playdates

today was madelyn's first drop-off play date. one of her classmates from preschool that she invited to her birthday party couldn't make it and invited her over to play instead. the problem was that i didn't know her classmate or her family. when do you let your baby go with strangers?

matt and i discussed it and decided to let her go. the plan was to drop her off late morning and pick her up around 2. we trust madelyn and i gave her a few safety rules before we went. she was beyond excited!

mason, on the other hand, was devastated. i had to leave him in the car while i walked her up to the door. he wanted to go too and had a hard time accepting that he wasn't invited. it didn't help that there were a lot of boys playing outside when we got there.

as a consolation i offered to pick up mcdonald's. mason really, really wanted to eat inside. it is odd to me because there isnt a play land or anything. he just likes sitting at the table inside. the boys made delightful company and manning slept the whole time which was exciting. the only downside was maddux fell asleep on the way so i was carrying a sleeping maddux and manning in the carrier with mason walking next to me. a man coming in from the parking lot picked up his pace to the door when he saw me, but didn't hold the door! what? even without the kids i would expect someone to hold the door. oh well. common courtesy can be hard to come by these days (doesn't that make me sound like i'm 100).

when we got back home mason said that he wanted to make a craft. i came up with a treasure map. we drew it out and decorated it (mason made an impressive palm tree). then i rolled it up and secured it with a rubber band. he thought that this was the greatest thing ever! what put it over the top was when i let them use a large box as their 'boat'. he/they would get in the box, get out, roll out the map, talk about where to go, roll the map back up and get back into their 'boat'.

again maddux was upset that i didn't wait for him to smile.

 

the 'boat' was shipwrecked in an unfortunate battle. it took some discussion but i convinced them that it could still be fun. they still used it as a boat/raft for a while and then maddux decided that they could still go inside - together.

maddux has never had a sleeping bag and won't even sleep covered up in any way, but he liked using the box as a bed. and when madelyn got home (and made her own rolled up map) he showed her how to use their box bed.

i am happy to report that the play date went well. madelyn had a great time. the only snafu was that madelyn couldn't find the two ponies she brought with her (against my advisement and she knew they would be gone if left or lost). as we were leaving (and she was still crying) her friend's brother found her ponies. whew!

we will have to return the favor before school starts. love.