Day 4 - The patience that I so desperately asked for yesterday is wearing thin as I lay here observing a 4-legged daddy-long-legs spider traverse the screening of my tent.
Ewww…..
My leg itches and I am beginning to tire of having this over-sized welt on my thigh. We are past the halfway point and yet home still seems so far away.
Sean is now over by the fire pit with the rest of the boys. They are taking a refresher course of fire safety. I’m hoping he’s listening….
Today he made good progress towards completing his merit badges. He finished the shooting part of the shotgun badge. He destroyed 12 out of the 15 clay pigeons whipped into the air. Sean is quite the amazing shot!
I guided him from place to place, nagging when I needed to, and trying to be clearer with my instructions.
I’ve had to learn to slow down out here when it comes to doing things with Sean. At home he at least has a set routine that he can fall back upon if he forgets what I’ve told him. But here, if I tell him to brush his teeth it’s not as simple as going into the bathroom. He has to find the toothbrush and toothpaste. He has to fill the water bottle. Then after he brushes he has more to clean up and put away than simply tossing his brush aside and turning off the water.
Everything here is ten steps more than it is at home. I also have to be careful in how I phrase things.
What once was, “Change your shirt and get your shoes on,” is now “Go to my tent. Get your shirt. Put it on.”
Shoes can’t even come into the picture until the shirt is taken care of.
I have to make sure I have his attention before giving any kind of instruction and also speak very slowly and concisely.
It’s so much different from home where Sean and I shared a type of communication that was based on short commands and revolved around a schedule.
I miss the “brush and flush” of home….
As I have adapted my interactions with Sean, he has been less prone to show his annoyance with me. He’s also voicing his desire to have free time instead of working on merit badges. I’m alright with that for now as long as it doesn’t jeopardize him finishing his badge work by Friday.
I can only surmise that the nag in me will be out in full force tomorrow….
Overall, Sean is doing wonderfully. Even if he doesn’t finish his badges due to him wanting instead to mess around with his fellow scouts… Well, that’s not a bad thing entirely. Think about it…
Sean is making strides towards building friendships. He’s learning how to interact. And, in ways, the kids are learning about him.
Just now, one of the older scouts in charge asked the boys why they paid more attention to the girl giving the fire presentation than they do to their leaders.
Sean shouted out, “Because she’s a girl.”
The kid has impeccable timing. You have to respect that.
There is not a friendship merit badge but if there were, then I think I could honestly say that Sean was making progress on earning that one as well.
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