Your house or mine?

Here's a short quiz for you:

1. It's cold outside and you have a 7-month-old. What do you do?
a. Take a walk around your living room--again
b. Dig into some deep cleaning and try not to spray anything too hazardous on the baby
c. Bundle the baby up to go outside. Watch her poop. Un-bundle her to do a diaper change. Give up.
d. Go to a playdate

2. You're so starved for adult conversation you start talking to the walls. What do you do?
a. Call the friendly receptionist at the pediatrician's office with a made-up malady
b. Wander the neighborhood until you find someone you can strike up a conversation with
c. Go grocery shopping for the 3rd time this week
d. Go to a playdate

3. The baby has played with every toy she owns and all your fine jewelry, yet she's bored to tears. What do you do?
a. Let her pull all your carefully folded clothes out of their respective drawers
b. Sing your whole repertoire of kiddy songs. Again and again and again.
c. Join her in her next screaming fit
d. Go to a playdate

The answer to all the above questions is, of course, d.

Playdates are one thing that Kalina and I completely agree on. We've been to lots recently, with good success. Kalina gets to munch on new toys, and I get to munch on cookies, or at least conversation.

(As an aside, I will admit that not all our playdates are with other babies or at other houses: sometimes we have "fun-with-kitchen-utensil" day on our own, or venture to Target to play with all their fun toys without buying them [no mouthing allowed, of course].)

We both always learn something new. I had to learn and re-learn for the longest time that every baby except mine was sleeping through the night, even those younger than her, and Kalina learns that if she doesn't hold onto the toys tighter, they will get stolen from her. Am I mean to laugh?

We've been to so many fun playdates lately that Kalina now miraculously enjoys her carseat: she knows we're on our way to something better, her own toys having been classified as "boring" for weeks now. We ride in peace and anticiaption.

Upon arrival, Kalina is usually first startled, then horrified and finally ecstatic to meet any family dogs as Mommy ignores her in her carseat while greeting the other mommies (oops, but it somehow happens every time). She then sits calmly on my lap, tricking everyone into thinking she's an "easy" baby. I usually get a good 10-15 minutes before she gets squirmy--and I'm grateful for every one.

With the onset of squirminess comes the introduction of toys. I try to nab one of the brightest and loudest battery-operated gizmos. This is a rare treat for Kalina, as we only have half a dozen battery-operated toys in our house, and five of those are Matt's. She usually figures it out right away and pounds on it for a little while.

After another 10-15 minutes, she's thoroughly bored (and yet I'm sooo not). I stand her up, talk louder and listen closer as she fusses her displeasure. The following 5 minutes have me letting her gnaw on my purse, fingers, hair or credit cards as I buy more time.

All conversations lead to our babies at these playdates. You took an amazing trip to Italy? How did Junior do? Did he try pasta? What color did it make his poo? What brand of diapers is your favorite for him? And so it goes.

When I can no longer talk like a normal person I decide I've ignored my child for long enough, and we go off on an adventure around the room, her walking and me holding her hands as my lower back adjusts itself so I can bend in half.

My goal at this point has switched from chatting with the other moms to ensuring Kalina has as much fun as babily possible. My motives are: 1.) Theoretically, the more active she is during the day the better she'll sleep at night, 2.) The more her mind works the more she'll learn, and the better she'll sleep at night, 3.) At least if she doesn't sleep at night I'll sleep better knowing I've done everything I can.

I try to make sure she has time with each of the best toys, to the point of removing from her hands an old sock she's found behind the couch and is quite contentedly sucking on and replacing it with a purple singing octopus I've all but snatched from the toddler next to me. I think I have as much fun as she does watching her reactions and enjoying the fact that she doesn't really prefer the loudest and brightest toys over the simple blocks, proving that I'm not preserving my sanity at the cost of her intellect.

By the end of the playdate, when the toys are too soggy and the babies too overstimulated to hold, we head out. Back at home, Kalina is once again content with her own playthings (or maybe she's just glad they're not getting taken from her) and I'm assured that she'll likely be worn out enough to sleep "better" that night.