Making Friends at the Y

The last time Aaron changed schools he had a really hard transition from being beloved to being the new guy.  And Jada's circle of friends is so tight that I wasn't sure how she would react to a whole new set of camp mates.  So it was with some trepidation that Amy and I wondered about how the kids would do at the Y this summer.

So far, so good.  Aaron has endeared himself to both campers and counselors.  One boy came up to him when I arrived to pick up Aaron one afternoon, gave Aaron a big hug (and perhaps what counts as an elaborate handshake routine, at least for a five-year-old), and yelled out, "Bye, Noodle Smackface!"  (Noodle Smackface is Aaron's alias.)

As for Jada, less buddy-buddy but still some signs of emerging friendships.  She knows a couple of kids from past Y things, and is getting comfortable with others.  (Some might say others are getting too comfortable with her: Jada's told me that on a number of occasions girls have "done her hair," which entails shoving various hair accessories onto her head.  As if to underscore the point, Jada capped off her announcement of one of these incidents to me by saying, "I might get lice soon."  I groaned.  In case you're wondering, we've had this discussion before, and she knows what to do and say in these situations, but sometimes you get snuck up on.)

I'm sure Jada will be glad to get back to her pals once the school year starts.  And Aaron will have to make yet another transition this fall, when he has to make yet another set of new friends at whatever school he ends up at.  But summer, and summer camp, is for new friends, and so far they're doing that too.