Training session one

In the end my catastrophic planning turned out to be just fine. Love it when it works out that way... So we arrived and Bentley got to spend an hour playing on various activities to give the counselors practice. He climbed the climbing wall, played on the trampoline with the harness - played catch- built a tower and just laughed and laughed. 

Then we had dinner and then a session.

During the session Naomi asked me several questions about Bentley and his life - totally started crying- blah. ;) she asked about what it was like to send him to camp last summer - how did I feel etc... And I was explaining the difficulty of wanting my child to do exactly as the other kids but knowing he can't- and while I know and believe that it's ok to be this way- it's still painful. 

The counselors had all kinds of questions:

How has having Bentley changed your belief about god? Has it changed?

Were you scared to have more kids?

What motivates Bentley? 

Did you know he had Down syndrome? 

Have you had negative interactions with friends or family?

What's the greatest challenge?

How do his siblings handle it?

How do you discipline him?

How do you talk to other kids about his differences and needs?

And on and on....

I was impressed with all their questions. I answered them as truthfully and bodly as I could. 

I started thinking about his birth and 3 of our friends who were special needs counselors at this camp showed up the day he was born to hold and celebrate this new life. I think much of their ability to welcome him so fully and openly and genuinely was because they were counselors here. 

After the session I watched Bentley laugh and run through the grass for 45 min with several counselors. Such a blessing.