Today was the first day of our second week of summer camp at the Jewish Community Centre. Sydney went to a week of camp at the beginning of July, so I naturally assumed that she would settle quickly into camp this time with the same counsellors and several of her buddies from preschool. I had visions of two and a half whole hours to myself to shop, maybe grab a coffee, enjoy the sun, read a newspaper. Nothing amazing, but oh so dreamy!
All of my plans for the day were quickly shelved when Sydney blew a gasket when I tried to leave the classroom today. She screamed and cried and was inconsolable for a good ten minutes. At one point I could hear her, all the way down the hall from my hiding spot, rattling the doors and screaming and crying at the top of her lungs: "Mommy, where are you?" Despite the lovely counsellor trying to cuddle, comfort and distract her, my poor child was a basket case.
So I went back to the classroom and held her trembling, sobbing little body against mine as she buried her tear stained, snot covered red little face into my shoulder. Once she calmed down, she had the best time at camp, played happily all day and would only glance up once and a while to make sure that I was still in the room.
She even said to me in the car on the way home, "Mommy, I want more camp tomorrow!" Funny. We'll see how this week goes. In my mind this is a trial run for preschool which will be starting in a few weeks. I'm praying that it isn't a super rough transition for her to go from spending full days with me to being at school five mornings a week. It is so hard on both of us to have these painful goodbyes, truth be told we both hate to be apart from the other, but it is a necessary part of growing up and I'm going to have to work through it with her.
She did end up making some very cool projects at the craft table this morning:
I have to say I felt a bit wiped after spending the morning in a class full of energetic two and three year olds. I seriously needed a nap after all that excitement!
We spent a quiet afternoon at home, well tried to make it quiet, but Syd seemed hellbent on making as much noise as possible and irritating me in any way she could. I was meant to go to the gym tonight, but by the time six o'clock rolled around, I looked at Paul and said: "How awful would it be if I blew off the gym tonight and went out for an hour or so to spend some time on my own." He shrugged his shoulders, smiled and said "Go!" And go I did. I went for a walk by the water, had a falafel, ran a couple of errands and came back a new woman an hour later. Amazing what a little break can do for one's soul.
Ironically, after such an exhausting day with Syd, I started reading the most amazing parenting book last night that my friend Kim recommended to me, called "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee." It is written by a child psychiatrist who, through her own experiences in being a Mother, re-discovering Judaism, and seeing countless numbers of families that needed her help in her practice, wrote the most amazing book with lessons for parents. I am a few chapters in and my highlighter is already almost dried out! Well worth the time to read for all those parents out there, it really challenges my way of thinking and parenting!
So, tomorrow is a fresh day and it will undoubtedly be filled with it's own adventures, but for now I'm sipping my cup of tea, taking a few deep breaths and enjoying this peace filled moment.
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