Camp and sleep

Cora came home from camp yesterday with an arrowhead necklace. Any camp that makes arrowhead necklaces is a real camp. She has been creek hiking, pool swimming, dancing, making crafts, and tomorrow hopes to go horseback riding. When asked if they go inside when it rains, she responded, "there is no inside." She loooves it.

Oliver is developing opinions about how the world should be. Lately he is most passionate about 1) not napping and 2) not bathing and 3) not eating. Thank goodness he's our second child, because none of these things have phased us much. With Cora we would have had all the child rearing books out, anxiously soliciting opinions from anyone with a child past or present. But now it's mostly amusing, sometimes annoying.

Like Cora before him, Oliver really needs his naps. So a nap strike is not pleasant as the day wears on. Last week he fell asleep in the car for a while. He woke up groggy and cranky. He said, "I slept in the day. That means I am a baby."

With Cora we used to go for convenient afternoon drives down the Natchez Trace Parkway, a scenic highway with little traffic, no billboards and more deer than buildings. Eventually Cora would drift off to sleep with nothing to keep her attention. This worked successfully for probably three days. Then the fourth time she cried out "I know what you're trying to do! No Natchez Trace! I won't fall asleep!" It took her an hour to fall asleep that day, and we scrapped the tactic after that. So far Oliver still zonks out in the car, but he's catching on. Kate picked Cora up at camp this afternoon and noticed that Oliver was yawning in the back seat. After a few turns Oliver called out, "Don't drive around, Mommy! I'm not going to sleep!" He conked out a minute later. But he's on to us. We're keeping the Natchez in reserve, for when the time is right.