Roller coaster

Monday, first day back to work after vacation, first day of summer camp.

I am so proud of Sam as he talks to adults who greet him at camp and introduces himself to a boy he met last summer. I stay while we wait for teacher assignments and he spends most of the time across the room with the other kids, all independent-like.

Then FLIP! upside down...he gets unnerved by the newness and freaks out...an hour of screaming and kicking and hitting and flailing. None of the super distraction techniques by these top clinical professionals work....the boy is the poster child for stubbornness. He is not easily fooled.

And after an hour of this torture, a jar of "fidgets"---gross eye-popping frogs, spiky fish and the like---turns it around again. He happily plays with Lewis, the boy toting a Wallace & Grommit DVD who informed me LATER I WILL HAVE CAKE! I kiss Sam on the cheek and tell him I'm going to work. I catch myself holding my breath until he says "OK, bye!"

Never a dull moment.