The News From Camp

All in all, we are having a great time!

Calliope was having a really hard time with separation at first. Her first few mornings of daycamp, the counselors ended up bringing her back after an hour or two because she wouldn't stop crying. I felt guilty for everyone -- bad for these teens, kids, really, who were trying so hard to help Calliope, and bad for Calliope who was so miserable. And a little bit guilty for my own job, because having her with me the rest of the day wasn't ideal. Luckily, she often requested "carrier? carrier?" so i could tie her to my back, keeping her little hands away from bags of pills, while keeping her happy and close to me.

But finally her naps started to get longer, from one hours back to her regular two hours, and she started to sleep later in the mornings, more like 8 am instead of 7 (at home she sleeps roughly 7-7 but at camp it is becoming 8-8 because dinner is so much later here than at home). And suddenly, the separations are much easier. She cries for a few seconds, but that is it. Phew.

It's so funny to leave my 11:15 am meeting and come to the dining hall to find her eating lunch with the rest of the faculty children. There's one little girl a few months younger than her but she is physically the smallest by quite a bit. She's more reserved than I'm used to, but clearly doing fine... until she sees me. Then her whole face lights up and she reaches her arms out joyously and my gleeful girl is back.

Progress at the pool has been slower than I expected. She loved swimming lessons as an infant, and she's not scared of having her hair washed, so I figured she'd be eager to get in the water.

Not so much. She's mostly been hanging out on the pool steps, and shying away from me when I hold out my arms to her. I'm not pressuring her, even though I feel a little impatient. Today that seemed to pay off -- suddenly she was much more willing to come into the pool with me. We did many rounds of increasingly daring Motorboat Motorboat Go So Slow and a couple of rounds of Humpty Dumpty Sat On a Wall, and even blew some bubbles on the water. She also tried to blow some bubbles on the concrete pool deck, as was undeterred by her lack of success.

Tonight I took my first evening off and we went out for dinner to a local place that has picnic benches outside (as well as an ice cream stand) and chickens and goats, plus a train shaped climbing area for kids. It was fantastic to get away for a little while and Calliope greatly enjoyed her first ice cream cone. (Score one for Mommy remembering to bring the bib!).

Checking out a chicken. 

Later she tried to pet it but the chicken wasn't interested in that plan.

First ice cream cone. 

She wouldn't eat the cone -- seemed bothered by the idea that one

might eat one's "dish." Otherwise, it was a huge hit.