Day Camp

Practice makes perfect, right? In this case, I certainly hope so. In order to assist Connor with the transition of him not being the center of the universe in less than 2 months, I enrolled him in a Sibling Day Camp course at the hospital. When I set it up months ago, it seemed so far off. Time is going by so fast! About a week ago I started explaining to him what we would be doing at the class. He was very excited to go to the "hostipal" and see the nursery, but then a thought occurred to him. "Do I have to stay at the hostipal?" Sweet innocence. He was quite relieved when I said no, and soon got back into the excitement of what was in store for him. All was well until we arrived for the class. He took a look at the other dozen or so kids in the class and became shy. The teacher asked him to draw a picture of his family and he shook his head no. The first item on the agenda was to go around the class and have each kid say their name and whether they were going to have a baby brother or sister. Even though he was being shy, Connor did state his name when it was his turn. However, he then proceeded to announce he's going to have a baby sister. Next on the agenda was to watch a video about the proper way to hold a baby, how to feed a baby, what NOT to feed a baby, etc. Connor refused to sit on the floor with all the other kids to watch the video. Me and my big ol' belly had to plop down on the floor so Connor could sit on the little bit of lap I have. After the video, the fun started. They got to practice everything they learned from the video on baby dolls. They had to put hats on their heads to keep them warm, change their diapers, feed them, burp them, and put them down for a nap. While the babies were napping, each child was then given a backpack so we could go for a "hike" in the hospital. Connor was well over his shyness by this point. The first stop was the nursery. Connor didn't want to leave it. He was very concerned about one of the babies that was crying and wanted to go in to give it a binky. We then moved on to a labor and delivery room. Very nice and pretty, but something I won't be experiencing this time around. Last, we went into a recovery (?) room where I will spend the majority of my hospital visit. It was in this room that the teacher showed the children how to work the buttons that control the bed. Up and down. Over and over again. Not really something I would have liked Connor to learn, considering that I won't want to be moving around all that much after my c-section. Hopefully between now and the end of April he'll forget about the buttons. Not likely though, since he seems to have inherited my uncanny memory. Just last week at daycare, his teacher held up Mister Seahorse for story time and asked the kids if anyone remembered what other books were written by Eric Carle. She wasn't expecting a response. However, Connor raised his hand and rattled off The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. The class spotlighted Eric Carle 5 months ago. So yes, I'm dreading the buttons and the ensuing ride I'm sure he'll give me.