Happy Camper!

We dropped off Madalynn this afternoon at her first by-herself, away-from-home camp ever! She is spending 6 days and 5 nights Little Galilee church camp, near Clinton, IL. Little Galilee is only 20 minutes from our house, but a sleep-over next door can SEEM far away when you're 10...or when you're a mother of a 10-year-old going to camp for the first time.

Maddie has been SO excited for this week for about a month, since she brought the camp information form home from church. She has been dreaming and wondering about the friends she'll meet, sleeping on the top bunk, and what camp food would taste like. She read and re-read the information form that was sent about preparing for camp.

The funniest thing ever is when she started fretting about how she was going to go a week without shaving her legs. I looked at her kind of funny and said, "You can just take your shaving cream and razor to camp and do it there. Church camp has showers, Maddie." She responded, "I know they have showers, Mom. It just says in the guidelines that you can't shave your hair." I assured her that didn't mean your leg hair or armpit hair. I read the guidelines again to see where she was getting this idea. Guideline #11 says, "Campers may not alter their looks by shaving or dying their hair, piercing body parts, etc." I just chuckled to myself. I am glad Maddie's innocence reads this guideline to include her leg hair! She packed her razor and shaving cream, but because Mom MUST be interpreting the guidelines too loosely, she will probably not use them just to be sure she's not breaking the guidelines.

Packing was a 2-day, shopping-trip-required ordeal. I took her to the Tanger Outlet mall yesterday in Tuscola, IL, to help her find a few more pairs of shorts that fit her growing little figure. We showed up to the outlet mall with detailed list in-hand, thanks to Maddie's preparedness. We hit a couple stores, found what we needed, and the packing quest continued at home today. Travis finally (5 minutes after we were supposed to be on the road) told her that she needed to zip her backpack and not bring anything else. Then he looked at me and asked, "Did you ever bring this much stuff to church camp? I just looked at him and smiled, "You betcha, Babe. Did you?" "Not even close," he said, laughing. "Not even close."

We were 10 minutes early for registration. Even after quickly signing in, driving to her cabin and unloading, and walking through her cabin's door, the bunks were filling up quickly!

I encouraged her to attend "Jr. Main Camp," because it included air-conditioning, even though the rugged "Wilderness Camp" was tempting her. I encouraged her to choose the most-like-home route because of my first experience at camp, which I'll write about later. Keep in mind that Madalynn has given up softball because it's too hot outside, and wants to do swim team instead. Swimming, she deduced, was one of the only sports (she knows of, anyway), that don't require her to sweat and deal with the heat. Ha!

The age group of her camp is 5th grade to 8th grade. She didn't say so, but I could tell she was scanning for girls who looked her age when the girls we first encountered looked like 8th-graders! Travis helped her pick a top bunk by some girls he could tell were her age. Later he confessed that he helped her find and gravitate toward her own age group was to, "keep the boys away." :)

We helped her get her things situated in her little corner of the room, then the boys and Travis headed outside with Jillian while I waited for Maddie to get her swimsuit on. The girls who had been there before were wasting no time in heading down out the door to the pool, which is right in front of her cabin.

The name of her cabin is "Love." I'm thinking the cabins were named, "Love," "Joy," "Peace," and "Patience." I think the cabins named "Peace" and "Patience" were appropriately assigned to the boys.

We all gave her lots of love before we left. Justis refused to hug or kiss her, but that's about par for the course. That's his way of declaring his love for Big Sister. I gave her one last hug and kiss and then she turned and went inside to meet the strangers, whom she will be able to tell me all about in about a week, to go to the pool.

I think I may have saw her eyes water up as she hurried away. By the time we had driven around camp getting a look before we left, we drove by the pool again and saw Maddie happily chatting with the girls as they walked in the pool entrance. She's gonna have LOTS of fun this week!

Bird Seed or Breast?

I stopped in front of our sliding glass doors in the living room yesterday to take a look at the squirrel who was lying flat on its stomach. We feed the birds and squirrels from a feeder on the top rail of our deck that is directly in front of our big ol' hickory tree. The squirrel was positioned directly beside the feeder, lying flat out on its stomach, hugging the rail with its little squirrel feet.

"What is wrong with this squirrel?" I thought. We are constantly enjoying the variety of birds and squirrel circus, but I have never seen this kind of behavior from a squirrel before. I started getting concerned. "Is it dying?" "Is it having trouble walking?" Then I saw another, smaller squirrel, bobbing on another branch, to the wind blowing through the trees. Then I got to thinking, "That selfish squirrel is hoarding food and guarding the feeder so the birds and other squirrels don't get any!" "Selfish squirrel!" I thought, as I went on with my housework.

Maddie stopped me as I was coming through the living room later on that afternoon. "Mom!" she said. "I think there is something wrong with that squirrel. He has been laying there like that for 30 minutes, and it won't move." I looked out again and saw the selfish squirrel lying flat on its stomach again, guarding the feeder. And, again, another smaller squirrel was bobbing on a tree branch, waiting its turn at the feeder.

Then I felt it. A feeling only a mother who has ever just wanted to be left alone feels. You know, moms, that feeling that if anyone else touches you, you're gonna lose it? You just need a bathroom break behind a closed door so no one can "help" you, talk to you, tattle, or need something?

I started watching the "selfish squirrel" through new eyes. I looked. Sure enough, it was a mama squirrel. We had seen the little baby squirrels on the first day they ventured out of their nest onto the bobbing branches of the hickory tree. They had slipped, jumped, fallen, and hung on for dear life, as they learned to navigate the tree branches.

Selfish Squirrel's barely-visible little breasts were carefully concealed against the rail as she laid flat-out across it, gripping the sides for dear life. Suddenly "Selfish Squirrel" became "Wise Mama Squirrel". Wise Mama Squirrel just wanted to be left alone. She did not want to be touched. She did not want to offer another one of her breasts to her adolescent "baby" squirrels. She was weaning them!

I looked over at the little squirrel, bobbing on the branch, patiently waiting for mom to move just enough that it could sneak a suck at her breast. Mama wasn't going anywhere, though. It was a battle of time and of wills. Would Wise Mama Squirrel be able to lay and wait out her child's hunger pangs? Or would the patient, hungry little squirrel get her to relent.

I called the kids over, told them what was happening, and we watched.

The little squirrel, sure enough, came over, sniffing and nudging Wise Mama Squirrels tummy, looking for its snack. Wise Mama Squirrel just flattened out further, to say, "No!" The little squirrel finally stepped right on top of Wise Mama Squirrel and found himself sitting in the bird feeder. At first little squirrel just sat there. Wise Mama Squirrel laid there, patiently waiting. Little squirrel started playing and sifting through the bird seed mix. Finally, little squirrel picked up a shelled nut, tried it, and had some more. Wise Mama Squirrel just stayed, statue-like, while her child ate "real food."