Back From Camp

Kayla recently returned home from her second sleep-away camp and both were a big success. Almost too much of a success!

On my way to pick her up from her first camp I imagined that she wouldn't be happy to see me at all. What with her reaction upon my returning with her sneakers the day I dropped her off? I thought for sure she would say that she didn't want to go home.

Instead I was pleasantly surprised when I received this greeting:

"MOM! MOM! MOM!" screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran all the way to me with arms opened wide and then gave me a big, tight, lingering hug. I guess she missed me after all.

And then that was short-lived.

She fell asleep on the way home. Just over an hour later she woke up, disoriented, and said, "Where we going now?" Me, "Home." K, "No!" Then she fell back to sleep for about 5 more minutes.

Woke up and said, "Mom?" Me, "What Kayla?" "I want to go back to camp." she managed to get out before the tears. "I want to go back to camp now." And then she sobbed. And sobbed.

She refused to get out of the truck when we got home. Wouldn't give Joe or Lucas a hug after I finally managed to carry her inside.

Lucas tried to cheer her up to no avail. She was despondent. She kept saying she wanted to go back to camp now.

I thought a good night sleep would help and she would be back to her usual perky self in the morning.

Not so much. 

When she woke up she stayed in her bed crying about wanting to go to camp and see all her friends. 

I told her we had to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and take Lucas to VBS and then she had to help me get some things at the store.

When we returned home I sent her upstairs to get her glasses that she left on her dresser. She never came back downstairs. She stayed in her crying off and on for about 2 hrs. I could hear dresser drawers open and close. I could hear her talking to herself. I knew I had to let her work it out for herself, because up until then she didn't want any comforting. 

When it was time to get Lucas I went upstairs to find Kayla back in her pjs and in bed. She had also repacked her suitcase - she put all the contents of her pajama/socks/underwear drawers in her suitcase.

It took about 1/2 a day before she finally was more like herself and she went outside to play with Lucas. 

I'm glad she had such a great, fun, amazing time at camp, but wow! Emotional overload!

She did better coming home from her second camp though. Maybe she was resigned to the fact that she was going to come home whether she wanted to or not! Or maybe it was because this camp was only 3 nights away. Joe said she was a little sad and quiet on the way home, but it was nothing like when she came home the first time.

I'm so glad she had the opportunity to attend both of these camps and have a little bit of 'amazing' built in to her summer!

 

Off to Camp

Kayla is now at her first sleep-away summer camp! I don't ever remember going to a sleep-away summer camp when I was growing up. Either the opportunity was never there, or it wasn't something that was thought of for us to go to during the summer. So I have no experience or memories to look back on for how it must be to attend an away-camp.

This camp is for 5 nights and 6 days. I'll miss being able to tell her goodnight every night, but I imagine that Kayla is fully enjoying herself!

She enjoys going to hotels and looks forward to swimming in the hotel pool. This camp takes the kids to the pool two times a day. She'll be thrilled with that opportunity!

The morning we took her to camp she was up bright and early; as per usual for her! It was around 615. She came downstairs, fully dressed, and I heard her open the closet door. She was getting out her shoes. She was ready to go. This, despite the fact that the rest of us were clearly still in bed and not the least bit ready to go anywhere.

I mumbled to her that it was only 640 and not time to go anywhere. "What about camp?" was her reply. Soon, Kayla, soon, just not now. I convinced her to snuggle in our bed and she was obviously still tired as she fell asleep within a few minutes.


When we pulled into the parking lot of the camp; hadn't even parked yet, she excitedly yelled, "Bye Mom! Bye Dad! Bye Lucas!" as if we were just going to let her hop out of the van and then be on her way!


No qualms from her whatsoever about us leaving her there.

It probably helped that her BFF was also at camp. In the same cabin. They were going to get to spend a whole week together along with another girl they both know.

Funny story: When we arrived at camp I realized I forgot to pack her sneakers (I just knew I was going to forget something!). Thankfully there is a town about 15 minutes away so we found a shoe store and bought her some sneakers. We returned to camp to drop them off. I was walking towards the dining hall where they had just finished lunch, but Kayla was already outside with her counselor (the singing was too loud for her). Her counselor pointed me out and Kayla's face immediately fell. She held on to her counselor's arms and I could hear her say, "I don't want to go home!" She was not happy to see me. Poor girl thought I was coming back to get her before even spending one night there! I assured her I was just bringing her some sneakers and she could stay.

I'm so excited for her to have this experience; I just wish I would be able to hear more about her time there. While she will be able to tell me about it, it will probably be limited in information.


It's definitely quiet around here. And Lucas obviously misses her as the next morning after drop-off the first thing he said after we were all out of bed was, "Now what?" Ha! He didn't have his playmate with him.

This is just another step towards independence and letting go ... for her and for me!