Week Nine - Luigi

Luigi and I were partners for a week last year as well. He was a totally different kid then. Well, maybe not entirely different, because he was quite affectionate last year too. But he was much less predictable. And if he liked something you had or something someone else had, and he got hold of it, you'd never see it again. Last year, at one point, Luigi had his eye on a little toy bird another counsellor brought with her to camp. It chirped (who WOULDN'T want that for themselves!). Anyway, I kept reminding Luigi throughout the day: "Luigi, bird is Sarah's. Play now, but give back to Sarah later".
"Yesh", was Luigi's reply.
BUT! Next thing I knew he had thrown it into the tall grass beside the canoe launch, whipped himself around 180 degrees and began screaming "no!, no!, no!....." and running in my direction. I managed to get a hold of him for the sake of safety (of himself and others around him), only to find myself being headbutted in my chest and being left with an impressive bite mark on my arm which lasted 3 weeks. But when he didn't have his eye on some prize, Luigi and I had marvelous moments together.

This year, we had nothing but marvelous moments. He had remembered our amazing relationship from last year quite quickly and we immediately bonded as if an entire year had not just passed. And he stayed with his group the majority of the time (last year I thought he was going to vomit in anxiety each time I included "friends" on our visual schedule. He played sandball with them and even SHARED! We drew pictures of WalMart and the things we can buy there ("toooooyyys. cloooooooooos [clothes], caaaaaaaaadi [candy], moooooooooooooooooovie"). We made one monstrous mess with paint and mural paper (and I swear I did my best to cover his clothes before the paint did. But I failed. Miserably. Paint was everywhere. In his hair, on his shorts and shirt... everywhere! And sadly, it looked like mud because in the end, all the colours just got all mixed up together. But what fun! I hadn't been THAT messy in sooooooo long, and it felt great!)

He was quite affectionate this week, as well. He'd hug me while we were waiting to transition from one activity to the next, we'd cuddle in the tent, we snuggled in the middle of the pile of life jackets. He loved to play with my pony tail as he drifted off to sleep (which, being sick, he did quite a bit of last week).

Friday we had a rescue mission! Each day, Luigi brought a special toy of his from home. Friday it was a rubber (gelly-like?) snake. And it was quite blustery at camp on Friday. We were on the docks, lying on our tummies, and Luigi was wiggling his snake around in the water. When suddenly, he just tosses it out into the windy lake! "OOOOOOHHHHHH NOOOOOOOO, SCHNAAAAAAKEY!!". And then he turns to me and says: "GOOOO! SAAAAVE!!". So I literally rushed into a canoe, braved the winds and finally got snakey from the lake. When I returned snakey to Luigi, he huged me and said "HERO!". I accepted his praise (but then warned that next time snakey would be living in Lake Chippewa if it happened agian!).

We counted down every minute for a half an hour for the party on Friday (a party in honour of Zachary). The entire time he just sat in the office eyeballing all the treats. And each minute we got closer from five, he jumped up and down and gave me a humongous hug! At 2:30, I told him to go out and announce "PARTY TIME!". So he did: "PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (and then, by himself, he carried 75% of the treats to the party tables close to the Junior Forest).

Luigi has always been one of my favourite campers, and I was SO glad to work with him again this year. What a difference a year makes, though. The above picture is of Luigi and myself on theme day last year (in one of our more cuddly moments). I love him.

Next week is the last of the summer at camp. I was supposed to work with Zachary, but circumstances have made that impossible. Zach's parents wanted the spot to go to another HH camper who would enjoy another week at camp. And so, next week, I get to hang out with Nathaniel! I've worked with Nat in the past as well, and I am SUPER pumped for this coming week.

(On a side note: I ran 54 kilometers this week. I'm so excited for the marathon!)