I Am Blessed For the Opportunity

This past week, at work, we received a new child. This child has down syndrome and has been in the small babies room since he was 6 weeks old. He is now almost 2 1/2 and is moving into our 12-18 month old room. I admit, I was terrified when I found out; not of him, but for fear I would do something wrong while being responsible for his care. I also, even though I am an education major and have had classes in special needs, I have never had a first-hand experience with a special needs child.

I never considered myself to hold the gift to work with children with special needs. I always admired those who do, but knew I wasn't someone cut out for it, but that all changed last week. I was determined to not be scared of this experience and to give it my all and I do.

This child is one of the most amazing, sweetest, little blessings I have ever met. He is loveable, and so so smart. There is already a special bond forming between us and it melts my heart. Today was one of those break-through days when I felt like the effort I have put into helping him out has paid off. The day started off like the last few days, he was sitting at the table with the older kids eating his breakfast. When I walked in, his face lit up and he was so excited to see me. He then ate a lot of his food, with minor help with controlling his utensils, by himself. The rest of the morning, he was active, happy, and all over the place, which for him, is sometimes tough as he gets tired easily. He remembered Patty-Cake (the song I've been working on with him) and climbed onto a stepping toy to look out of the window for 10 minutes or so. Later on, he then was trying to climb on everything, interacting with other children, and talking. He was so happy and full of life, it made my heart melt.

Then came nap time. He usually crawls right onto his caught and sleeps, but today, he was so happy he was crawling to other children's beds and patting their backs. He then crawled to me and got in my lap, where he fell asleep. Talk about melting the heart, that moment was it.

All in all, today was an amazing day and I was so happy and proud of him for the hard work and achievement he made today. I don't know hwy I was ever scared, because this is something I was meant to do; especially with someone so loving and full of happiness. I truly am so glad God put me in this position, pushed me out of my comfort zone, and knew I was the one for this job.

Hope everyone's week is going as blessed as mine; my heart has been so touched this week. It doesn't matter that I have been stressed with finances and bills, days like this are worth it.