Sometimes, I Forget

I mentioned that I've returned to my MOPS group and I'm really pleased about it. The ladies are fun and interesting, encouraging and inspiring. Mostly, I wanted to go so that Baby Girl could have some experience making friends. I normally take Little One to stay with Aunt Jo and Grandma E while we're at the meeting. This has worked out great because Little One gets an overabundance of attention while she's there and Baby Girl gets one-on-one mommy time.

However, this past week I had to take Little One along. I knew that there was no way I could leave her in the nursery with a stranger. She has never been with a stranger. It's not that I wouldn't (I trust the volunteers), it's just that she wouldn't - I don't think. So, I volunteered in the nursery for this meeting to pre-empt the inevitable meltdown.

It was the best thing I could have done. She had a good time (and I think contracted croup - but c'est la vie) but most importantly I remembered how much fun this age is. It's not that I don't play with her but usually I try to find stuff that at least the girls can do together with me, if not all 4 kids. While I was in the nursery, I got to play with 6 kids age 14-24 months. There was some fussing and some clinginess - but none of it was my daughter. She had a blast! And so did I! We all played and sang and danced and snacked and generally lost track of time. Since then I've been a lot more playful with just her. It was just the reminder that I needed!

And Baby Girl has really learned to make friends. Unfortunately, her best bud wasn't there this past week so her time there wasn't as enjoyable as it normally is. It's rough when your friend isn't there. But at least there was a craft!

Sorry, this picture just makes me smile. :)

Go Away! So I Can Miss You!

Yesterday was my much-anticipated (by ME) return to my MOPS group. The trouble with having a child every two years is that every other year I have one in preschool - which requires that I, you know, pick them up. Because of the timing of the meetings, this meant that I had to skip a year of MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers).

Because I remember what it's like to torture take a 15-18 month old child, I left Little One with Aunt Jo and just took Baby Girl. She has been asking to go to school (a recent, yet happy development) and I think it's important for her to be around kids to whom she's not related. I often worry that my kids will have a hard time making friends simply because they've got a built-in houseful.

I needn't have worried. They made "friendship" bracelets that they were told they could share with friends - because God wants us to be good friends. When I went to pick her up, Baby Girl had nearly all of them. The helper (a friend of mine) said, "I guess everyone really liked her!"

But the best part was the look on her face when I came to pick her up. She's never been someplace like that before - especially without me - and watching her interact was amazing. But that look, the look of pure excitement and joy when she saw me, that was worth the membership dues right there.

In the space shuttle on the way home she said, "I'm so happy you come back to get me!!" And all night she kept saying, "I didn't know you were watching me and smiling!!" {SIGH} Makes my heart grow three sizes that day...

MOPS

I went back to my MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) group yesterday. HOLY COW! This group has approximately TRIPLED in size since I left. I was unable to attend last year because of a scheduling conflict with Oldest Boy's preschool. For the same reason, I won't be able to attend next year, either, but I felt it was important for Baby Girl to experience the same pain and anxiety that I put her brothers through, so off we went!

Unlike my very first meeting, where I felt like I was sending Oldest Boy off to military school, when, in fact, I was merely leaving him with a group of capable grandmotherly-type women, yesterday I had no qualms about leaving both Youngest Boy and Baby Girl while I went off to drink coffee and make a craft with grown-ups! It is like good wine for the soul. It relaxes and changes your perscpective like nothing else can. That's not to say it's perfect, but it is good!

When there's something that I would like to do or volunteer for that might be tricky with 2-3 kids in tow, Mr. MOTH is famous for telling me, "Dear, you have 3 small children. You can't do it all!" This cracks me up when it has something to do with MOPS, because every.single.woman.there has at least 1 small child (some as many as 5!). This is where I got my mantra of "Other people can do it, so can I!" Seeing other women actually doing it makes it all the more realistic! Our speaker yesterday happened to be one of the founding moms of this particular group and I got that full-circle feeling. The cycle will continue, long after I'm done with the preschool years.

Both kids were pretty well-behaved. Youngest Boy stayed in his "class" the whole time and Baby Girl made it over an hour before they had to come and get me. That's something of a record for my kids, so I'm not complaining! Hopefully we'll have a repeat performance in two weeks at our next meeting...