Heat Stroke

(Warning TLDR my apply to this post)

Today was a great day at camp! We had Thirteen kids today. Abby and Egan, who are twins. There was Helen, and Chrispen, Sydney, Aida and her brother Noland. Grace was there with her friend Ellie. Big man Charley, and Maddie with her big sister Caroline, and as always Lucy.

I’m hoping I can snap some pictures of the kids soon because I already had to say good bye to Helen today, I wont be seeing her or her sister Ella again this summer. I also don’t get to see Liv again. She left last week. I thought I wouldn’t be seeing Karly again either but Mum got a call this morning and she had so much fun she’s signing back up!

Camp runs for eight weeks and by tomorrow we will have ended our third week. A few of the kids are signed up for all eight weeks, such as Charley and Lucy. I get to see them every week, Monday through Thursday. Some of the kids are on for all eight weeks BUT they only come twice a week, or three times a week, so I get to see them off and on.

DAMN do I love them, I love each and every one of those kids. Each of them have their own crazy personalities and are just so much fun. Others can be harder to handle then others but they are still always a great bunch to be with.

Charley is the big man. He is ALL BOY. Nothing stops him. I’ve watched this kid do full on belly flops in the little pool we had. Arms Straight out and everything, NO FEAR. This four year old can do what this 20 year old is too chicken shit-to even try! He’s a tank, but still so kind and caring.

Chrispen’s such a bud. That’s all I can call him is Bud or Buddy. Absolutely adorable. It’s a little hard to communicate with him because he has a terrible speech impediment, but its so endearing. He calls shoes “oos.” He can be kind of difficult at times. Because he has such a hard time talking he tends to scream when he wants something, and I mean scream. Not just a yell but a scream so packed with worry its like he’s watching his dog get hit by a bus. This kid though, is so smart. He’s three years old and put together a huge floor puzzle with about 20-25 pieces in it, ALL by himself. It wasn’t like he took all day either, no he finished it in 10 minutes.

Abby and Egan. Twins, but so absolutely different. Abby is a normal sized girl, very healthy looking but poor Egan is so tiny I could sit him in my back pocket. His mother explained it as, “Abby just stole all the room.” He’s very sweet and shy, and its so nice to watch him open up, because usually he gives me this very weary side ways glace. Like I’m the cat and he’s the mouse. If he just keeps his eyes on me and stays quiet I wont even know he’s there. Abby on the other had is a great conversationalist. She doesn’t talk to much but what she says is always worth listening too. She greets everyone and talks to adults as easily as if she were one. At the start of the day, once all of us head inside and I finish laying out all the lunchboxes, Mum will start her story for the day and Abby never forgets to come sit on my lap while she listens.

Sydney is the artist. Her imagination is so big, I can’t believe it fits inside that little head. She is always at the drawing center, and for a four year old, her skill with the pen and paper is quite impressive. When she’s not drawing or doing “Miss Janet’s” art projects, she is always playing dress up and house, and when we go outside to play after I’ve help 12-15 kids get into swim suits she spends most of her time singing, and knows all the words to the songs.

This week there were five new little ones that I had to get to know. Aida, Noland, Maddie, Caroline and Ellie. Maddie is the younger sister to Caroline. Caroline is five and our tallest friend. She is bold, loud and giggly and so much fun. Her sister Maddie follows in those footsteps as best a three year old can. Noland seems shy, but is best friends with Charley, who always takes good care of him, and his sister Aida is so sweet. She’s three and small and absolutely adorable and wears her princess dressed to camp. She reminds me SO MUCH of Mike’s little sister Rachael, except Aida has some sharing issues, but she’s always up for a compromise. Ellie I just met today and I didn’t get a chance to talk to her very much but I believe she will be back for more camp.

Grace is a big girl, I believe she’s four or has turned five. She’s got this beautiful tan skin and dark dark curly hair. She’s so goofy and silly. I always have to look right at her while I talk with her because her expressions are priceless. She just has so much caring for others and can hoola-hoop better then me or anyone I know can.

Helen is sweet and shy just like Ella, her big sister. I had to approach them in order to get to know them. They keep to themselves a lot and don’t say much, but when I sat down with Helen today and drew her flowers and rainbows she seems to light right up. Makes me sad that I don’t get to see them again.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays I get to see Anna and Abigail. These two are great but are by far the most exhausting out of the entire bunch. Anna is an only child and has no patience for when my attention isn’t on her, but how can I ignore her when she’s so polite about it. It never fails, as soon as Anna walks through that gate and I put her backpack in a cubby I feel a tugging on my clothes and an “Excuesh me” about 10 times in the 15 seconds it takes me to stand up, turn around and address her. She can do quite a few things on her own but always needs my “halp” with everything. In those three days Anna is my shadow and I really don’t mind, she’s very sweet, but when I have to be taking care of a max of 15 other kids and Anna is demanding that I help her every 30 seconds, it really runs me into the ground.

Now, Abigail. What a girl. She is the reddest red head I’ve seen. Pale skin and ripe tomato red, curly hair. She’s great and adorable but very needy with some big separation and social issues. For a girl that just turned three I’m not too worried, it can be hard at that age to make friends with some six and seven year olds but she never plays with anyone else. She is always on her own, but can never not entertain herself. She loves the princess dresses and has a hard time sharing the princess dolls with anyone else, she eats markers and stamp ink so I have to watch her like a hawk when she moves for the coloring table. She changes her mind about a 10 times a minute and is always on the go, always moving. Start of camp can be hard because her poor mother can’t even sneak out the gate unless I have Abigail focused 100% on something else. She also never listens. She’s a complete day dreamer and in her own little world, but when I talk with her she’s very fun and cute. She likes me to hold her and will not let me put her down. When I’m carrying her and I need two hands, its not a problem because she’ll just latch on for dear life and hugs me like a front facing backpack leaving me free to use all limbs.

Here is where I try so hard not to play favorites, but Lucy… OH Lucy. I can’t help but love her. You can’t get enough of this little girl. She is just so wonderful. She’s a little shy and quiet and has some socializing issues but she is the sweetest, kindest, most patient, caring little girl. Her favorite color is Yellow and she loves to do the art projects we have for the day and makes sure she gives a name to every single one. I know people say that when little kids laugh its cute, but when Lucy so much as giggles it could melt any cold heart. When she full on laughs, I can’t to anything but laugh with her. She just squeals and screams with so much excitement. Now Lucy can be shy with the other kids but she’s so brave. She usually needs me to hold her hand while she goes down the big slide but one day she tried it herself. I didn’t see it happen but from what she told me, she went down too fast, which scared her and she bumped/scraped her arm. I turn around to see her crying at the bottom of the slide, hiding her face. It just about killed me too see it so I picked her up and she held me so tight and just cried. She was back to good in no time though, and sat in my lap while she ate her snack and was laughing as she watched “Mr. Crow.” Swooping around daring to steal the snacks kids leave out on their towels.

This Job is great. I love it. It can be absolutely exhausting when you have to spin 10 kids on a marry-go-round for 30mins in 85 degree weather, but its so worth it. When the end of summer comes I’m going to be heart broken that I wont get to see them all again till next year, or quite possibly ever again. It hurts even more to think about how they wont remember me. I hope they do, but the chances are slim.

Ps. I’ve been stealing my brothers Adderal and taking it in the mornings before camp. It’s a miracle pill. I am so clear headed and focused on everything. I’ve never had that before. I wish they had this back when I was in high school, my grades would have been ten times better. It makes both of my jobs so much more easy to handle and I have more energy. I have to talk to Dad about getting me my own prescription NOW because I can’t go with out it and I can’t just keep taking my brothers, he needs them as much as I do.