We went to Pacifica to the beach, but unlike all the previous times, this time we went south:
We met a lot of animals, starfish and hermit crabs in tide pools, friendly dogs, cats, and more exotically, llamas and ostriches (not pictured).
Leilani immediately spotted the pirate flag:
This flower is called “Farewell to Spring” or less poetic “Clarkia Amoena”
In the end we played in the sand and found pretty rocks.
Screams echoed through the summer-camp transformed Coyote Point Museum… I had been forewarned by other parents about separation anxiety, and also, after they fired Leilani’s initial teacher at Glen Oaks Montessori, Leilani had a few days of drop-of-fear, but there were kids clinging to mom’s legs, screaming kids and way too many parents still there… but I’ll start at the beginning:
Leilani had been very quiet on the drive to her first day of summer camp, I turned around several times to make sure she was OK (and not asleep) she pretended to be very busy with her breakfast pizza* and gave a brave smile when I talked to her. When we got out of the car I realized she had really eaten all of the 2 slizes of x-large pizza. She walked very slowly across the parking lot to the entrance, basically I had to drag her, and barley greeted the cheerful camp-leaders welcoming us. Maybe she could hear the “No, no, don’t leave me!!!” screams already…
A teenager was appointed to lead us to the right camp, and she happily told us that she had been coming here all her life, and how much we’d love the camp. But by now I could hear the screams too. And saw the clingy kids. I signed Leilani in, and worried… “You won’t do that, right?” I asked in German looking at the terrified kids. “Nein” answered Leilani with a very little voice. She looked around – so many activities, kids and toys. She carried her backpack to the right place and came back to me. “Can I leave?” I asked. “Yes” she replied much more confident, kissed me, ran off and didn’t even look back at me.
Her level of independence and self confidence really surprises me. Our parenting philosophy that included attachment parenting and co-sleeping and extended nursing, promised well adjusted self confident and independent kids, and it seems Dr Sears was right about that…
* The choice for breakfast had been cake leftover** from the party, or yoghurt with cereal, but Leilani knew the big pizza box was still in the fridge…
** Friday the day before her summer party 10 additional people RSVP’d bringing up the total to 38, we ordered a lot more food, but I think at no time did we have more than 20 people, half of the food we took home, fortunately we had a lot of good stuff like veggies and salad and fruit that got eaten soon, and Leilani and Andy are bravely working on the pizza and cake…
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