Mommy and Me

When I agreed to work at camp this summer by big fear was Matthew. Will he run away and get lost in the woods? Will I find enough to do with him? Will he have fun? What would I do with him if there was an emergency?

Well, my fears were completely unfounded. Yes, my boy ran a lot. He seemed to know to stay away from the dense forest that bordered the camp property, though. A few times he got quite far away from me but there was always a camper or counsellor willing to round him up and herd him back to me. Everyone loved him. He could run right into to the middle of a soccer game in progress and steal the ball and people would just giggle and then invite him into the game. The boys played basketball with him. The girls invited him to the end of camp dance. He had a friend in the kitchen who would sneak him cake. Thankfully, I never had to find out what would happen if an emergency came up.

He figured out my supply drawer and would hand a camper a bandaid when they came to my cabin for attention (even if all they needed was a Tums or meds for a headache)

He slept three hours every afternoon--running all day will do that to a guy!

It rained quite a bit at camp. This did not stop us from having fun. Matthew had his favourite puddles that he would visit and gleefully splash in. Since I am not new to the camp nurse gig, I knew to pack three pairs of shoes so he would always have a dry pair. The lake blew his mind. Swimmer's Itch was alive and well in the lake while we were there, so I kept him out of the water but he spent a lot of time standing on the camp's pier tossing rocks in the water. We made sand castles under the volleyball net.

I loved being able to have one on one time with him--he loved having an entire camp wrapped around his finger. He cried when I packed up his bed on the last day and loaded him into our car.

We were invited back. I really hope we can go again next year.