A Change

Augustus was photography assistant during cabin pictures

On Sunday, Nanny Katie unexpectedly left camp. I’m very sad to see her go. We had a great routine and she was so great with the boys, and I hate change, so it’s a huge loss. Luckily I have the best staff who have all been quick to jump in and help, so there’s no shortage of love for the boys. I asked Xander who he wanted to hang out with on Sunday during camper check in and without hesitating, he said, “probably Leah” and luckily Leah was happy to help. Xander kept referring to her as his new nanny and I had to tell him that lots of staff will be hanging with him, not just Leah. We asked the whole staff who was willing to take nanny shifts and all of them said yes, many very eagerly, so that made me feel good. It’s hard to adjust- Katie has been here 3 years and I trusted her completely and she knew the boys so well, so this is a big change. Xander misses her already and has asked about her several times and that makes me sad too.

But we made it through Sunday and are back to a normal(ish) week of camp. Also, Xander’s favorite Mary (lead staff Mary, not counselor Mary- though she is wonderful too!) is back after a week away from camp. Last week, Xander asked me every day, “when’s my favorite Mary coming back?” and now she’s back and he couldn’t be happier! Every 5 minutes he says, “let’s go find Mary!” or “I need to show Mary something”.

Today started out rainy, so we skipped the dining hall and had breakfast and playtime until the rain stopped at 10. I worked and the boys played very nicely, but they managed to take out every single toy and the trailer looked like a toy explosion. But I was able to get a lot of work done, so I guess this is life without a nanny. Luckily Meghan took them for bit while I met with a kid who was having a panic attack, and then Mary had both of them in the camp store and there were other times through the day I handed them off to get things done without toddler assistants at my side.

This afternoon, I assigned Counselor Liv nanny shifts, so instead of teaching activities, she was with the boys. Well, actually she was just hanging out by herself because Augustus was asleep and Xander and I were out and about at camp. But it was good to be able to split up so Augustus could sleep and Xander could still be active.

Xander was very excited because he got a package in the mail from his friends at school! His class has a fun new project- it’s a stuffed pig named Kevin Bacon, who travels to each kid’s house and you take pictures of your adventures and put them into a book. Xander was SUPER into it! We took pictures all over camp and then we tie dyed a shirt for Kevin and later in the evening, he said, “maybe we need to take more pictures”. I think we’ll have to narrow it down when we make our book page because we have SO many pictures.

Augustus and I hung out while Xander worked in the camp store. Lately, he’s been really into going into Indian Point Lodge (which is basically a dark empty building), but it turns out this chair is sitting out and he loves it. Then he put on a show on the stage- dancing, guitar playing- my kids are performers!

Cool dudes in the camp store.

Tonight, Xander played Angels and Demons, but this time, he got to be a demon! That means, he got to chase the kids and tag the kids. When he returned home, he was very excited and proud of being a demon. He was happy he got to run with Leah and I was happy he still got to be out and about.

demon buddies hanging out