Successful day camp!

Yesterday Angie had her first day camp at Gymboree. This momentous event marks the first time in her life that Angie has gone anywhere without me, Chas, or another relative. Miss Kelly has had Angie in her Gymboree classes since Angie was fourteen and a half months old, so perhaps to Angie it was still like being with family.

Chas took her there, of course, and told her that she was going to play with Miss Kelly for a few hours and that she (Angie) need to listen to what Miss Kelly said. Angie said, "Okay!" and took off. Chas called after her, "Can I at least have a hug?" and Angie ran back for a hug, then raced away again.

As requested, after Kelly shut the door to the small music/art room, Chas waited a few minutes, ears carefully tuned to catching any wails from our beloved child. The other mothers, however, bolted out the door, grasping their few precious hours of freedom as quickly as possible. No cries heard, Chas sauntered off to enjoy some wi-fi at the local Panera.

He returned just to see Angie dashing through the gate, looking around for him. Kelly reported that Angie did very well. A few times she wandered off on her own, but she returned immediately upon Kelly's request. She brought home her Doctor's briefcase (made out of construction paper and labeled "Doctor Angie") which contained some of her art, and another piece of fine Angie art.

I spoke to Kelly later and learned just a bit more about Angie and the class. The kids do art for an hour, then have a half an hour for a snack, then they finish with a music hour. During the last five minutes the parents can come in to see what the kids were doing. Since we didn't know about the parents came in at the end, Chas missed that part. He told me later that he would adjust his timing so he returned a few minutes early and could see what Angie did that day.

Kelly also told me that after the snack, one or two of the kids had to go potty, and as is typical of three to five year olds, suddenly they all "had" to go. Angie refused to go with the Assistant Melissa and insisted that "Mrs Kelly" take her. Of course, she didn't actually need to go potty.

In the Music Class that night, Angie was very clingy for the first half of the class. She sat on my lap, snuggled close next to me, stretched across my legs and just generally ensured that I was near her. I know that was simply part of her reassuring herself that we would be sticking around after she spent the afternoon without us and I had expected that sort of reaction. But no tears, and no hysterics so I think we've timed things out fairly well for helping Angie adjust to being away from us.

We are hoping that they will have another drop off class during the week so that we can continue the preparation for kindergarten next fall. We may put her in a pre-school in the winter, but we haven't completely decided.

I think that this is the last year for Angie in Gymboree. I think enrollment ends when she turns five. It will be a bittersweet moment for me when this ends. I think that Angie will miss it terribly. She loves the music class and she loves her teachers. I think this has been very good for her.

Maybe we'll start with the Fine Arts Association after this ends. I know they have classes for five years and older.