Each month, E's baby book asks me to tell it about his new friends. I'm not really sure what it's looking for; he's a baby. It's not like I can check out his speed dial to know who his "five" are. Does this silly book want me to write down which stuffed animals he's currently trying to maul? Maybe which neighborhood dogs elicit the loudest squeals? Probably it wants to know which children at playgroup he tries to take the toys from, but given that this is the extent of their interaction I hesitate to call them friends. This month I finally have something that will get that book off my back.
As of today, E goes to daycare part time so that I have dedicated time to work toward my degree. I had made some half-hearted attempts throughout the school year to find care for him but nothing panned out. The choices were far bleaker than I could have imagined and I was far more reluctant to leave him than I had expected. Recently and out of the blue, a perfect situation arose. An old friend of ours is now going to watch the little guy a few afternoons a week. She has a beautiful, happy, and sweet daughter about 6 months older than little E. She is his first non-family, non-pet, non-stuffed animal friend.
Apparently, they spent most of the afternoon chasing each other around. I got to see a bit of this before I left. It was adorable. It is amazing to see E interacting with another child; he was actually playing with her and not just trying to get whatever toy she had (well, not always). Another amazing thing is that at a mere 16 months little Miss M shares! She handed toys to E even when he wasn't trying to grab them from her.
The little ones were playing a sort of chase/peek-a-boo game when I tried to say good bye. E has some grasp of the phrase "bye-bye" but I don't think he even heard me. He took his hug and then scooted right back to his new friend. Mrs. M related that, about 20 minutes after I left, he realized I wasn't there and got a bit nervous. Nervous. Not bad, considering he used to scream bloody murder for our mother's helper when the Mav or I left the room.
When we picked him up he seemed happy to see us but in a "hey, glad you're here" sort of way and not a "I thought you had abandoned me" way. So that's good. If only I was the one who got to play with friends instead of facing the abyss that is my research project.
Sorry for such a long, picture-less post. I plan to spend the next few evenings working but I'll get a new picture up by the weekend.
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