1st week

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So its true: the "Terrible 2s" do exist and man are they crazy little buggers! Now I am used to working long shifts and I am used to working with kids, just not 8 hours with 14 two year olds. Man they are very entertaining but I was exhausted after my first day. Yesterday was my first day at the centre and I was supposed to be a shadow. But of course after about an two hours I was thrown the gist of things. Actually one of the very first things I got to do was file an incident report because I was the only that witnessed one child bite another and it left a nice indentation. The kids are reaching an age where sharing is a newly encouraged action but one that is still quite hard to follow. This has lead to lots of toy stealing followed by loud screaming. So most of the past two days have been hugging kids after they fell or their toy was stolen and telling kids to be nice to their friends. Also one of the most common phrases I have had to use in the past two days is "Feet Belong on the Floor," and " Its ok, we'll make it better." Although the kids can be chaotic most of the day they are super cute and always want to give hugs or have you read them a story. These parts of the day help to overcome all the screaming and hitting that occurs. Oh today was amusing cos we did an activity where the kids "milked" a cow. We had a cow puppet with a glove filled with white liquid that the kids pulled on like they were milking a cow and made a picture out of it. The kids found this activity to be hilarious and just loved to pull on the fingers of the glove and then burst out laughing when something came out.

Other highlights of the past two days is that yesterday Jessie (the other intern) and I went to the Commisary for just a couple of things. Well, we decided since we were there we might as well make a big shopping trip out of it. We ended filling up a cart full of groceries before we realized that we had to carry these back to our dorm across base. Lucky for us though, the store let us take the shopping cart with us. So here we were pushing our cart full of groceries across base. All I've got to say is that I wish I would have had my camera to take a picture of us. We even were fortunate enough to only get a few strange looks.

Well only one more day of working this week! Our leader is nice enough to take us on a day trip to Bury Saint Edmounds ( a larger city near the base) on friday. Im looking forward to that and our trip to London this weekend!

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Comments

[Caroline]

i like to bite...
Ab Sounds like you are off to a fun trip... oh boy 2 year olds!! From what you said it sounds like you are perfect for the job when it comes to kids needing hugs and words of encouragement that is definitely your specialty! Oh something I just thought of... maybe you will meet a military man and have a passionate "foreign" romance. you could write a book, or a country song about it! xo chica

[Carrie]

oh you are so right 2's are fun! I know the kids will love you as much as the little boys here do! Have fun in London and don't get into to much trouble!!

[Jana]

Hi Abbi
Sounds like you are having fun....thinking of you with all those kids!! Have a great weekend. Girls are having friends over to go to the football game tomorrow night. Went out for a b-day supper last night for Keith. He turns the big 40 on Saturday, but we both work. G'ma Barb came too, but G'pa is hunting in southern Iowa. See ya.... Jana