Beautiful Babies. Family Fun.

Last week I worked in the Baby Room all week!! I really enjoyed it. The Baby Room is occupied by infants ranging from 6 to 18 months. The ratio is 4 babies per 1 staff member, and the floor space is licensed for 8 babies (aka. bebbies) so I worked alongside my coworker Marlie, because her usual partner in crime was on vacation (to Ontario, go figure!). During the week I experienced and learned a lot about the first year-ish of life, changed a LOT of diapers, cuddled with some sick babies, and got to know my coworker Marlie quite well. I also gained a whole knew respect for Marlie and Sarah (the usual baby room staff), and anyone working with babies for that matter, on Wednesday morning when Meghan (another summer student) and I were left to hold down the fort as Marlie attended a dentist appointment. Let me tell you...it was not pretty! Meghan and I unsuccessfully attempted to master the flow of routine in the baby room...unfortunately what came of it was a lot of spills and bumping and untimely eating. The babies survived no worse for the wear...although Meghan and I were a bit frazzled. It was a great week overall and marked the first for many experiences in my life, including being vomitted upon in a projectile manner(It was quite the unexpected escapade! I took one for the team to save a mom from going to work in barf-covered clothing...no harm was done and my coworkers affirmed that I would be stronger for it...it served as the joke of the day and I definetely felt like the rookie! :) I certainly feel equipped to handle my responsibilities in the church nursery now!
The Baby Room is exciting to be a part of because of the unique developmental milestones you get to observe. For example, Jordan started walking this past week! It was so cool to be a part of this stage in her life. I also love watching how their sounds, words and eventually vocabularies progress and grow. (I know, I'm a CYF nerd!) The babies and I have become good friends, I love being a familiar face that they greet warmly and I'm convinced by some of their dispositions that if they were 19 years older we would be good friends.

This week I have been floating in between rooms as needed which has been nice because I've got to spend time with a bunch of different kids and teachers. One thing that I and Veronika have noticed while working is that there are certain YMCA-isms, which I shall share with you. These are phrases that are used with the kids, either in disciplining them or just random conversation, that we found surprising to hear when we arrived, but they're actually effective with the kids!...the names are used randomly:

• "No Justin, that's George's work, go find some new work." - they refer to what the child is doing, no matter what it may be - whether colouring or playing with blocks - as "work"...at first I thought that this was strange but I've learned that it's quite effective because all of the kids know what it means right away without having to be wordy.
• "Put your words (and/or sillies) away friends!" - used usually before lunch or when standing in line to leave...whenever the children's undivided attention is needed.
  
• They used the word "body" a lot, in ways that we would think sound silly, but to kids it clearly articulates what needs to be done/what has happened. For example: Saying "Calm your body" when a child is crying, it makes more sense to them then "calm down" because, well, where is "down" anyway? Other examples are "You just hurt Grace's body" or "You need to move your body!"(made famous by Yvonne when telling children they need to hurry up :)
• "Red light friends!" - when children need to stop what they are doing.
• "No thank you" - a phrase children are equipped with early in their speech to let their friends know they don't like what their doing instead of having a temper tantrum/hitting them.
• "UH OH Louis, you should not being doing that. " - said in a serious tone to emphasize the seriousness of the situation.
• "DANGER Ava, come off that table." - similar to above.

This is daycare lingo!.....and inside the walls of daycare, everyone is called "friend" and smothered with lots of hugs and kisses.

(This past week...)While floating in between classrooms, filling in where needed and doing random tasks (fixing fences and filling sandboxes), in short fulfilling my task as summer student, I've enjoyed getting to know the kids and staff better. I'm finding that I enjoy my time more now that I'm used to the routine(it's very stressful to go into a classroom unguided when you're not sure of their activities or the norm of structure/discipline, etc.). My coworker Yvonne is very grateful that we ( the summer students) have all come out of our shells and are willing to be crazy, an attribute necessary to survive in the world of daycare! My coworkers have become my third family (the other C4C students I'm here with would have to take second place, we've grown a lot together and are living in very close quarters)....I feel really blessed to be working with the lovely ladies at the centre. They've taught me a lot about loving (kids, and each other!), forgiveness and the importance of team unity. Walking into working everyday I feel surrounded by friends, which is comforting and doesn't really make it feel like work at all! I am very thankful for my job, the great opportunities it's providing me with, and the joy it's added to my summer. Praise God!

I've also gotten quite a bit of sun this summer, which has been nice, as we take the kids on outings daily as long as the weather permits. (Friday I went with the Rompers to the Museum of Natural History...who would think that I'd get paid to do touristy things?!) Pictured are some photos from our trip to the Public Gardens with the Rompers(2-3 yrs.) and Juniors(3-4 yrs.). These beautiful children bless my every day!



























My Family visited this past weekend!!

Last weekend Mom, Dad and Kelsey came and explored Halifax. We endeavoured in lots of fun adventures while they were here! They were able to visit my workplace which was nice as well ( ya know...introduce one family to the other!) Friday afterwork we went on the Harbour Hopper which was a fun and informative way to explore Halifax. The Harbour Hopper is a land/water amphibious vehicle that was used by the U.S. in the war (I don't recall which one exactly) to carry troops from the water to the land - Some people from Halifax bought three of them for 1.5 million dollars, repainted them and added seats...and now they're giving tours of the city and harbourfront! The tour was an hour long, about half in the water and half touring around the city. We were able to see and learn about the sites and sounds of Halifax. I especially appreciated learning about how the city was formed and the defining day of the Halifax Explosion. We also learned that the building I work in is environmentally friendly: There are pipes that reach down to the deepest, coldest water of the harbour and pump it back to cool the building. They save $40 000 in air conditioning every year!

On Saturday we roadtripped to Peggy's Cove, Lunenburg and Mahone's Bay. Although Kelsey and I's initial perspective of Peggy's Cove was skewed due to the carsickness we were suffering from, we couldn't help but awe at the beauty of the view. In the quaint village of Lunenburg (home of the Bluenose!) we ate ice cream while sitting on the pier, basking in the unexpected but appreciated good weather. It was nice to get out and experience some of Nova Scotia's beauty outside of Halifax.

the pictures: Kelsey and I on the dock in Lunenburg; Kels, Ma, Pops and I at Point Pleasant Park Sunday afternoon after relaxing and napping next to the ocean(this activity is a favourite pasttime my friends and I here; Point Pleasant Park is beautiful and close by. On the particular Sunday we were there, there was a "Dog Jog", so Kelsey enjoyed watching all the dogs.).


All is well here in Halifax, the weather is beautiful! I'm looking forward to participating in Canada Day festitivities this weekend and attending The Tattoo ( a large multicultural concert) this upcoming week...to be posted about at a later date!