Oh, I'm ready for it, c'mon, bring it

The other day I posted in my personal blog about SOAP notes. I'm not exactly sure what they are; I think they are just notes on how a session with a client went, but as I have yet to have any clients, that particular mystery has yet to be revealed. I said I would keep the blog posted on if I ever found out what SOAP stood for, and Julianne replied with the obvious answer that it stood for Snakes On A Plane. The subject title is in honor of that. ;)
Yesterday I did my first three observation hours. I got lost getting there and getting home (in the dark, lolz), but my supervisor is an angel and talked me back to the right road, and I listened to the SOAP song and felt empowered. I observed 3 children. Child #1 had started therapy in August as a non-verbal child. I did not know this until after the session and I was really surprised, because Child #1 was talking up a storm! I thought he was just there for articulation, but man. Angelic Supervisor is a miracle-worker for sure. Child #2 had a cochlear implant. Very simply, cochlear implants can help some deaf children regain some measure of hearing. Child #2 had just discovered Star Wars and was extremely inquisitive, often interrupting Angelic Supervisor to ask questions about the toys they were using and activities they were doing or to tell her that he had recently acquired a Wookie. He was darling. Child #3 was the sister of Child #2. She was extremely animated; she talked with lots of inflection, facial expressions, and gestures. I was really hungry at this point, but she kept me amused by pointing out how her mispronunciations just "wouldn't make sense" and telling a very interesting story involving twins, triplets, a party, and a person in a wolf costume.
I love this. I really do. I feel like speech pathology is where God is calling me to be. I've got my Psychoeducational Assessment textbook open next to me right now, but it's so dry in comparison to all of the exciting linguistic wonders I've heard about in the past 24 hours that I just can't focus on it. Everything that I'm learning is coming together...at least for the moment. I hope this novelty doesn't wear off. I'll need the excitement to carry me through.