My little camper!

On Monday (gee, I'm still that far behind) Tyler was due to start "preschool camp". I was very nervous, because Tyler had made it clear a few times that he did NOT want to go, and I'm sure you all remember how poorly preschool went at the beginning of this year. On top of that, he was sleep deprived, and hadn't even had a chance to acclimate to being in NJ. I literally woke him up an hour before camp was due to start (after having been placed in his bed, asleep, less than 9 hours prior to that) and let him play for a few minutes and got him ready. I hadn't yet completely decided how I was going to handle things if he cried and/or refused to stay there.

So we (my dad, Tyler, and myself) went to the school, which I excitedly told Tyler that myself, daddy, all of his aunts/uncles, and his grandparents had attended. He seemed un-phased. Rather, he just seemed scared. We brought him in, all the while he's asking why we can't stay there and telling us that he didn't want to go. He did agree to go in and he got involved somewhat in a coloring activity. Meanwhile I realized that paperwork had arrived at my parents (which my dad hadn't noticed) so I sent my dad back to the house to get the paperwork to fill out while I stayed on the sidelines (as were some other parents). He kept looking anxiously in my direction and a few times cried, but he held out. Lo and behold, when my dad arrived with the paperwork, I started to cross the classroom to meet him (so that he would not disturb the class and/or Tyler) and Tyler noticed me walking away, waved goodbye, and yelled "bye Mommy". I took that as my cue and head home!

Now "preschool camp" is only 2 hours long, but it's amazing what you can accomplish in 2 hours when you aren't dealing with lugging kids in/out of car seats, helping someone cut food, or any of the other various things that we, as parents, do on a regular basis. I know you are probably wondering why I never really realized this when Tyler was attending preschool this past year, but I think I was SOOOO sick that I never really appreciated it.

So my dad and I went to pick him up at the end of the day, and he was grinning ear to ear. He proudly announced "I didn't' cry. Not even a little bit." and rattled off this huge list of fun things they had done that day. Success!

From there my dad and I took him over to Walmart to eat lunch at the McDonald's, buy nighttime pull-ups and let him pick out a "big boy backpack" to bring to camp. Stinkin' Walmart did not have a single "themed" or otherwise child-like backpack in stock. He was very disappointed. At least he happily settled for bringing my backpack (the one I bring when I travel on planes while having to lug a car seat and a child), despite the fact that it's huge on him. LOL.

We got a surprise call from my mom (she had been attending a conference in Washington D.C. for the past week) that she was coming home early, so we rushed to ready things for a little birthday party (a day late) in her honor. When we got home Tyler was sooooooo happy to see her. My brother Chris and my grandparents came over and we enjoyed a pizza dinner together before celebrating with cake and ice cream. I'm pretty sure Tyler thought this party was all for him.