Camping

Last weekend, my hubby and I went camping, without the Peanut. It was the first time that I had left her for more than a few hours. My family just finds this ridiculous. "Peanut is almost two and you have never left her. She will become too attached to you."

Good!

Can a 19 month old be too attached? Isn't the idea to raise my child myself, and to teach her that home is a safe and stable place to be? Just because most of the country packs their babies off to day care at six weeks doesn't mean it's normal or right. When at all possible (and I think that it is more often possible than most parents will admit) your child should be with you and your spouse. You are her best teachers and caregivers. There is no one who will love her and keep her like you.

And to prove my point, Sydney was as good as gold. She slept well, ate well, and played well. She didn't cry for us or throw fits. In fact, she hardly noticed that we were gone, because Grandma and Papa had her so busy running around Amish Country. So much for the "too attached" theory!

Our camping trip was fun, but oh so hot. It was a off-roading trip for my husband, but little old car-sickie me just sat at the camp all day and read. I finished four books* in three days, including my perennial camping book, "The Gate to Women's Country" by Sherri Tepper. I don't know why, but I have read this book on the first camping trip of the year, every year since I was 18. It is a novel written in the 80's about a post-apocalyptic society, that smacks of a little feminism, but I still find insightful at times about the nature of women and men. My library has it shelved in the science fiction section, but I don't really think it falls into that category.

This weekend, we are taking Peanut on her first camping trip! It's my husband's Boy Scout Explorer Post reunion. All of the guys are getting together and bringing their families, and we are just going to hang out all weekend. I'm excited to see some of our old friends from school and to chat with their wives (which I don't do often enough), and see how big everyone's kids are. Brian and I went to the same small school, so even though I wasn't an Explorer, I know everyone who will be there. Thankfully, the weather is supposed to be much milder than it was for us last weekend.

Peanut is so excited that she keeps getting into our supplies, digging out the bag of marshmallows, and toting it around the house like a baby doll! I hope she will have fun and it's not too hot or too cold for her. I think we will all enjoy ourselves!


* For anyone who is mildly interested, the other three books were, "Searching for Jane Austen" by Emily Auerbach ( I will never look at Austen's work the same again!), "Stone Angel" by Carol O'Connel (If you have never read any of her "Mallory" series and you like detective novels, do yourself a favor and check them out), and "Rebels on the Backlot" by Sharon Waxman (it delves into the processes and methods of some of Hollywood's "indie" directors. I guess you can take the girl out of the video store, but you can never take the video store out of the girl!)