Week ReCap.

This week has been very interesting. First of all I want to tell the story about the man on the metro the other day. My roommate and I were sitting on the metro going back home after playing with the homeless children and just talking and everything was normal. But after that we were at a metro stop and the doors are only open for a short amount of time so you can't really dilly dally if it is your stop. So we noticed that there were these two brothers....the oldest was probably middle school like 6th grade and the youngest one was somewhere in the early elementary school age group. But the older one was talking to the younger one and their mom got off like right when the train doors opened in the first place. So my roommate and I could see that if they did not hurry that they were not going to get out. Also, when the train doors are about to close there is this noise that kind of beeps that alerts you that you need to stand clear of the doors. So that went off and the older one realized it and then darted off the train and the younger brother starts going towards the door and then it shuts. So basically....there is this little boy on the train and his mom and older brother are on the platform. At this point everyone on the train is aware of the situation and we are all looking at this little boy. Of course the train starts moving and people are watching him to see what he does. To my surprise he does not cry or anything he does not panic one bit! He simply stands there looking out the window of the door. Then this young man walks over....like late 20's...and he kneels down beside him and starts talking to the little boy and says that he will wait with him at the next stop for his mom. And sure enough...when the next stop comes along he gets off and waits with him. It was such a sweet gesture and what made the moment even more touching was that almost everyone on that train was ready to do the same thing. People were starting to get up and offer to go with him. It was so nice and the Washington DC community has proven to be very nice in my experience. I do think that the mother was to blame on that one....I mean....everyone knows that if you have kids on a metro they should get off before you do in order to prevent stuff like that from happening. But everyone makes mistakes.

The second story is about me at the homeless kids playtime thing and I gave my first time out. There was one little boy that I have been playing with and he is really cute but kind of wild. Anywho, he was being extra naughty on the last session and he threw chalk and ran out near the street where he wasn't supposed to and I realize that all of these times were opportunities for me to enforce the rules with timeout but I kept getting distracted because he would just go from one thing to another. So then during snack time he basically smashed his goldfish into a million pieces and then threw his napkin up into the air with the goldfish shards on it. At this point I was like...okay Megan....just do the time out thing. So I picked him up and said....so and so....you can't throw your snack and I told you not to so now you have to take a timeout. So I carried him over to the timeout chair and I was holding him under his arms and he started kicking his feet and expressing that he didn't want time out. I honestly didn't think it was going to work or that I could actually enforce a rule. But I sat him on the chair and I knelt down to his eye level and I said....so and so....you threw your snack and made a mess and we can't do that okay?....and so now you have to sit in time out because you broke a rule. And then I stood up and he just sat there. He didn't resist like I thought he would and he wouldn't look at me and didn't make eye contact. So I stood there and my internal dialogue was like....uh...what do I do now? So I was trying to think back to Nanny 911 and what she did and I couldn't remember how long you were supposed to leave them in timeout and I know that it is different based on the age of the child. I think it might have been a minute long and then at the end I knelt down and said....okay so and so....we don't throw our snack okay? You did a great job in time out but we don't want to come back here again right? I picked him up and put him on the ground and started walking to the room where the other kids were and I looked back and he just stood there and didn't move and looked at the ground with slumped shoulders and and sad face. And I was like...hey so and so... come on let's go play. And was smiling and like...time out is over come on. And then he got it and we went on playing for a little while. I was proud of my first time out experience. =) It wasn't so bad.

Yesterday I also went to see a play that my site supervisor starred in and it was so good! I thought she did such a great job. It was called the Bag Lady and it was this narrative about basically a homeless woman who talked to herself and was out of touch with reality. She actually reminded me a lot of Granny....but not entirely. One time when I was in Granny's house trying to clean I found three huge bags full of plastic bags. And I was like....do you really need all these Granny? I don't remember her answer but she kept them.

My goals today are to go to the Arlington Cemetery, see the Archives, and the American History Museum.

Anywho, that is all for now.

Megan