The Kidling at Outdoor Discovery Camp, part deux

Day 4

The Kidling: (yelling to me) NEVER EAT SOGGY WAFFLES!

The Mama: Um… Okay. I won’t.

The Kidling: No! North, East, South, West! Never Eat Soggy Waffles.

 

The Kidling at Outdoor Discovery Camp

Day 3 (Yes, I missed days 1 and 2. Sue me)

“We went geocaching, but the geos weren’t geodes.”

frenemy #1

We had a play date with the neighbors at the pool a few weeks ago. As we were getting ready to leave, The Kidling spotted a girl she knew from her summer program. Her face lit up in recognition and delight at seeing an unexpected playmate at the pool. She enthusiastically shouted the girl’s name and ran over to the fence to chat with her: “Ellllllla! Ellllllllllllllllllllla! Hi, Ella! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Hi, Ella!”

Ella* is, of course, the very same girl who is the topic of this conversation I had with The Kidling mid-summer:

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The Kidling was telling me about her friends at camp, and as a nosy good mother, I want to know more about her life than she offers. I ask about her activities, her teachers, her friends… in particular, about one friend with whom she had not been getting along. I’m not dumb enough to think she needs to be everyone’s bestie, but because she is an only child, I feel a need to ensure she is handling her strong emotions with her peers appropriately. So I asked how she was handling this particular monster child. How does she handle the situations? What does she do? So she told me.

“I approximately don’t do just anything. We’re kind of mean to each other. We don’t get along too well. I don’t know how to explain it.”

I decided to change the subject, and asked The Kidling who her favorite friend in her summer program was. She told me instead that, “Ella is my last favorite because we argue.”

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Remember how excited she was to see her “last favorite” friend at the beginning of this story? That’s right. The Kidling has her first frenemy.

Lord help me.

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* Not her real name. But you probably knew that.

sage advice

The Kidling recently finished up her year at pre-school. Graduated, if you will. This, of course, means that we had to figure out what to do with her over the summer. Alas, the local before and after school program (hereinafter BASP) saved our ass(es).

BASP is unlike anything The Kidling has previously experienced. Every day they do some fun and exciting activity. Every. Single. Day. She started on Monday and has been having the time of her tiny life. The first three days of this week have brought us:

Monday: A minor league baseball game.
Tuesday: A picnic downtown and trip to the library with her very own library card.*
Wednesday: Hours and hours at a local swimming pool.

Needless to say,** The Kidling has been thrilled and exhausted. That didn’t stop me from taking her to gymnastics yesterday, but whatever. I am a terrible mother.

On the way to said gymnastics class, Alice and I chatted about all of the fun things she did at the pool. It was heartwarming to hear about her adventure with the big kids. Then…

Alice: When I was floating in the swimming pool, all of a sudden I had to pee.

The Mama: What did you do?

Alice: I peed in the water (giggles).

The Mama: (unsuccessfully attempts to hide the horror) Oh! Next time, see if you can make it to the toilet.

Alice: (ignores The Mama) After I was peeing in the water, a little while later, I saw someone scooping a little thing and then drink the water.

The Mama: (gasps) Oh no! That’s why you don’t want to pee in the water, or drink the water.

Alice: Yeah. Because you don’t know who peed and who drinked.

Wiser words were never spoken.

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** AKA, Kidling nirvana.
** Notice that I said it anyway? Sometimes I can’t help myself.