Playdate!

Peeper and I had a big day today!

We drove down to MostRecentWorkTown and our first stop was for a visit at the Learning Center. We saw ED1 and the two new directors, both of whom were teachers when I was Center Director.

Then, we had a playdate with my friend M (who was also a teacher when I was there) and her daughter, W, who is either 9 days (birth ages) or 6 weeks (gestational ages) older than Peeper.

M and I have been talking about a playdate since, oh, I found out she was pregnant, and we were getting ready to do IVF, but this is the first time we've actually made it happen.

We had a nice visit, the babies got to stare at each other, and grab each other's ears (not simultaneously, but they each did that once, when they were lying near each other on the floor) and steal each other's toys, and the Mamas got to spend a couple of hours talking to someone who gets it.

Don't get me wrong, Shrike gets a whole hell of a lot of it, but her experience of motherhood is very different from mine, not only because I did the birthing and am now doing the breastfeeding, but even more so because I'm home with Peeper all day and she's going out into the world every day.

It was very good for me to talk to another first-time stay at home mom, with a baby the same age, who went through a hell of a time with breastfeeding, and just a lot of other stuff that we could both relate to.

Breastfeeding did not work out for M and W, in the long run, but she has identified many points at which she received bad advice, or was not well-supported, or was basically sabotaged, and is determined to have a different outcome if she ever gets the chance for a do-over.

She told me how happy she was for me that Peeper and I were able to finally get it worked out and, although I felt a little guilty about having gotten the "happy ending" to that story, when she wasn't able to, I really think that she genuinely meant it.

W is a little cutie - or, I guess "little" isn't the right word, since she's about twice Peeper's size.

As she should be. Her birthweight was more than twice Peeper's (just under 10 pounds) which means that Peeper's actually not that much bigger now, than W was at birth.

It was funny, because M kept saying, about Peeper, "She's so little!" and I kept saying, about W, "She's so coordinated!"

She certainly is a few weeks ahead of Peeper (as she should be) on her fine motor skills. Whereas Peeper will bat and grope at a toy, and finally (accidentally?) pick it up and start bashing herself in the face with it, W just reaches out, grabs it and sticks it in her mouth - like you or I would do!

It was actually a cool little sneak-preview of what Peeper will be doing in a few weeks.

A good time was had by all, and we're definitely planning to do it again - maybe we'll meet up in Shrike'sWorkTown (midway) next time.

After our playdate, Peeper and I met Mommy at work for dinner, just like the old days - only with Peeper on the outside this time!

We picked up Taco Bell, ate in the lunch room and then visited with some of Mommy's co-workers.

I was a very big day. We left the house a little before 1 pm, and it was pushing 9 pm when we got home. That is by far the longest that Peeper and I have been out and about on our own.

We both survived, with no major meltdowns . . .

(Well, okay, she did cry a lot in the car, and I did call Shrike on the way down there, to bitch about that. It went something along the lines of, "See! This is why I can never leave the fucking house!" But then she settled down, while I was still on the phone.)

. . . and we still had a couple of clean diapers, and one clean outfit, in the bag when we got home.

I'm kind of proud of us.