It's a question I didn't think I needed to ask, but I guess I do because the answer was "yes".
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Review of Camp Mommy
Back in this post, I pre-worried about planned for Star's weeks off from preschool. Here's how it went.
Week 1 - Jewish camp in the morning. The camp itself was fine - not spectacular and not horrible. Truth be told, it wasn't even a camp. It was just their normal preschool which Star joined for a week. I liked that Star got a bit of Jewish exposure here. The other main positive to this week was that Star did great in an unfamiliar environment. If there was an activity or a game she wanted to join in, she would observe for a bit and then find a way in. She would introduce herself to other people. I was so impressed with her social skills.
There were a bunch of not good things about this week.
On Wednesday, we drove off to Los Angeles. We stayed with cousins and Star got along wonderfully with her cousin who is 6 months younger than she is. One day, Star and her cousin went to the cousin's day care together, and I took Scott to Orange County so he could see where I grew up. The next day all six of us went to Disneyland. This wouldn't have been our top choice, but our cousin is currently working at ABC so he gets free tickets. The day after that, we went to breakfast with a Junior High/High School friend of mine and her family, and then went to the LA County Museum of Art with our cousins - the picture here is of Star and her cousin doing some watercolor painting at this museum. It was a good trip.
Now, we're back to the work full time juggling madness. Camp Mommy was an overall success - I'll change some things up for 2014, but I'm looking forward to Camp Mommy Year 2.
Week 1 - Jewish camp in the morning. The camp itself was fine - not spectacular and not horrible. Truth be told, it wasn't even a camp. It was just their normal preschool which Star joined for a week. I liked that Star got a bit of Jewish exposure here. The other main positive to this week was that Star did great in an unfamiliar environment. If there was an activity or a game she wanted to join in, she would observe for a bit and then find a way in. She would introduce herself to other people. I was so impressed with her social skills.
There were a bunch of not good things about this week.
- I dropped her off at 9am and picked her up at 12:30pm. With parking and driving time, there wasn't a lot of free time for me.
- We ran into a lot of people from our past. For instance, an ex-girlfriend of Scott's who knew who I was but who I had no idea who she was. Running into people like this from our past wasn't bad, but it was a bit weird.
- I felt like the teachers and the parent community wasn't as good as Star's regular preschool. Maybe this is because there wasn't enough time to establish continuity and connections, but it was disappointing nonetheless.
Week 2 - Mommy Camp and Trip to LA. On Monday of this week, Star and I had a playdate at Habitot with an old friend of mine and the 4 year old girl that she nannies for. That was super fun. Then, Star participated in a study at BabyLab - we did a few of these studies when she was younger. On Tuesday, she had a Dentist appointment, and then we met friends at Crab Cove in Alameda where we participated in a program on poop! We learned about different kinds of animal poop and then walked around outside looking for it. It was a bit gross, but Star loved it. Then, we had a picnic lunch on the beach.
On Wednesday, we drove off to Los Angeles. We stayed with cousins and Star got along wonderfully with her cousin who is 6 months younger than she is. One day, Star and her cousin went to the cousin's day care together, and I took Scott to Orange County so he could see where I grew up. The next day all six of us went to Disneyland. This wouldn't have been our top choice, but our cousin is currently working at ABC so he gets free tickets. The day after that, we went to breakfast with a Junior High/High School friend of mine and her family, and then went to the LA County Museum of Art with our cousins - the picture here is of Star and her cousin doing some watercolor painting at this museum. It was a good trip.
Week 3 - Monkey Business Camp. I had her scheduled from 8:30am-6pm so that I could have some nice long stretches of time to myself. But, the problem was that she wasn't napping there. So, if I pick her up at 6, she'd be horrible until she fell asleep. By mid-week, she wanted to be picked up at 3:30pm when some other kids get picked up. So, I cut my days short so I could pick her up at 3:30pm and let her nap in the car for 2 hours before we started dinner and our night time routine. Other than the nap issues, I felt that this camp was OK. It seemed like they did the basics to meet the requirements of camp - play, craft project, sing... But, if I ever asked about how Star's day was, the counselors couldn't give me any specifics. And, Star has said that she doesn't want to go back to Monkey Business next year.
Week 4 - I went back to work and Star went to her preschool's camp for a week. It was nice to be back in a familiar environment, but camp even at our preschool, which we think of very highly, wasn't as good as regular school is there.
Week 4 - I went back to work and Star went to her preschool's camp for a week. It was nice to be back in a familiar environment, but camp even at our preschool, which we think of very highly, wasn't as good as regular school is there.
Now, we're back to the work full time juggling madness. Camp Mommy was an overall success - I'll change some things up for 2014, but I'm looking forward to Camp Mommy Year 2.
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