The summer before we left for Tulsa, First Baptist revealed their VBS theme for the following year and low and behold, it was SKY - UP! UP! And AWAY! - AIRPLANES and FLYING! My heart sunk because I knew that William would be beyond thrilled.....and we would be in Oklahoma by then.
So one of the first things I did when we moved to Tulsa was research VBS. I knew it was really early (November), but I needed to find a program William could attend before it became an issue. In VA, everything has a wait list and I wasn't sure how VBS operated in Tulsa nor was I even familiar with churches in the area. Most importantly, I HAD to find a church doing the flying theme.
But just as life has showed me, everything works out in the end. We've found a wonderful church, Kirk of the Hills, and do you know their VBS theme????? YEP! SKY! Meant to be! So I signed William up the first day of registration.
William LOVED VBS as much as he loved attending in VA. He told me everyday how sad he was going to be on the last day of camp. He wanted desperately to buy a CD of the VBS music about flying, and for days he reminded me to bring $5 on Thursday. The one bad thing is that on Friday, William came down with a virus. He was SO tired when I picked him up and I knew instantly that something was wrong. I told him he should have asked the teacher to find me and I'd take him home early, but he said, "Mom, I didn't want to miss out on anything about VBS. I love it and I wanted to do all the activities. But I was so tired and my body hurts all over." Yikes. For him to admit he was sick was huge, so I knew it was ligit. We raced home and William literally crawled up the stairs and slithered into his bed. He was asleep in seconds. Turns out, he caught a virus that had to run it's course and after a few DAYS of laying in bed and sleeping for HOURS at a time, he bounced back. On a sad note, he had to miss Family Fun Night which is on the Friday night of VBS with bounce houses, carnival rides, and water play. Although disappointed, William knew he was not feeling well and he knew he wouldn't last a second at the party. He was more concerned about feeling better.
Sadly, this is the only picture I took all week during VBS. I was so busy trying to get us out the door on time, organizing Adeline's bag for the nursery, and keeping her excited to attend that I just didn't take pictures.
Except this pathetic photo of William sick as a dog.
______________________________
For Adeline and notes for myself -
When VBS week arrived, I made a quick decision to volunteer. Being 6.5 months pregnant, I wasn't really planning on helping out. But, Adeline would be attending summer camp the following week and Mother's Day Out in the fall at Kirk. She is NOT a fan of being left behind, especially at church. It probably has something to do with separation anxiety and the fact that we live in about 900 sq. ft so she is ALWAYS near us. She simply HATES it when I leave her with people she doesn't know well in an environment other than home.
That said, I felt like it would be in her best interest (and mine) if I volunteered at VBS so she could go to the nursery for a full week before summer camp. It would allow her to get use to the room and the routine of me dropping her off and picking her up. Overall, this was a great decision despite the fact that Adeline was a complete wreck each day when I dropped her off. She would sob and sob.
Although the obvious reason was the separation from me, Adeline was also terribly tired by the time VBS started. She gets up around 6:30 a.m. and is ready for a power nap by 9:00 or so. Well, VBS drop off was at 9am, not exactly her best time of the day. So all those factors just made for a tired and confused little girl. The teachers in her room were wonderful. They pulled out all their tricks to help the 8 crying babies in the room. They had balls, bubbles, strollers, dolls, slides, snacks and the basic toddler fanfare. Amy, one of the sweet ladies at church, would graciously rock Adeline and help her take that morning nap. However, all the kids were in one room so Adeline's nap was always short lived.
I do NOT expect special treatment in situations like this because I know the teachers have other children in the room and a schedule to keep. But, I was so thankful for Amy. She made my level of worry dwindle with every passing day. Monday was of course the worst day for Adeline as she was thrown into VBS without warning! By Wednesday, she was playing independently but still had her sad moments when she really didn't want to be there. By Friday, she was still crying when I dropped her off, but had more quiet non crying moments during the 3 hour stay.
I am very glad I volunteered and stuck with it the entire week. I knew it would help Adeline with her transition to summer camp and hopefully prepare her for MDO in the fall. On Wednesday, the preschool director, Pam, pulled me aside during VBS. She told me that she'd been watching Adeline and wanted to suggest that we put her in the younger 1 year old class for summer camp. Her concern was for keeping the experience positive for Adeline and she also recognized that Adeline needs that morning nap and a little more attention for comfort and reassurance.
For summer camp, Adeline was going to be in a classroom with 10 kids, 2 teachers and one nap that would take place at 12 noon for the whole class. Pam also said Adeline was one of the youngest children in that summer camp class. We both knew Adeline wouldn't make it until noon for a nap and in that class, they don't nap kids earlier than that time. So, Pam thought if Adeline could be in the younger summer camp class (ages 10m-14m), she would have a much better time. In the younger class, there are only 4 kids and 2 teachers. This way, the teachers could give her the attention she needed and that morning nap when she needed it, not when the class schedule called for it.
Oh. my. goodness. You have no idea how wonderful I felt after Pam made that observation and suggestion. I was SO appreciative that Pam took the time to look in on Adeline during VBS and evaluate her happiness. After all, it is JUST summer camp. I am only having her participate in order to help her get ready for MDO in the fall. I don't care how old the kids are in her class as long as I know she's having a positive experience and not getting lost in the shuffle.
This is a long winded post about VBS and Adeline's experience, but I want to remember it so better to blog than forget!
Summer camp has started and I will post about that soon.
0 comments:
Post a Comment