Almost Wordless Wednesday...

Of course, as has become my tradition I have to add some words.  How do you get a bunch of 6-8 year olds to voluntarily clean up trails & a lakeside beach?  Why give them cool tools of course. These grabbers on a stick worked wonders (arrows point to the "tools"). We nearly had a knock-down-drag-out fight over who gets to use the 'tools' vs.who holds the bag for the garbage.  The boys started cleaning up nature too (pine cones, pine needles, sand, sticks) because anything you can pick up on a grabber on a stick, well that's just cool.

So as far as this week, not that I post much anyway, I am working hard as a den leader at my son's Cub Scout day camp. More fascinating is that there are 3 boys (including my son) with Asperger's Syndrome. One is more social, more outgoing, no gaze issues but more obsessive-compulsive and attention problems. The other is more like my son. I paired my son with A, and this boy is truly a special child. I made certain to tell his mother (and his grandfather who was our token male for half the week), I ended up triple buddying these two with the other child with Asperger's (the one more like my son). A is an angel. He knows just how to get these two engaged. They laugh & play while swimming. A makes sure the other 2 don't wander off & keep up with the den. A knows how to make them laugh. Both my son and child #2 have become more social. Son & child #2 have been more verbal. Son & Child #2 now sit with the group for Lunch (with A between them). Most interesting by the 2nd day, Child #2 & my son both started volunteering for activities. Child #2 got a bulls eye in archery yesterday. My son scored a bullseye today. Child #2 has improved in BB shooting, and my son qualified as an "expert marksman" by score. I proudly told Child#2 how much her son has changed. I told her he's started volunteering for events (this morning he proudly held the flag for opening ceremonies) and he is generally always smiling. Mom was happy and turned to see her son smiling and trying to patiently wait to tell her all about his day. It turns out that A goes to school with child #2. A has been an angel in disguise for child #2 in the past.  Knowing exactly what she goes through, I knew how much the comments about her son's verbal volunteering, positive attitude and awesome social skills development would mean to her.

The best comment from A's mom was, you know I always knew he was a special child. He was just born that way. I told her A was born with a halo on his head.  Thanks for stopping by..