushing Kristin through her b-fast b/c she had to go to Horse ‘n Around @ 8:20am. Now I’m starting to remember heinous amounts of ketchup so there were probably scrambled eggs. In any case, Sarah and Amanda ate outside. We got Kristin off t other session after some moments of minor panic when we couldn’t find HMA Tiffany for meds. After breakfast Melissa took Amanda and I think we went to Arts and Crafts. My hair feels so gross from the chlorine, and my skin so dry! Okay, I only have ~15 mins left, so here are some pts to be elaborated upon later: A&C (party/princess hats and dance invitations), A had a behavior when leaving cabin before A&C (M & S took care of it), nail polish party (Nicole and I did each others’ nails, A painted M’s fingers up to the knuckle), baking for 2 hours in pm (cheese, raisin scones, A had a behavior b/c M & I wouldn’t let her under her shoe laces w/ her teeth, Barb in front of campers got very testy and confrontational about how we handle A – Melissa had to leave room after it all to calm down from Barb – B asked why we let A hit us), lunch (M & A sat outside, chicken nuggets, fries, oatmeal raisin cookie), took food out to them b/c Sunny got food for everyone except them, rest hour was for most parts restful (A didn’t sleep, but everyone else incl M did, S & Molly napped briefly in common room, I wrote thank you notes, Kristin drew beside me), forgot! After nail polish party we paddled around the lake (canoe: me, Nicole, April and then me, Janine, Molly; paddle boat: Melissa, A, Janine, Sarah, Leah, Molly) & then we sat in grass while S went to get the bruise on her toe checked out (dropped something on it @ work), after lunch went to baking for 2 hours (already talked about that), followed by canteen (A had minor behaviors but was okay for most of time except for sitting on counter – I played ping pong w/ Kristin), dinner (Spaghetti & meatballs, I tried to eat dinner outside w/ A – no luck, just ended up chasing her around the dining hall trying to keep her from grabbing food, hitting), slapping campers to get their attention and then putting fingers into their faces for high 5 or count of thumb’s up). She didn’t eat but after all left Sunny & I sat and ate – really buttery good garlicy bread!



It’s ~9:40pm. Everyone of the campers has just gone off to bed after one last scintillating game of UNO. Whoo! I so need a shower. After dinner we all went back to the cabin and sat around (I think) and then went to the evening program (“Birthday Games”). Oh – I think everyone just chilled and several went to sleep for a bit. We went late b/c everyone was napping. We stopped @ A&C to pick up our party/princess hats and wore them the entire evening. I’ve never felt so great while looking so ridiculous! It was really great b/c I was given looks by campers that I know they must get on a daily basis – I’m so glad that I experienced that! First was the egg race, then music, then gym relay. It was so much fun. Amanda didn’t participate, and Sarah stayed with her. She had gone for a bath right after dinner @ the HC. So I think Sarah just stayed with her until she went to sleep. After the “b-day party,” everyone went back to the cabin and I went to retrieve the brownie cupcakes from the A&C kitchen. I got back and everyone was ready for bed. We had the nasty stale cupcakes and then sat up talking and laughing together until ~10:15pm @ which point everyone went to sleep. I slept in the hall outside Amanda’s door, and man I was out! I only woke up 3 times to Amanda’s “night terrors.” Woke up at ~7:00am this am but stayed in bed, b/c I felt like I had slept so well! Matt came in ~7:30am and I talked to him briefly and then lay back down. Amy came over ~9:40am and I got up to wake everyone up. They did a PJ breakfast b/c we had swimming right after breakfast. But I got Amanda into her suit straight away. Breakfast was pancakes, bacon, and applesauce. I ate the pancakes and bacon. Amanda inhaled everything. Oh I forgot – last night @ dinner I got Amanda to take her pills by bribing her with her “school bag” and Tiffany luring her with a breezie-pop (that she never got). I can’t remember if it was this morning or last night @ dinner but Amanda was running down the V-House stairs and before I could get to her she went sprawling (luckily) in the clover. I can’t remember what she wanted initially, but we went into the dining hall and she had Sarah rub her “owie.” And she went up to the main and special diets windows asking for pop as if she were @ the canteen. Unfortunately, Barb was in the spec diets window and showed Amanda where the oranges are located in the big bowl. That was last night. Now apparently she has seven oranges – obsession! We’re going to talk to Matt about moving the fruit bowl. Anyway, after breakfast we came back and sat around, then swimming @ 9:30am. It was pretty chilly. Amy was counter and Nikkita from Cardinal found us. Swimming was great – Amanda loved it! Nicole and Janine sat out. Molly had such a great time! There were 3 cabins in there – so many people! When we left at 10:30am and it was cold! The first to leave were Sarah and Amanda pretty early on @ like 10m, then Melissa and Nicole/April/Janine @ ~10:10am, and finally @10:30am Kristin, Leah, Molly and me. It was so cold! We got back and everyone did showers, etc. and postcards and I went on a 45 min luxury break. When I got back I saw Amy and Amanda heading off (later we saw them outside laundry, Amanda seated and worshipping the pop machine), but everyone else was still in the cabin. We were super late to “Animals @ Camp” (Sarah Jo) across the way to see the chickens and pet the sheep. Kristin got some attitude and they were skiddish about the bulks of the sheep. They (Sarah Jo really) were letting the sheep out into the staff parking are ato clip the grass out there. We cam back and went to the waterfront for our floating picnic. No Amanda, no Sarah, no Amy. We waited for a while but I went to go to find them. I went to the dining hall and on the way I saw Emily T. and Amy M. and Matt hauling picnic supplies – I thought they were ours but I went into the dining hall anyway to look for Amanda and Sarah. I didn’t’ find them so I ran back down to waterfront. Whaddaya know – the food wasn’t ours. Phooey. So I went back to the dining hall and got the food and drinks. Luckily Matt came up to help. Of course Sunny didn’t offer to help even though she was there the whole time. We motored out to the lake and I went to throw the ball of weeds that our anchor had become. So heavy and nasty! Sunny was no help. Whatevs. We had ham and cheese sandwiches with chips and cookie. Oh, and orange koolaid. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food (even though they ran out of turkey and so we got ham and they were stingy! Poo on them!). When we got back Sarah and Amanda were sitting beneath the big tree by the waterfront gate. Of course Melissa bolted with the campers as soon as Sarah mentioned she hadn’t eaten lunch yet. Amanda and I sat there for a good hour and a half, me not speaking and her just flipping through her magazines/books, playing with her Pokemon and playing cards, and organizing her accumulation of 6 oranges. What put an end to her quiet was probably an increase in # of people@ waterfront and the fact that 2 of her oranges had rolled beneath the fence and into the water. She freaked out, yelling, pushing, and slapping. Unfortunately she was able to get in a good swat on a camper (yay paperwork) and a couple good blows to me (including one on my head/face which would have probably landed on my chest if I were taller, but oh well). She just would not calm down. I got a cut on the middle finger of my left hand from being pushed and dragged along the fence as she tried to make her way to the gate. Luckily I didn’t wear my glasses today, otherwise it would have been really bad! Eventually I was able to get Amanda to sit down and hold her oranges (that had been retrieved for her quite a while ago), she smelled her oranges, yelling constantly for her “red orange” (not sure what that means to her), and just being loud and super demanding. I stood ~6 feet away from her, my body always between her and any others, and I spoke to her in a reassuring (@ least I thought) tone, telling her that she had all her oranges. After I was whacked in the face, Miranda and Elle radioed for Matt to see if he knew where WW was – apparently he caught them as they were making their way to music. Melissa switched out with me (of course she didn’t get there until Amanda had already calmed down and most of the people were gone) and Miranda and I walked to music. I didn’t get teary-eyed or start feeling shaken up until Elle and Miranda asked me if I was okay. Apparently that face whack was super loud and my head did some funny/strange slow motion thing haha – I kinda wish I could have seen it! In music they were planning for making a music video! So much fun! We finally decided on “John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt” and “TARZAN,” a favorite that we sing @ least 15 times a day – a particular favorite of Molly! Oof I need a shower. It’s already 11pm! Grrrrr … our staff room smells like burned popcorn. Ew gross. After music was a boatride – everyone in attendance, including Amanda, and it was so great, so relaxing – Melissa and I got our tan on. After boat ride everyone except for Amanda and Melissa went to A&C where we made bead bracelets & necklaces. Such fun. After that was dinner and we had wild (& other) rice casserole w/ chicken, celery, carrots, and mushrooms, plus corn and rolls (I actually can’t read this word, but I’m assuming it’s “rolls”). It was so good! Janine ate so much – it was incredible! Sunny took 2 plates out to Sarah & Amanda, and Sarah (& later Matt & Sarah Jo) comforted Leah for something- not sure what. After dinner I took Molly and Kristin to A&C to finish the beading and the black-paint-on-crayon-and-then-scratch stuff. Kristin got bored and got attitude and Molly got pretty frustrated @ the beads (really poor eyesight), but I tried to occupy Kristin by teaching her how to make lanyards and I tried to help Molly whenever she asked. She’s trying to teach me sign language, and she finds it very amusing when I practice or try to talk to her. The evening program was firetrucks, but they didn’t stagger times for cabins to come @ diff times, and so it was just everyone up @ the front gate singing songs and trying to keep everyone occupied. We eventually got our turn (one of the last cabins to go) ~ 7:30pm, and I then took Molly to use the gym bathroom. We met everyone @ the dining hall to get ice cream, which actually turned out to be rootbeer floats! Yay! Oh, on way to evening program I ran back to the cabin to get Kristin’s camera and drop off her artwork and ran into Amanda and Sarah sitting b the side of the dirt road/track behind the cabins by the water. I offered to switch but Sarah said she was okay. During ice cream social Charlotte came and ate with us which was nice for the ladies to have a new face. Tomorrow am Melissa is going to leave and Emmy is taking her place. When we got back Amanda was in bed and everyone else stayed up and played several rounds of UNO. I did a behavior report for Amanda’s episode form this afternoon. Geez – time for bed! It’s 11:30pm! Hopefully I’ll get up and take a shower in the am! Oh. It’s Sunny’s turn to sleep @ the door in the hall and I’m super nervous. I hope nothing happens tonight! Oh – later I need to talk about last night’s “unclaimed camper” who sat, lay, and somersaulted in the middle of the musical chairs-esque event – of course she was nonverbal and it shouldn’t have surprised us that she was actually Kayla’s camper. Kayla just didn’t speak up when the questions were asked, “Who’s camper is she?” Frightening. She’ll never be our counter! So tired! So ready for bed. Oh! Camp gossip! Couples! I can’t remember them all, but maybe in the am when my brain is fresh … er …