Yesterday we saw the magic of playmates. Maeve loves playing with her friend T, who is a year and a half older than her. T is a busy toddler, mentioned previously in this blog - she's the shrieker. Yesterday, Maeve and T got to play while Maeve was truly mobile, for the first time. It was fun to watch.
The best part, besides T working on her sharing skills, was seeing Maeve learn things because T showed her how. This is what Maeve is missing out on being the oldest, she usually has to figure everything out for herself. But yesterday, T paved the way, and Maeve picked it up quick, much more quickly than she would if I showed her how to do something.
I think Maeve watches T closely to pick up new skills; she understands that T is a kid, too, and is therefore an authority on playing and toys, whereas Mom and Dad are clearly amateurs. You can see the look on her face every time DH or I puts something random on our heads, just to entertain Maeve. She looks at you like, "Dude, you look ridiculous. Gimme that" and removes the item from the head. But T clearly knows what she's doing.
It gave me new resolve yesterday, to get Maeve playing with other kids more often. I know it's good for her, I just forget how good. So now I just need more of my local friends to have babies. Ready... go!
Maeve and T - too busy to look up for the camera. |
If you can't force your friends to create playmates for Maeve, you should look into The Mommies Network (http://www.themommiesnetwork.org/locations.php); most of my friends don't have kids, so my local mommies group has been wonderful for both me and Sammy!
ReplyDeleteI looked - the closest meetup is about an hour from me, with that site anyway. I'm on Meetup, but haven't managed to get to a meeting yet!
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