John’s been spending a lot of time at camp this summer. His camp is right near Matt’s office, so Matt generally does drop off and pick up. I really haven’t been there much. And almost-seven-year-old boys aren’t known for their willingness to keep mothers informed about how they spend their days. But it seems like they’re plenty busy.

From the little that I’ve heard (roughly sixty seconds of information a day) they’ve been swimming, baking, playing, selling lemonade, taking field trips, more swimming, more playing. A lot of it is exactly the kind of thing that I’d be doing with John if I didn’t work. And also if I was way more fun than I actually am.

Anyway, I think John’s having a good summer, and here’s how I can tell:

1) He wants to be left alone at the end of the day. He’ll come home and just read for a while or play some game by himself, even if I offer to play basketball. That is very unusual. He must be bushed.

2) He’s quieter at the end of the day. Like me, John’s a talker. Sometimes I hear him talking without even having anyone in the room with him. Peaceful, quiet hours aren’t routine, and I assume this is because he hasn’t stopped all day.

3) He’s crabby by the end of the week. I’ve found that with John, busy accumulates from Monday to Friday. If he’s on a hair trigger by Friday, it’s not very fun but it’s actually a sign of a good week.

Figuring out what to do with the summer is kind of a pain, but we kept it really simple this year, and that seems to be working. We’re not yet at that end of summer, over-tired, over-scheduled period, so I can’t say whether we’ll get all the way through without another total meltdown. But so far so good.