Preschool Summer Camp

After a rocky start, the week of Mason's first preschool summer camp experience has so far been a screaming success. He began the four-week (of which I only signed him up for two), themed camp this past Monday. He will go this week and next, Monday through Thursday from 9am to noon. This week's theme? ART! He has been making things each day so I can't wait to see his backpack when he brings it home tomorrow! Next week's theme is cooking, so that should be interesting. He loves it, but it didn't start out so smooth.
I took a half day of vacation Monday a.m. and Brian went into work late so we could all go to Mason's first day of camp. It's been a year since he has been in a daycare situation with kids his own age, so I was skeptical of how things would shake out. Brian and I had been prepping him for weeks on how this was going to go down. We take you to school, drop you off, you play with some new buddies, then we come to pick you up. All this was met with a hearty, "YA!!" Well, when the four of us pulled into the parking lot, you could see the thoughts swirling in his cute little head. Just before we got out to go in he asked (with a concerned look on his face) "Are you guys gonna stay with me?" I replied, "No, Buddy; remember? We're gonna drop you off and pick you up later. You'll have fun!" The walk to the door was long and to the classroom even longer. They had tables set up with crayons and paper and a lot of the kids were sitting coloring. We guided him toward a chair and he sat quietly...hands in his lap. He got up and said, "Bye, Mommy" I thought, GREAT! This is gonna be easier than I thought! As I knelt down to give him a big hug and smooch I realized he was getting big tears welling up in his eyes. Then came the part that ripped my heart right out. He said, "Mommy, don't leave me!" He cried and cried. When he did this at daycare my M.O. was always to get the heck outta Dodge because I knew the sooner I left, the sooner he would get over my leaving and get on with his day. Now, all the while he is begging us not to leave him, Maddie has climbed up in a chair at the table and begun coloring. She at one point turned to me, waved, and said, "Bye, Mommy!" Could these two be any different?? I grabbed her up and headed out the door. After a few more encouraging words from Daddy, Mase was set to start his first day. By the time Lisa, Maddie and I got there to pick him up he was running around playing with the other kids. When I asked him if he had fun, he said, "YA!" And, if he wanted to go back tomorrow, he said, "YA!" Each day after when Lisa dropped him off he was ready to go and have fun at camp.
SUCCESS!
Here are a few pics of his first day!