Neighborhood-Kids All Local. All for Kids. All the Time.

Joy is painfully shy - and first days are always the hardest. Aren't they for all of us? Day camp started this week, and I thought I did an OK job of preparation. We had a new "cool" bag, a new swimsuit, a new towel. Her name was written in everything. Lunch was all ready to go, with cheetos no less. We'd discussed where camp was going to be, who would be there, what the itinerary would be like... the more she knows ahead of time, the easier the transitions are.

We got there early Monday morning and sat on a bench so we could watch the kids and counselors while we scoped out the situation. Rock climbers over there. Wild boys over there. Oh, a group of shy looking girls hula hooping over there -- we eventually decided to introduce ourselves.

Everything seemed to be going OK, but then... I picked her up too early at the end of the day. The kids were all in the woods playing a hide-and-seek game, so a rowdy counselor had to call her name on the BULLHORN. Which basically describes Joy's worst nightmare. Then this morning, we were ONE MINUTE LATE getting to camp, and all the kids were sitting on the outdoor bleachers waiting for the morning skits to start. Facing us. As we were walking toward them. Which is actually probably worse than any nightmare she had thought of before, but she was too busy getting her little 7-year-old bottom into the bleachers to tell me what she thought of my scheduling abilities.

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Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

I know it's not a unique experience to me; being a mom who is experiencing her own growing pains as she watches her little girl grow up. But it doesn't seem to make it any easier.

Just over one year ago, Joy started kindergarten. Each day brought new anxieties about how school would start and end, and what would happen in the middle. Either her dad or I would walk her all the way to her classroom, and wait inside the room until the first bell rang and the teacher arrived. She was often ready with the "class teddy bear" for Joy to hold. There were days that Joy cried during lunchtime, saying she just wanted her mom. I thought my heart was going to break then.

And now, she's almost done with first grade. I drop her off outside of school, where her friends are waiting for her. And this morning, she forgot to give me a kiss as she passed - she had already seen her group of 3 little girl friends by the bike stands and was running towards them as she hollered back, "LOVE YOU TOO, MOM!"

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Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

I think that Joy has a really good vocabulary for a girl her age - largely because she bravely tries out new words that she doesn't totally understand, putting them in sentences to see how they work.

Last night as we were falling asleep (I should say, I was falling asleep and Joy was tossing and turning and asking for water and talking incessantly about anything she could come up with), Joy was digging for gold with her finger so far up her nose all you could see was her last knuckle.

I asked her, "Are you searching for treasure?"

"No, I'm trying to find my destiny."

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Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

Joy found this book at my parents' house called What is a mother - I think my mom must have gotten it as a gift about a hundred years ago. It's a little disturbing, and Joy has been reading it out loud and doesn't seem to be as worried about it as I am. She recently read this one to me:

A mother is a woman that God made. When a man goes out to work the mother stays home and cleans but if there was not a mother the man would have to stay home one part of the day.

I said, "Joy, is that how our family is?" "I dunno." "Well, do I stay home and clean during the day?" "I dunno."

Anyway, it was a real gem of a teachable moment - super educational. I think she's probably going to become a women's rights activist now.

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Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

I took a couple of days off for Joy's Spring Break this week, and took the girls down to Issaquah to visit my family. I've been looking forward to this for weeks and weeks. I've been excited about how great it's going to be to have a few days off. A va-ca-tion.

But here's what I found out. Even on vacation, I have kids. They just follow me around wherever I go, and they keep calling me "mom" or "mama" and they keep wanting food and sleep and other stuff. PLUS they get a little bit tired and crabby when they're off their usual schedules.

So... we DID have a great time. It was great to see grandma and grandpa, auntie and cousin. We got fed well (really well), filled our TV quota for the year, and had loads of fun. But next time I am expecting a va-ca-tion, I'll have to remember to bring a ba-by-sitter.

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You can read more about Syd’s adventures as a single mom at singlesupermama.com