Camp Makes All The Difference

First there was one child and then there were two.  One child is busy, two children are busier still and two toddlers with lots of energy are sometimes exhaustingly busy.  But then came school and for three hours every weekday morning there was one less toddler to chase.  Then the second toddler was accepted to school at an unexpectedly young age and there was time in the daylight hours with zero children to chase and you could catch your breath and even catch up on a few things.

But school had to end at some point and it did just as summer was arriving.  What?  You mean I have to chase these highly active children the entire day now?  Where are those three hours I had busily filled up with school volunteer work and other things?  I needed those hours of freedom without children in order to get the day's work done.  But there was no school for the children to go to.

For three weeks, three long weeks, I had children all day long.  How do mothers do this all the time with more than two, sometimes a full gaggle of children every day?  How do day care providers do this every day without turning to substances like heavy caffeine intake to make it through the day?  And yet people do it all the time and many even thrive in that environment.

And then came summer camp.  Summer camp is just like school from my perspective:  three hours of the day without children.  Summer camp is my savior.  My children love it and I can get everything done so that I can focus on them for the remainder of the day and hopefully make their afternoons interesting and mentally stimulating.

Summer camp saved me.

The Big Boy Update:  Pool wary.  He's better at the pool, but he's not as much of a daredevil as he was before he jumped in that one day earlier in the summer.  We're working him into blowing bubbles and kicking but he's more cautious now than he was before.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "Walk away!"  She just started to say this yesterday.  Her brother has been saying it constantly for months, but she hasn't used the phrase until now.  And boy has she picked it up.  She is using it constantly, trying it on and working it into her vocabulary with enthusiasm.  The first time she used it was yesterday when I asked her if she needed help getting out of her car seat.  She said, "no" and when I asked her a second time she smiled, waved me off and said, "walk away" in the sweetest little girl voice. 

Someone Once Said:   That’s why I bought the first round. The party never gets smaller.