He liked it!

He liked the overnight camp and wants to go back to another one next year.  Or maybe even two.

After picking him up I heard endless tales of intrigue.  We went and had lunch and he told me stories of good times, stories of bad times, stories of nice kids and stories of mean kids.  It was really fun to hear about all of the experiences he had and realize that he now has some real summer camp memories.   He was so proud of himself for making it through and seemed to feel really good about himself.  He said overall he had a blast.

And, here’s the best part, apparently the cabin that he was staying in was occupied primarily by a very aggressive and foul mouthed group of boys who already knew each other from school and other camps they had been to this summer.   They were all nearly literally half of Rye’s size (Rye is very big and tall for his age and these kids were particularly small, it seems) and yet they kept picking on Rye and trying to get him to fight them.  In fact one night they threw a full soda can at his head and bruised it just to try and get him to fight.   Amazingly though Rye never took the bait and finally told them all that he thought it was a complete joke they wanted to fight him because although they may hit him and hurt him slightly with a punch or two, if he was to hit them he would send them into next week and could really seriously injure them.  So he never did fight them.  And after a few nights of taking it he told the main counselor that they were driving him nuts with the wanting to fight and the camp director put Rye in a cabin with high school guys for the rest of the week and he liked that much better.  He said the high school guys were all really nice and much more mature than the middle school boys and were also physically all his same size as Rye so he didn’t feel like a giant with them.

I can’t tell you how proud I am of him.  And how proud he is of himself.

I really think the Depakote combined with the therapy is helping him make much better decisions and live a much richer life.  It’s not too long ago that I’m pretty sure confronted with those kids he would have just gone ahead and pummeled them into next week.  He would have just reacted to their comments and taunts and not have been able to just let it go and walk away and realize the absurdity of it all.

Progress.

The kid is growing up.

Rye made it through his first week-long experience  of overnight camp.  We pick him up this morning and I can’t wait to hear about how it all went.  From the pictures I’ve seen so far it looks like they did some really fun stuff and I can’t wait to hear his side of the story.   I’m just thrilled he made it through.  No calls home, no need to pick him up early, no nothing.  In fact, we have not even talked to him in a week per camp policy.  And this was a regular summer camp.  No special anything.  I’m thrilled for him.  Now, he may melt down this weekend when he gets home and lets down but that’s ok.  He made it through and every experience he has like this where he relies on himself  to get through times in life (he didn’t know anyone at this camp going into it) builds his self confidence, his self reliance, and his self knowledge.  It makes him a stronger person.

I’m so happy for him.  I know he will be proud of himself for this accomplishment as I know he was really scared to go but he pushed through the fear, replaced it with faith, and did it anyway.

I know, it’s ridiculous.  But the kid has such a big personality he really fills up the house with his presence and it’s a little vacuous here without him.   Anyway, I hope he’s having a good time. We don’t get to talk to him until Friday when we pick him up.  We can only send him emails.  But he can’t send any back.  I’m wondering if it would be frowned upon if I sent him some silly emails.   Something to make him laugh.  I’m tempted to try and stir up trouble by sending something really silly.  I guess that wouldn’t be prudent.  It is, after all, a Christian camp.  Who know what kind of a sense of humor they have.  Could be minimal.   I hope it’s not like the movie ‘Jesus Camp’.  Perhaps I should have investigated it a bit more before sending him.  Honestly, though, it was very affordable and had paintball and a ropes course so we went with it.  And I like the Christian basis.   A Christian camp with a paintball basis.  There you go.  The best the South has to offer.  I just hope it’s not over the top.  Oh well.  I guess we’ll see.

Anyway, here’s a clip from ‘Meatballs’ where Bill Murray pretends to be the director of the camp for rich kids across the lake from the inexpensive camp where he actually works.  It’s rated R so if you are easily offended or uncomfortable with sexuality, don’t watch it.

We have had a good week over here.  Rye has been doing well and we’ve been having fun.

We had what felt a million doctor appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday we stayed home and did house work, Thursday Rye hung out with a friend and then Friday I took him and his friend to the amusement park.  We had a blast.  We were there for 8 hours and stayed well into the evening where they took part in a dance party.    It was hilarious and they loved it.   We are having quite the amusement park summer.

Today Rye headed out to sleep-away summer camp.  This is his first time to go to camp where he sleeps there and despite being very anxious for most of the day and throwing up last night from nerves over going, he made it there and I think he’ll have a good time.   It’s a small Christian camp and doesn’t have too many kids so its a good size for a starter camp.   Rye is so social and active I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t love it.   I mean, summer camp is a rite of passage, no?  You have to go just so you can relate to the movie ‘Meatballs’ if nothing else.   But if he implodes and falls apart, the worst case scenario is they call us to come get him early (I didn’t tell them he is bipolar so let’s see how that works out.  I figure I’m not sure how much it would help for them to know.  As long as he takes the Depakote he should be fine.  I think.  We’ll see…lol…).   But at least he will have tried.

So, assuming all goes well, Don and I are free from parenting duties this week.  This in and of itself is worthy of celebration.  Don has to work every day but that’s ok.  We have every evening alone together.  Nice, nice, nice!! I can already feel my whole system whomping down and relaxing.  It feels great.

Let the adult-only festivities begin!!

Well, I would say we had a productive week over here.

I officially withdrew Rye from school and started homeschooling.  Rye is so much more relaxed now that we are homeschooling it is ridiculous.  Not that he is a different kid but it certainly helps to have the anxiety, overstimulation, and frustration of regular school out of the equation.  Whew…

We also signed him up for a week long sleep away summer camp for the first time ever.  He has never agreed to go before but this one is close and inexpensive and it is a Christian based camp but also has paintball as one of the main activities.  Go figure.  But I’m not complaining because I’m thrilled that he agreed to go and he seems excited to go.

We started the boxing classes and they are great.  The trainer worked one on one with Rye for over an hour and Rye was pooped when they were done.  Boxing is extremely physical between the punches and the footwork.  We will now go two times a week and there was a man there with his 16 year old son who was training as well and they said they’d come the same times during the day when we did so the 2 boys could train together (this other kid has been going for a while but was glad to have another kid there).   This young man was homeschooled as well and his family had driven even further than we did to go to this gym.  And this kid was in really good shape so I think that was encouraging to Rye.   And let me tell you, people think of homeschooled kids as weak and mealy but between Rye and this other kid they looked anything but weak and mealy.  This other kid looked like he could do some damage if he wanted to.

We also signed Rye up to play football in the fall for the public school he was going to (he can still play for them because we are zoned for that school).   They start conditioning in August so we’ll stick with boxing until that conditioning and season start.  Rye is very excited to play football and his friends seem really excited for him to play as well.    The guy told us to have his birth certificate handy because since he is so big he said the commissioner will definitely question if he is the correct age and zoning for the school.

And we had a decent weekend here.  Rye had 2 friends spend the night Friday night then Saturday we had an unfortunate incident where one of the kids caused a logistical headache for me and all of them by bold faced lying to me.  Without going into the details suffice it to say I was mad at the kid (we have known him for many years) and I made that known.  We solved that mess and I then took Rye and the other friend roller skating and had a great time.  I roller skated for one and a half hours while they did the whole middle school social thing with the other middle school kids there.  Then Rye spend Saturday night at a different friend’s house.   Right now he’s at the skate park and will be coming home soon.

And, it is now official.  When Rye is wearing shoes and I am not he is a good inch taller than me (I am 5′8″).  I actually have to look up to him.  I can’t believe it.  He’s 12 years old!  Yesterday he was letting off steam about the lying friend incident and we were standing in the kitchen talking and when I realized his nose was a good inch taller than mine and that I was looking up to him I nearly freaked.  I pointed out to him that he must have grown again and he started crying more and said he didn’t want to be this big.  It was so sad.   We pointed out to him it’s a good thing though and that he will grow into it all and be glad later he is so big.  He just kind of has that Marmaduke thing right now where he is so young but getting really big and it’s like he doesn’t quite yet fit into his body.   But he’ll get there.   At present he wears a men’s size 11.5 shoe.  I wonder what size his feet will be when full grown.

And that’s all I can think of for now.  We go to the Neurologist tomorrow.  I hate doctor visits and so does Rye but alas, they are necessary.  And I’m just really glad to finally have decent insurance.  Things to be grateful for, for sure.

I hope everyone has a nice Sunday.