Wednesday was the last full day of Aunt Camp and I have to say I’m kind of sad to see it end.
I will also tell you that if you have a four year old, I highly recommend that you find yourself an almost twelve year old girl to assist you because Caroline read him a book and put Linc to bed while I cooked dinner last night. I’ve never felt less necessary in my life. She had it all under control.
And a few minutes after she tip-toed out and announced he was sound asleep, the loudest clap of thunder I have ever heard boomed right overhead and caused our fire alarm to go off. I went running into the bedroom expecting to see a crying, scared little boy and he was still completely sacked out. Which was just further confirmation that he’s his mother’s child. She can sleep through anything. When we were roommates in college, Gulley and I could have a whole houseful of people over after Jen went to bed and she would sleep right through all of it. Which is remarkable considering these get-togethers might have involved jello shots.
Of course I’m sure part of the reason he was so ready for bed was because he woke up at 5:45 again. This has really been the only downside of Aunt Camp and just comes with the territory. Although that’s easy for me to say because he was at Gulley’s house. Thursday morning will be my turn to deal with a 5:45 wake up call and I’m sure I’ll have some PTSD that will make me recall those days when Caroline used to wake up at 5:30 and I felt like we’d had a full day by 8:00 a.m.
Anyway, yesterday morning I took Caroline to soccer camp and then took Piper and Mabel for their inaugural visit to the new dog park in our neighborhood. I was a little nervous about it because I wasn’t sure how well they’d interact with other dogs, but they actually did great and thoroughly loved exploring a whole new space and making new friends and playing in the water.
Mabel even wrote about it when she got home.
The wind in my ears
Met a terrier today
Not sure he’s my type
After the dog park excursion, I dropped the girls at home and finished some things around here until it was time to go pick up Caroline. Then she and I picked up a tray of nuggets from Chick-Fil-A and brought them to Gulley’s house so we could all eat lunch before deciding on our plan for the afternoon. In case you’re wondering why we opted for the tray of nuggets, I will tell you it’s because Jackson has reached a point where he eats twenty-four nuggets all by himself and it’s just more economical to get the tray.
So everyone ate their lunch and then Gulley took the big kids to Target to pick up a few things while I took Linc back to my house to rest a little bit before we headed back to the pool. Piper and Mabel were so intrigued by this new little guy in our house and Piper in particular seemed to think he smelled delicious and I have my suspicions that she was waiting for an opportunity to grab Nothing from him and tear that stuffed dog to shreds. Linc told me, “My dad told me something VERY IMPORTANT. NEVER LOOK A DOG IN THE EYES.”
I texted that to Jen and she responded, “Well, he sure seems to be looking Piper right in the eyes.” To which I replied, “To be fair, he didn’t say he listened to what his dad said.” And, honestly, it does appear to be more of a side eye than a full on stare down.
Mabel wrote another haiku after seeing Linc.
Please make him go home
Wait, he just dropped a fruit snack
Maybe he can stay
Linc was so content to just watch a movie and give the dogs the side eye that it took some convincing to get him on board for an afternoon of swimming, but I won him over with the promise of some colored zinc on his face.
He was more than a little in love with himself and the finished result. In fact, he asked me if we could do his legs and arms too but I explained that sometimes less is more when it comes to colored sunscreen that will end up smeared all over the place.
We met Gulley and the big kids at the pool. Linc was pretty content to just stay in the baby pool and the kids would occasionally come around to see what he was doing.
At one point he wandered off to the playscape and then told us he’d made some delicious chicken noodle soup. It was essentially a plastic cup full of kiddie mulch but I pretended to take a bite or two and then Linc whispered to me, “Can I tell you something? There’s a kid who thinks this is a pirate ship but he doesn’t know it’s MY CAR” then looked at me with this expression like he couldn’t even believe some kid could be dumb enough to believe that playscape was a ship when it was clearly a car.
Gulley and I decided we should just feed him dinner there and ordered the chicken fingers he requested. Meanwhile, Caroline ordered the bean and cheese nachos which Linc sampled and then ultimately stole for himself. He said, “There is something DELICIOUS in these things.”
Yep. That’s called refried beans and cheese. Welcome to San Antonio.
And then Caroline and I brought him back to our house, got him bathed and in his jammies and then she read to him and had him sound asleep before I even knew what happened.
This is about an hour after he went to bed and had managed to work himself entirely off the mattress and onto the pillows I’d put on the floor. And he didn’t even stir when I moved him back on the mattress.
So tomorrow we’ll meet Jen and Aunt Camp will be officially over for this summer. And I have to say we’re a little sad about it. There’s something so sweet about really having the chance to get to know one of your best friend’s kids. And realizing that even though you knew you loved them because of who they belong to, you also actually just like them for the little unique person they are who reminds you so much of the person you originally loved.
As for closing ceremonies for Aunt Camp, it will involve Gulley and I sitting on my couch with a well-earned glass of wine (or three) tomorrow night.
