I've heard kids are cute, but....

Sooooo I started my 2nd to the last clinical this week. That means that in 15 weeks from now I will be done with PT SChool!!! Yahoooo!

This first clinical I'm working with kids 0-3 years old in the homes and with special ed. kids in the school. I've learned a lot already in just my 4 days on the job: (Uh, note: when i say "job" it's not really a job, the only pay i receive is in the form of experience. however, experience doesn't pay my baby's daycare ya know? :) }

1. kids with special needs require extra special care. I've met a lot who get neglected at home. It's super sad.

2. If you hear your work talking about having "reflective supervision" meetings: run. run for the hills! My first day I spent an hour, sitting in a circle with all women, minus my instructor who is a 6'3'', 300lb man, talking about our feelings and what we did over the Christmas break. There was no escape! Even I had to talk, despite the fact that I had just met my instructor 30 minutes prior and knew no one else!

3. If you see a drooling toddler running for you: make any attempt you can to get out of the way: we saw a kid that was slightly hypotonic. (Brief lesson: all of our muscles have "tone" however when there is not enough tone, or too much tone, it can cause some problems) anyways, kids with low tone have a tendency to drool, a lot! So this 2 year old kid with drool all over their mouth and chest (they were just in a diaper) came running at me full throttle as I was sitting on the floor at their house. What was I to do? Where was I to go? I was all by myself! They flailed their arms wide and gave me a huge hug (sweet) and gave me a huge open-mouth kiss on the cheek (not-so-sweet) and managed to COVER my hair and face with drool. Little kid drool. As if that wasn't enough, this kid came in for a second hug attack FROM BEHIND and managed to get the rest of my hair soaked with drool. Not-so-awesome. If that kid wasn't adorable and so freakin' happy (also if the mom hadn't been sitting right there) I would have been mad. But you can't make an "ewwww" face and wipe yourself when the mother is watching everything.

4. I've learned that pediatrics probably isn't for me... I know, it's only been a week, but i have a feeling. we'll see. it's good though, it's kind of like cutting your hair to see if it looks good short. The only way you'll know is if you actually do it, so just go for it. So, I'm trying it.

Boston is one of the cities I'm considering moving to. If you've ever been there, let me know what ya think.