Week 5 at Camp K: Kids week!

I had sooo much fun this week! We had the youngest batch of kids we've had yet and with a 3:1 ratio of campers to staff, I was lucky enough to have 3 campers this week! One of them was 14 year old K who only had slight autism, and this week I able to help her with several struggles that every teenage girl goes through. I was so proud of her this week; she told me on the first day of camp while we were setting goals that she's shy, and wanted to become more open at camp. She not only came out of her shell, she made so many new friends on her own and participated in every single activity! Then there was E, who was 13 with downs. She kind of spoke her own language, haha, but she was always laughing and would come and give me the sweetest hugs at the most random times! One time I was getting myself a bowl of cereal when someone wrapped their arms around my waist, and I turned around to find E there smiling up at me. Camp K appropriate: probably not. But so sweet! :) Then there was B, who had brain damage and rode around in a wheelchair though she could often walk short distances. She was nonverbal, but occasionally graced us with a big smile that warmed my heart every time I saw it. I absolutely loved my group of ladies this week! They were always making me laugh, and so patient with me while I helped B (my most physically demanding camper).
As usual, there were some great highlights of week 5 at camp! One of the girls in my group, H, was a wanderer that we were constantly chasing after, but we all loved her. Every night before bed, she would grab my hand and she'd take me outside so we could howl at the moon together, haha! We also had this cute little black boy, D, who walked up to the camp nurse one day, looked him straight in the eye (even though he was about a quarter of the nurse's size) and declared "You killed my father." I have no idea where that came from, but it was so funny I couldn't stop laughing! Then there was my camper, E, who was crying one day. When asked what was wrong, she pointed to the Michael Jackson shirt of the girl standing next to her and bawled "Michael Jackson's dead!" to which one of the other counselor's response was "Well, he's a legend." Then there was C, who loved me mostly because I let him play my ipod during nap time. At least five times a day, he came up to me and asked me what my name was. Every time, I was like "You know it, you tell me." and every single time, he somehow came up with a different name. "Um, Paul?"; "Rafiki?"; "Surgio?". Haha, not quite! Then I'd tell him my real name, but he never could remember it. Or the one camper, about 9 years old, who thought he was at boot camp and would often be found on the floor doing ridiculous amounts of push ups. I promise, that's not usually what we do at Camp K. It was pretty funny to watch though! Or the 2 little boys in our group who had crushes on me and loved to give me hugs and tell me I'm cute. Totally not appropriate, but still kind of cute =P I had so much fun with these kids this week, and they taught me so much! I can't wait for another week to start- teens with cognitive disabilities this week :) I love Camp K!

Me and K!

Me and C!

My group this week <3

My beautiful ladies!

Me and E!