On_Call
New Member
Tonight we were invited to joing difficult child's ESY program at camp - they've been there since Tuesday and will come home tomorrow. I went in to work an hour early and worked through my lunch so that husband could pick me up at 2:30 to make the 90 minute trip to camp with easy child in tow.
Got there on time and I have to say that I was so nervous. I posted most recently (maybe even this morning) that when difficult child is independent of our 'family unit' that he seems to loose all control of his behavior - either being extremely silly or childish to the extreme of being borderline manic and running around or making tremendously rude comments. I totally expected to run into that difficult child when we got there.
Imagine my surprise to find a totally appropriate kid at camp. When we got there, he was swimming - totally awesome beach. Teacher said he had been doing great - took a swim test to see if he could kayak - and passed - and did kayak this afternoon!! Also, he reported that difficult child was the first one ready for their daily 5-mile hike - and that he never complained once about the heat and/or bugs. He didn't have his glasses on in the water, so he didn't even see us for more than 10 minutes. easy child and I took our shoes off and waded in and I just watched him. He was playing with the other kids - it was so nice to see!! When he finally did realize we were there, he came out smiling and greeted us - telling us all about the kayaking.
AND, after our very impressive, totally delicious turkey dinner (with-all the trimmings), the campers put on a patriotic production telling the story of our flag evolving over the years. difficult child had a huge part - he was George Washington - and he was amazing!!
He then told us to sit down - and brought us some dessert. Who is this kid??? We were there all in all about 2-1/2 hours.
When we said our goodbyes, he was off to the archery range - he was being treated to a lesson by the man who runs the camp because he showed a good attitude over the course of the camping stay.
Seriously, <u>who is this kid </u> ???
It was so, so nice to just see him "be". I can't really put it into words, but I know that here with this group, I don't have to. You KNOW how I am feeling. I am going to bed tonight with a very happy Mommy heart. :smile:
Got there on time and I have to say that I was so nervous. I posted most recently (maybe even this morning) that when difficult child is independent of our 'family unit' that he seems to loose all control of his behavior - either being extremely silly or childish to the extreme of being borderline manic and running around or making tremendously rude comments. I totally expected to run into that difficult child when we got there.
Imagine my surprise to find a totally appropriate kid at camp. When we got there, he was swimming - totally awesome beach. Teacher said he had been doing great - took a swim test to see if he could kayak - and passed - and did kayak this afternoon!! Also, he reported that difficult child was the first one ready for their daily 5-mile hike - and that he never complained once about the heat and/or bugs. He didn't have his glasses on in the water, so he didn't even see us for more than 10 minutes. easy child and I took our shoes off and waded in and I just watched him. He was playing with the other kids - it was so nice to see!! When he finally did realize we were there, he came out smiling and greeted us - telling us all about the kayaking.
AND, after our very impressive, totally delicious turkey dinner (with-all the trimmings), the campers put on a patriotic production telling the story of our flag evolving over the years. difficult child had a huge part - he was George Washington - and he was amazing!!
He then told us to sit down - and brought us some dessert. Who is this kid??? We were there all in all about 2-1/2 hours.
When we said our goodbyes, he was off to the archery range - he was being treated to a lesson by the man who runs the camp because he showed a good attitude over the course of the camping stay.
Seriously, <u>who is this kid </u> ???
It was so, so nice to just see him "be". I can't really put it into words, but I know that here with this group, I don't have to. You KNOW how I am feeling. I am going to bed tonight with a very happy Mommy heart. :smile: