We're kind of new to the play date thing. When we left Germany the boys were almost too young for play dates where the parents weren't also invited. Then we had a bit of time in limbo here in Beijing while the boys made friends that they were interested in having play dates with. Lately it seems the boys have been invited to a lot of play dates and they were bugging me about having their friends over to our house. I figured this week was as good a time as any.
I should have known I had possibly bitten off more than I could chew when all of the teachers were saying, "You are so brave" as our pack was leaving the school. I should have known I had possibly bitten off more than I could chew when I had to do a head count of our pack around 6 times before we made it to the car.
When I got to the school the teachers told me that the kids were all extremely excited and had been all day. I got that impression as I walked into the school and could see Jack and his friend Izzie's faces pressed up against the windows staring at the school's entrance.
After a short ride home with kids screaming and my driver laughing, we made it to our house. To the kids it might as well have been the gates of Wallyworld the way they acted once I opened the front door. Kids scattered everywhere. I had kids upstairs, downstairs, outside, going potty, hungry, scared of Indy, wanting to play with Indy. For the next two hours I had kids needing their gloves on, shoes off, diaper changed (Nugget), hands washed, nose wiped. Kids drawing, playing soccer, playing Legos, doing experiments, building with Magnetix, playing sword fight. I can't believe it was only two hours.
We had a busy, loud house for those two hours and to you play date veterans I probably sound a bit dramatic, but it was our first "official" play date and in hindsight I'd say I probably should have started with one friend each AND enlisted another adult to help. I've also gotta say, boys have A LOT of energy (like I didn't know that already). Even the girls seemed to sit back once in a while seemingly blown away by all the testosterone.
All's well now though. The boys went to bed tired and happy, and after 3/4 bottle of wine I'd declare our afternoon a success.
Kiddos after school snack:
Mommy's pre-play date snack:
Jack and his best friend Izzie:
Again, all of this happened in about two hours:
To my boy's credit, they lived up to their promise of cleaning up the basement after everyone was gone.
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