playdates

Shortly after Christmas, mommy began to get a little restless. We needed something to do to get us out of the house and out with other mommies and babies. So, I did what I always do...I did an internet search for mom's groups in the area.
The first group seemed nice enough, but the moms were quite young and the kids quite old. And everytime I turned around, Kira had another french fry, piece of candy, or sip of someone's coke. Ugh.
The next group the moms were young, but the kids the right age. But, the group still wasn't the right fit. Lots of playdates at McDonalds, not much conversation for mom.
The third group never meets...sort of defeats the purpose.
So, we tried one more time. And thank goodness we did! It is a small group of mommies just the right personality for mom, and all the kids are 2 years old or younger. I was a little intimidated at first, since they wanted to "meet" us before inviting us in. Yikes! I had the first date jitters for the first time in years! But, it turned out to be a great adventure. And we were invited back.
Since then, we have met with our new friends once a week at someone's home, at the zoo, and for meal exchanges.
Yup. Meal exchanges! We make enough servings of the same dish to trade with everyone else. A week's worth of meals for the effort of one night of cooking! Yum! We were even featured on the news this week for our "cooking club."
Other than the fact that Kira loves to show off her "take it out of one diaper bag, put it in another bag" skills, everyone gets along fine. As long as they know she is a little thief, and check their diaper bags before leaving, everyone is happy.
And mommy finally gets to go to other homes that are childproofed and safe to let Kira explore in. And that leave time for...relaxation, conversation...who knew!