Firsts

My job often finds me performing tasks that I never imagined would happen at a work place. Today was just one of those days, though not unusual for Lois T. Murray (my school). A little background. One of my students, Adelaida, came in last week with matted, slightly greasy hair. We decided to brush it out and braid it. On Monday, she came in with the same braids. Her father reported that her mother was out of town for the next two weeks and he had NO IDEA what to do with Adelaida's hair. So he left the braids. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Same braids. Thursday afternoon we resolved to wash her hair and rebraid it if she came in on Friday with the same do. This morning, in walks Adelaida--same braids. I had come prepared--Shampoo and conditioner in one hand, towels in the other. Amanda, my coworker, and I trudged off to the bathroom, Adelaida and supplies in hand. Our bathrooms are all equipped with tubs, how convenient for us!

Adelaida started laughing as soon as she saw the water running. Little did I know that the laughing was simply mocking! She undressed and then we put her in the tub. SHe loved the water. She splashed, swam, and laughed some more. Then came the hard part. Washing her hair. A little girl of six, with downs and a will like none other, is not an easy client! She started laughing louder, and darting around, and standing up, and pushing us away, and resisting in whatever way she could. It took both Amanda and me to hold her down, put shampoo in, and rinse. All the while she is wiggling and laughing. After shampoo, she needed more shampoo. Why??? So we went through the process again. This time, we tried to trick her. We'd start to dump water on the back of her hair, then we'd sneak around the front and get her! She would laugh and then stand up, attempting to get out of the tub. Shampoo out, on to conditioner. She loved having her hair rubbed, but hated rinsing. Surprise! When it was time to rinse, Adelaida practically jumped out of the tub. Seriously. She stood up and attempted to lunge toward Amanda. Luckily, we were semi-prepared for any such attempts. We were able to calm her down and gently push her back into the tub. By the end of our hairwashing adventure, Amanda and I were just as wet as Adelaida. We finally got the job finished, no less than 45 minutes later. I now understand why her dad didn't even pretend that he would take care of her hair! I should have taken a lesson from the pro and stayed way from the bathtub!

Bathtubs and all, I can say that my job is an adventure. I never know what new "mommy" duties I will be performing. Maybe next week I will get to wipe some snotty noses or even some stinky rears. But I pray that Adelaida's mom returns soon!