First Play Date

Gracie was so excited for her play date that the first words out of her mouth this morning were, "Mommy Gracie go Hannah's house now." Play dates were a rarity when the boys were little; I guess the boys always had playmates (each other), few people wanted to invite three toddlers to play, and I was too busy to schedule social time. This time around, I am feeling a little secluded with only Grace and being away from other adults, so I was excited for the visit with Audrey and Hannah, too.

Hannah is younger, taller, and much more mature than Gracie. I learned a lot by watching the two of them today. Grace loved driving the car Fred Flinstone style around the basement, swinging, blowing on the recorder, and playing the pink guitar, but she didn't like Hannah's doggy at all. In fact, when the Cocker Spaniel (I think) met her at the door she immediately started squealing, shaking, climbing up Mommy, and crying. Even after a couple of minutes of Hannah telling her that she was a nice dog, the tears still rolled down her cheeks and her body shook anytime the dog came close. She hasn't cried this hard since we refused to let her ride the car/cart at the mall. Finally when the dog was in the bedroom, Gracie was fine and only occasionally asked about him. She loves watching dogs from a distance, talks to them when they are behind fences, and yells at them to "stop barking." But she told Daddy when she got home, "Gracie no like big doggy. Little doggy," and held her fingers up to show that a little doggy was the size of a peanut. She tells us that the doggy bites her hand, so we don't know whether she imagines a dog will bite her or if she has had a traumatic experience with dogs in the past.

We both loved the spinach salad and noodles for lunch, too. Grace loves salad and baby carrots. (So much for the food texture problems we were warned about.) When Hannah was having a chocolate chip cookie, though, Grace took one bite and asked for more noodles. Audry, bless her heart, heated up more noodles for her "dessert" while the rest of us chowed on cookies...

It always surprises me to see Grace with other children, because it really highlights her delays in development. Hannah loves reading books, and she asked me to read some of them to her. Grace has a hard time sitting still for a full story and prefers dancing and singing. Hannah was trying to stack small blocks into a tall tower, and Grace just wanted to knock them over. Hannah actually plays with other children, but Gracie plays next to other children with little interaction. She loves seeing new toys and usually can share if reminded, but she didn't really initiate playing with Hannah at all. In fact, the only area where 5 year old Grace seemed to be more competent than 3 year old Hannah was that she can eat without making hardly any mess at all. I think the girls would love playing together at Scovill playground...