Apple Orchard

Yesterday was Erica's class trip to the apple orchard. Except for the part in the apple barn where the kids had to go through a narrow door and up 3 steps to an observation platform by the conveyor belt, the wheelchair handled the terrain very well. The kids got a free sample of cider, they got a small bag to fill with Jonathan apples and were allowed to pick one more to eat after their bags were filled. I'm amazed, actually, that Erica has never taken this field trip before. Preschool and kindergarten classes all over central Ohio make the pilgrimmage to Lynd's Fruit Farm (the largest apple orchard in Ohio with over 75,000 trees) but somehow her class never went until this year. We've been to the pumpkin patch before as a family, but I really do love the apples :) Now to try my hand at my mom's unbeatable pie crust while I still have my neighbor's peeler/corer/slicer on loan!

What if...?

Erica has a one-to-one aide at school, which enables her to be in a regular classroom. The aide fills out a daily report for me, and one of the sections I put on it is "interactions with classmates today." Today's entry warms my heart, so I thought I would share it. Here are excerpts:

T. checked us in...K. helped move chairs in the bathroom and washed her hands next to Erica, chatting with her...D. & J. & A. were literally climbing over each other to push her chair (at lunch)... we went outside and there were so many kids crowded around her that I heard a kid walk up and ask "what happened?"... T. & S. argued about who would bring her inside. I find the whole thing pretty funny - what if all people fought about was who could be a better helper for someone?

What if, indeed?