One of those 'Ah ha' days...

In my line of work those 'ah ha' days are what keep us going. Those days when something happens to remind you of why you drag your ass out of bed everyday to come to work, when you could easily be somewhere else making 3X the money for half as much effort. We had one of those days today. And to anyone else, these 4 little moments we had today would mean very little, but to me and the ladies I work with, it is these little moments that make it all worth while. What happened? 1st, we had one little boy ride a tricycle halfway across our little play area COMPLETELY BY HIMSELF. Doesn't sound like much? Well I have personally been working on this goal with him for almost 2 years! So hell yes, it is a big frickin' deal! 2nd... the same kid was playing with a toy and dropped the car that goes with it. It rolled under his chair, partially out of sight. He couldn't find it so I said *insert name here* LOOK and pointed to the car. (Normally this very normal exchange would result in absolutely nothing) but today he actually followed my finger to see where I was pointing and went to pick the car up! I was stoked! 3rd... at lunch a coworker and I were discussing something that had happened with another kid while we fed them and when we stopped talking he looked up and looked around with a very normal and sheepish 'whaaat?' I cracked up. It was so unexpected and so blatantly normal that it made my heart skip a beat. 4th... two days in a row now I've had one kid look at me and make direct eye contact and babble something. His little brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to make me understand. Really TRYING to talk to me. It simultaneously made my heart hurt that I couldn't understand what he wanted to to tell me and made me want to shout with joy that he was actually trying to communicate. So yes, today was chock full of Ah-ha moments.

To those of you who made it all the way through thanks for reading. I know it doesn't mean much to anyone else, but for everyone who asks how I can do what I do... it's these little moments, the proof that they are learning and growing, that keep me going.