Email from YMCA Day Camp

Henry has thoroughly enjoyed the last two weeks at Day Camp. I was a little worried about sending him to the Lake Norman YMCA for the summer... something new always makes me very nervous. The first thing he said to me when I picked him up after his first day was "Mommy, I love summer camp" and every morning, he is beyond excited to go! I can't tell you how happy (and relieved) I was!!

Three days ago, I received the following email from the Camp CoOrdinator:

Dear Ms. James,

At the YMCA camp, I've asked all the counselors to choose one camper who stands out above the rest. This is always a hard decision to make since all children are special and unique in their own way. However, Stumpy, Henry's counselor, stated that she chose Henry. She stated that Henry always follows directions and is respectful on field trips. Not only is he a born leader, he always has such a great attitude about everything. Please let him know how proud we are of him.

I am not sure who was more excited and proud to read this email - me/Brad or Henry! I have an amazing child!!

An amazing child whose had a rough 3 days... Henry had his tonsils out on Friday and watching your sweet child suffer is just heart breaking... waking up from anesthesia is very difficult for a child. They are disoriented, in pain, crying - he was begging for medicine and telling the nurses they were destroying his life. I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry! He's spent most of the last few days on my lap and you can see him in pain when he swallows.

I hope he is feeling better by July 4th - as we are off to Rochester for the week!

Catching Up

I haven't found the time to blog in a while... busy week at the James house, combined with a little cold I caught. Side note on my cold - after 3 days of feeling like poo, I went to the RN, who informed me that she couldn't give me an antibiotic because I didn't have symptoms for 7 days. That's just an FYI because I didn't know that...

Anyway, last Sunday was Father's Day. We had a very low key day - mostly because it was like 85 degrees out. Brad made his own Father's Day breakfast, but that was after opening gifts & cards that I let the children pick out all on their own. Kyra chose to give him a Dora the Explorer card & salad spinner. Henry gave him a panini grill and chose a card that had a button in it that read "I'm the Boss" and when you opened the card, it said, "Don't forget to give this button back to mom tomorrow" under which Henry wrote "This is silly. Keep the button." I almost peed my pants I laughed so hard.

The kids held a party in Henry's room later that day - Brad and I spent an hour crammed in there playing made up games, watching Kyra dance and watching Jedi Light Saber training seminars.

Special thanks to a certain teacher who dipped Kyra's hands in green paint when she was 1 year old & made the shirt Brad wore last week.

Last Day of School

I can't believe tomorrow is Henry's last day of KDG.  I remember writing a post before his first day of school - stressed about what I'd packed in his lunch, worried about how he'd do, worried about what his teacher would be like, still worried that we should have sent him to private school instead of public.  I worked from home that first day, so that I had plenty of time to walk him in and pick him up early.  It is amazing how fast this school year has gone by, how much he's grown, how much smarter he is now then he was then (and I didn't think that was even possible).

Henry was IN LOVE with his Pre K teacher.  She was his babysitter when he was an infant - we followed her to a second daycare even!  I remember how sad I was at Pre K graduation - she was moving to Chicago and Henry wouldn't see her anymore.  I didn't think anyone could take her place.

Then KDG started and Henry spent all of his days with Ms. Fentress and Ms. Floto.  They've been so wonderful to him - accepting his quirks, appreciating his personality, admiring & encouraging his work..... and again I find myself believing that no one will ever take their place... but secretly praying that someone will.

Because I want each year to be better than the one before... so good bye KDG...

Hello Summer Camp... of course, I need more water bottles and sun screen... does Henry have enough light colored t-shirts?  He isn't a good swimmer - will they watch him?  What about his ear plugs?

Always something new for a mother to worry about, huh?

Recital

So I know I have complained A LOT about the money I paid for the costumes, but it was totally worth it!  Recital was a huge success!  At the end, each girl received a medal, engraved with her name on it - Kyra thought that was the best part!

I'm not sure if we'll do dance again next fall... we might move on to gymnastics, as Kyra's interest in dance seemed to wain towards then end... of course, that was before the recital.  Regardless of whatever extracurricular activity is in her future, I'll always have the memory of this first dance recital!

Rehearsal

Today was the rehearsal for Kyra's first dance recital.  I'm still not sure how I feel about this dance class - I paid a fortune for the costumes, which I think are a bit risque for a 3 year old, and she didn't really learn much.

However, if she isn't the CUTEST child in a costume, I do not know who is!!!!!

The green / pink outfit is ballet and the cat costume (complete with fish net stocking, ears & a tail) is for tap.  Only one other mother agreed to pay the fortune requested, thus only two of them are dancing from the Saturday class.

This last picture is Kyra in her car seat, once we got home from rehearsal!

End of Year Party

Today was Henry's end of year party at school.  This is his wonderful teacher Ms. Fentress...

It seemed like only yesterday that we received the letter from school that told us Henry's very first teacher would be Ms. Fentress...  I remember crying over that silly letter!  How could I have known how wonderful she'd be... that she'd love Henry almost as much as I do and take such an interest in his learning!  We will miss her so much!

Hard to believe... Class of 2021.

This is Ms. Floto...

She probably does love Henry as much as me and was very eager to dance with him!

I can't believe his first year of elementary school is over in just 4 more days... he's been counting down for about a month now.  Until that point, when we talked about leaving KDG, he'd get rather upset - the fear of the unknown and all.  Since turning 6 however, he has suddenly informed me that he is ready for 1st grade... I hope I am.

Thomas the Train

Peer pressure is a tough thing... and oddly, one we've already seen in our house.  It was about 2 and 1/2 years ago.  We had moved the kids to a new daycare (School 4) and Henry was in the preschool class, which at the time, consisted of 3, 4 and 5 year olds.  

He was only 3 at that time and IN LOVE with Thomas the Train!  I still remember the very first Thomas toys I bought him - Percy and the Tidmouth Shed.  I had no idea how much time he'd spend with those trains.  For the next two years, the trains, tracks, books, DVDs, games, PJs and t-shirts - we had everything Thomas (and I mean every train they made!) and Henry enjoyed every minute of it!

When he moved to preschool, the older boys weren't in to Thomas... they liked SuperHeros and slowly but surely, Henry's interest in Thomas faded.  First he refused to wear the t-shirts, then stopped playing with the trains.  When he told me he didn't like Thomas anymore, I was crushed.  Not because of all the money I spent, I'd definitely gotten my money out of it, but a piece of his childhood was ending... he was growing up and moving on and that made me sad.  Brad then gave all our Thomas treasures to his friend, for their little boy to use.... and Thomas was gone.

Not long after that, I bought Henry a Spiderman t-shirt - only because it was on sale mind you.  When I showed it to him, he said, "Oh good.  Now I can play with Jeffrey & Ethan."  That is when I knew!  Peer pressure in preschool!  

I was OUTRAGED... mostly by the fact that some child would not play with my precious cherub simply because of the shirt he wore!  How dare they!  I secretly vowed some type of revenge on those boys, although I didn't even know who they were as I did not have drop off or pick up duties.  I do feel like a lion when it comes to my cubs... perhaps that is why I ran to the computer and surfed the net until I was able to purchase 2 more Spiderman t-shirts & a sweatshirt?!?  

I felt bad for Henry though, that he gave up something he really liked, to hang out with the cool kids... and then that "feeling bad" turned to worry... peer pressure in preschool?  Seriously?  I mean today Thomas but in a few years, drugs?  Brad of course, thought I had lost my ever lovin' mind!

Which is why I am so glad that the kids recently found a Thomas matching game in the play room...  

We have had to play at least 2-3 games every night before bed... and when I was able to DVR an episode of Thomas from TV, well I was a hero!  The kids loved it and suddenly, all they both could talk about was Thomas!  That's when I knew we needed to get our trains back from Brad's friend... I should be embarrassed about that right?  Taking back my things?  I actually was only for a minute - I mean even if the kids weren't suddenly mad over Thomas, these were toys I'd have to keep forever... such a big part of his childhood that I could never have 'given' away... merely loaned out.  I'm right on this right?  

The trains were delivered this past Saturday and you would have thought it was Christmas!  I overheard Henry say, "I love these trains!"  You would not believe how excited they have been - even Kyra knows who all the trains are!  They both play with the trains as soon as they wake up, before they go to bed, and almost all day in between!

I'm secretly glad that Thomas is back... I've really missed him.