School’s out for … ever?

Today was the last day of school for Joseph. He almost didn’t make it. He woke up in the middle of the night croupy. So bad that he kept screaming (FYI, bad for croup) that he couldn’t breath and that he felt like he were going to die. A couple of chocolate chips, one dose of steroids, and one nebulizer full of saline later and he was sleeping peacefully on the porch swing.

When he woke up in the morning he said, “Mom, I don’t think I can go to school today.”

“OK, honey. But how do you feel about missing your last day of school.”

“OK,” then a second later, “Oh, alright. I guess I can go to school.”

When I picked him up at 1, all the other kids were busily comparing notes about who had which teacher next year and who was in the class with whom. Joseph hadn’t even bothered to look. He played on the black top for a while, but mostly he was anxious to come home and make a list of all the things he wanted to do for the summer.

So, here it is, Joseph’s wish list of Camp Wolff activities, just as it tumbled out of his brain (with a few ideas offered by Hannah):

1. make popsicles (in the molds Ashley-Aunt sent us as a Camp Wolff Kick-Off surci)
2. invite friends over for a summer party
3. go hiking
4. go on vacation (Edisto Beach, SC)
5. make play dates
6. ride bikes
7. go for a ride with Mom and Dad pulling us in the bike trailer
8. play games
9. have picnics
10. go to the library
11. go to the park
12. tea parties
13. miniature golf
14. dance
15. listen to music
16. make a swing for the front yard
17. rearrange the living room and sun room
18. make a dog house
19. ice skating
20. bowling
21. make a club house in the lean-to
22. sell lemonade
23. read books, at least 100
24. make up games
25. go on the computer
26. gardening
27. go fishing
28. go rock climbing
29. play in the doorways (I think he means climb the doorways like a monkey and then hang from the molding)
30. play costumes
31. go to the zoo
32. artwork
33. science experiments
34. make a volcano
35. go to an art museum
36. go to a dinosaur museum
37. go to a fish museum (I think he means aquarium)
38. go to the pet store to get Rocky a friend
39. buy a parrot
40. play in the rain
41. eat spaghetti
42. watch TV
43. stay up late
44. have a picnic on the roof
45. go to the pool
46. find out how long rolly-pollies live
47. watch planes and helicopters take off and land
48. make pots out of earth clay
49. swimming lessons
50. hike up a mountain with a lake or pond we can swim in … oh, and a WATERFALL!
51. buy water guns
52. play with ants
53. buy an ant farm
54. prank people
55. go into the torch on the Statue of Liberty
56. go to the museum with the tornado and volcano exhibit (Liberty Science Center, I think)
57. explode a soda bottle
58. camping

Phew. That’s some list. And it just came spewing out of him. He’d periodically pause and say, “I can’t think of anything else. Can you think of anything?” And just as I’d open my mouth to make a suggestion, he’d think of something else.

He also wanted to get started right away. He wanted to jump in at “34. make a volcano”, but wasn’t figuring the time required for the papier-mache, and then paint, to dry — he has a very elaborate plan for this volcano — so we settled on practicing the eruption.

It was just your basic baking soda-and-vinegar reaction, but the kids got a kick out of it. Miriam looks a little concerned here, but she quickly realized she was not going to be consumed by the “lava” and she was laughing right along with her older sibs.

It was refreshing to hear so much enthusiasm from Joseph (even if we have no intention of buying a parrot, or that the thought of him pulling pranks has me a wee tad concerned). I’m trying not to read too much into it. But I’m soooo looking forward to this Summer and seeing where it leads us.

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