Day Camp

Addie went to summer camp this week. It was only for 2 hours each morning. There were a lot more day camp opportunities but I chose to sign her up only for this one week. Each day had its own theme:

Medieval Monday:
-color a picture: use Addie's favorite color since purple is a roayl color
-make a shiny vest/piece of armor from a brown bag and aluminum foil
-wrap a pea start in wet paper towel (there were no grocery stores back then, they had to grow their own food)

Transportation Tuesday:
-make homemade bar soap with a truck in the middle
-coloring picture

Wild & Wacky Wednesday
-flubber
-oobleck

Thrilling Thursday (sports theme)
-"egg" hunt (eggs are color & shape of sports balls)
-coloring picture

Fearless Friday (superhero)
-wear a costume if you like
-make homemade soap again with random toy in the middle (Addie's is a little rubber ducky)
-superhero stickers
-decorate an eye mask so you can go incognito (holy cow, I spelled that correct on the first try!)

I was not sure how Addie would do, if she would cling to me or what. She was a little shy at first but at the end of the week she knew some of the kids names and was much more interactive with them. On more than one day the teacher commented on how she was such a pleasure to have in class and how sweet of a girl she is. Music to a mothers ears of course! After class today Addie told me that she had lots of fun and that she wanted to do it again next summer. (and Etta said "me too?!)

Each time I dropped off and picked up Addie, Etta went through predictable phases. She would want to be carried out of the car and down the stairs into the building. She would cry and fuss if I did not carry her. Once inside the room she would say "me, Etta?" and would try to blend in with the big kids in hopes that she could stay. This often resulted in the teacher saying how cute she was and giving her a sticker of some sort. Again she would want to be carried to the car. When we returned 2 hours later she would want to be carried inside. She would wander the room a bit, checking things out to see what fun she missed out on and mingling with the big kids. Again she might get a coloring page or eye mask. Then she would have no problem going up all the stairs on her own because all the big kids were doing it.

Having Addie in day camp did make me think of all the little and big ways she will be apart from me as she grows older: kindergarten, sleepovers, summer camp (week long!), etc. But thankfully she still likes to say that she wants to live with us all her life even when she is a grown-up. So clearly she is not in a big hurry to distance herself from me. And although it was nice to have 2 hours where I did not have to worry about the girls bickering with each other, it was also very clear that Etta missed Addie. For example, we were lucky enough to score a big car-shaped shopping card at the grocery store and Etta would point to the other seat in it and say "Addie".