From Tracey
"Playdate" is the trendy term for moms and their kids getting together for a few hours. Makes it sound like our little tykes have important social agendas already.
Anyway, a high school friend of mine with a 2-year-old daughter invited us over for the afternoon. Melinda basically slept while Annie played with toys. This is the first time I had met Annie, but I have heard over and over (from her own mom and grandparents, no less) "what a handful" this child is. Not so, I think. She’s cute and happily building a lego house for her Fisher-Price little people.
Then Melinda wakes up, and Annie wants to see the baby. (I am quickly finding out that toddlers are enchanted by babies.) So I hold Melinda in my lap, while Jean reminds Annie to play nice and be GENTLE with the baby. They come over and Annie pats Melinda on the head. A split second later, Annie is pinching Melinda’s arm—and when Jean pulls Annie’s hand away, it accidently scrapes Melinda across the forehead. Poor Melinda is not hurt except for a small scratch, but plenty bewildered and not very happy about the whole thing.
After a scolding from her mortified mom and a short time-out, Annie offers a tearful "sorry" and all is well. I really donÂ’t think she meant to hurt Melinda—she just doesn’t quite understand "gentle". I have seen this behavior with other toddlers, so I don’t think Annie is a bad child. Realistically, the scratch is no worse than when Melinda gets herself (or me) with her own fingernails -- but I got a good reminder to be watchful over my sweetie.
As for me, it was nice to get out and visit with another at-home mom. Jean lived around the corner from me in high school and we used to spend lots of time together. She’ll be a good contact when I feel the need to talk to another adult during the day!
More snow here today. The light powdery kind, no good for snowballs, but Abby loves it anyway. I think we have a good foot on the ground between last week and today. And bonus—I looked out the window to see our 10-year-old neighbor Nick snow-blowing our driveway. Great kid, even if he did blow a short wall of snow right against my garage door. :-)
"Playdate" is the trendy term for moms and their kids getting together for a few hours. Makes it sound like our little tykes have important social agendas already.
Anyway, a high school friend of mine with a 2-year-old daughter invited us over for the afternoon. Melinda basically slept while Annie played with toys. This is the first time I had met Annie, but I have heard over and over (from her own mom and grandparents, no less) "what a handful" this child is. Not so, I think. She’s cute and happily building a lego house for her Fisher-Price little people.
Then Melinda wakes up, and Annie wants to see the baby. (I am quickly finding out that toddlers are enchanted by babies.) So I hold Melinda in my lap, while Jean reminds Annie to play nice and be GENTLE with the baby. They come over and Annie pats Melinda on the head. A split second later, Annie is pinching Melinda’s arm—and when Jean pulls Annie’s hand away, it accidently scrapes Melinda across the forehead. Poor Melinda is not hurt except for a small scratch, but plenty bewildered and not very happy about the whole thing.
After a scolding from her mortified mom and a short time-out, Annie offers a tearful "sorry" and all is well. I really donÂ’t think she meant to hurt Melinda—she just doesn’t quite understand "gentle". I have seen this behavior with other toddlers, so I don’t think Annie is a bad child. Realistically, the scratch is no worse than when Melinda gets herself (or me) with her own fingernails -- but I got a good reminder to be watchful over my sweetie.
As for me, it was nice to get out and visit with another at-home mom. Jean lived around the corner from me in high school and we used to spend lots of time together. She’ll be a good contact when I feel the need to talk to another adult during the day!
More snow here today. The light powdery kind, no good for snowballs, but Abby loves it anyway. I think we have a good foot on the ground between last week and today. And bonus—I looked out the window to see our 10-year-old neighbor Nick snow-blowing our driveway. Great kid, even if he did blow a short wall of snow right against my garage door. :-)
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