Tuesday Play Group

As I have mentioned before we have a great neighborhood. There are lots of Americans that live here, mostly Embassy-State Department folks, but some military too. A great family moved in two doors down from us about a month ago. They have two children, the youngest of which is 2 months older than M&M. She, Erin, decided to start a play group for all the Embassy families. Very brave in my opinion. First because it could potentially be a lot of kiddos and second because it's a lot of extra work and mess for her.

When Erin first told me about the play group, I must admit it caught me off guard for several reasons. I guess with M&M, I haven't given much thought to friends or playmates. They have such fun together, I never worry about things like, "well we haven't been out of the house in 5 days, I wonder if they need to be exposed to other humans besides Andrew and me", or "I wonder how they will be with other children." The twins-thing does have it's benefits in that regard. But play group is a good reason for ME to get out of the house and mix up M&M's routine a bit. They are pretty regimented little babies. My fault totally, but a survival necessity in the beginning. Those that know Andrew and I well wouldn't be shocked that we run a tight ship!

The top picture is them at play group. Yes, I know it looks similar to the pictures we take at home, thanks to our similar floor plans and the Embassy furniture that we are both using. I think the familiarity was good for M&M. Not sure they really knew we weren't at home. Our houses look that much alike. If it wasn't for the different toys and all the kids running around, they probably thought we just took a walk and came right back home.

This is Erin's oldest, Boston, sporting his "Flash" costume. He was so sweet with M&M. You could tell he has a baby sister. Of course as you'll see, M&M were loving all the new and wonderful toys they could chew on.

This is sweet Sadie, Erin's 12 month old, sharing her purse with Mary Ellen. It made sounds and Sadie knew just how it worked. Mary Ellen loved watching her push all the buttons and make the different sounds.

Most of the kiddos in the play group are older, 4 and up, and Erin had wonderful crafts and snacks for everyone. There are 3 others that are 12 months old. But M&M are the only ones not walking. So they just play and the others would drift over to talk to them or give them a toy. Very sweet.

As you can see Michael's favorite Modus Operandi; taking whatever Mary Ellen is playing with. It usually gets dumped the second she lets loose of it and goes for something else. She doesn't seem to mind for now.

All-in-all, M&M did very well with the other children. Really they're used to having someone else to share toys with, so it wasn't a big transition. But I was still very proud of them. We get so many comments on how well behaved they are in public. Like we have much to do with a 10 month old's behavior in public, but we still say "thank you" and take the credit anyway. We truly have been blessed with sweet, loving babies. Truly a joy!