5 kids, 2 day camps, 1 doctor’s visit, 1 play date, 1 birthday, 48 hours
It’s been crazy this week, but the last two days have been some of the busiest we’ve had. Ciárán, who turns 4 this week is experiencing his first day camp. Mrs. Thomason, who was the Kindergarten teacher at my kids’ school for the last several years conducts a program out of her home every summer for a couple of weeks where each day focuses on a different country. Last year August and Déla went and loved it, and returned again this year for the first week. Déla is signed up for a different day camp this week (Girl Scouts) so initially we didn’t have anything planned for August and Ciárán, but since Mrs. Thomason is shifting from Kindergarten to being the lead preschool teacher, where Ciárán will be, we thought we’d test it out. Besides, there were already a few pre-schoolers in attendance and Mrs. Thomason actually asked if Ciárán would be attending and was genuinely disappointed when we said we weren’t sure if he would.
That’s not the crazy part. You would think having a very active 4 year old boy attending a day camp for the first time would be an issue, but it hasn’t been.
August and Ciárán are attending Mrs. Thomason’s World Camp and enjoying it. Déla is at Girl Scout day camp and enjoying it in a way I haven’t seen from her before. Xavier, at 1 year old, is simply too young to do anything other than play at home and nap. He’s doing a fabulous job.
On top of the day camp, Ciárán had his first “tumbling” class. Déla is doing gymnastics at Seattle Gymnastics Academy once a week, and enjoying it. Looking for something to help occupy Ciárán’s time we decided to try out a class for him during the summer sessions, on a program where you sign up for a certain number of classes over a multi-week period. Monday he had World Camp and his first class, and went back to day camp on Tuesday.
We thought Ciárán was just worn out because he fell asleep Tuesday afternoon while waiting for dinner. Wednesday morning, however, he woke up with an elevated temperature. Xavier had woken up once in the middle of the night as well and had an elevated temperature. This was concerning, so we called and made an appointment with the doctor for Wednesday afternoon. The fear was Strep Throat, since Ciárán complained of a sore throat but presented no other symptoms other than the elevated temperature.
Laura has been working all week, helping teach summer school, so it’s been just me shuttling the kids back and forth. I’m not complaining by any stretch of the imagination, but just wanted to put that out there to let you know I was going around without the usual support.
Wednesday I get August to World Camp, Déla to Girl Scout Camp, and on time (despite Déla forgetting her sweat jacket and having to return home) which was a feat. The day was uneventful until it came time for the doctor’s appointment. Laura came home from work, we got Xavier up from nap early, picked up Deal from Girl Scout Camp a few minutes early, and made it to the doctor’s office on time (barely). While Laura was seeing the doctor with Ciárán, I was picking up August. The news came back the rapid Strep Test was negative, and this was most likely a small virus. That in a way is good news, but bad in that there are no prescribed antibiotics to eliminate whatever is making him feel crummy.
Sadly, we had to reschedule Ciárán’s birthday party again. Originally we were going to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s to celebrate Ciárán’s birthday on Thursday. Laura unfortunately had a last minute change in her class schedule and had to attend a class Thursday evening. We changed going to Chuck E. Cheese’s to Wednesday, the night before his birthday. Going to the doctor’s and feeling crummy put a stop to those plans.
Thursday morning Ciárán wakes up and his temperature is normal, with his mood and appetite back to what it was a few days previous. Back to World Camp. The hitch this day was we had some insulation workers coming in to finish some work on the top floor. This disturbed Xavier’s nap schedule. What a mess that was.
That’s only 4 kids, right? Déla’s friend Olivia was coming over after Girl Scout Day Camp for a play date. During the play date, Laura left for her class. The next several hours were spent getting dinner ready, bath (where Xavier pooped in the bathtub, but that’s a one year old for you), stories, and the general bed time routine. It wasn’t until well after 8p.m. that I was able to crack open my computer. Virtually everything I had done with regards to email on Thursday was done on my phone in the car in parking lots waiting to pick up kids or just after dropping them off. That’s not something I want to do again anytime soon.