The Great Baby Playdate

You, Graham, Isabella, Tyler and Chase

May 2010

Dear Ian,

This weekend was a blast! Not only did you get to spend time with me and your Daddy, we also had a house full of babies! Yesterday we invited the Ghios, the Bischoffs and the Leidys to come over with all of their babies and play. Grand total, we had five babies in the house. Isabella is the oldest, albeit the smallest, and our only girl of the group. Next come Chase and Tyler, the twins, who are nine days older than you, then you and then Graham, who is a day younger than you. It was so fun to watch the group of you! Kinda makes one wonder if these friendships will continue on as you grow up (which Mommy and Daddy hope, since we like the other parents) and what your future friendships will be like.

It seems like just the other day we were all sitting in our Nursing Mommy Support Group with newborns, and now here you all are crawling, learning to crawl and growing up so fast.

There's a commercial on TV right now for microwave pizza or some other thing, and as corny as it sounds, it makes me cry. The commercial opens with a minivan pulling up to a house and three boys blasting out of it carrying pillows and backpacks, ready for a sleepover. The group of boys and the Dad of the house play nerf dart tag or something and then they eat their pizza (the point of the commercial, I think) and all have a great time. Doesn't sound like much to make a mommy cry, right? But I am a sap. I think of the days to come when this house is full of little boys coming to have a sleep-over, complete with pillow fights in the living room and thudding feet as you run up and down the stairs. Lord help us. :) But I can't wait. I want to make sure that you and your friends are comfortable being here. Be it pool parties, slumber parties (please make sure you remember the slumber part when we get to these) or just hanging out, I want there to be a good relationship between you, us, your friends and your friends parents. This weekend was just a small taste of that. Sure, Dad and I will embarrass you at some point, but that's to be expected. And, oh well. We're your folks, no matter if we embarrass you or not! :)

So, in a nutshell, this post is about friends. You have just baby friends now, and it's more fun for us grownups to have playdates at the moment. But hopefully through our guidance, as you grow you will develop friendships with good kids, make good choices and still remember to hang out with Mom and Dad every now and then, too.

Love, Mommy