the first rule of playgroup is you do not talk about playgroup

perhaps you recall a few days ago when i posted about being adverse to group activities? well, call it hypocrisy (i prefer to call it "personal growth"), but i've started a playgroup. yes, not just joined, but instigated. but i promise there will be no baby nukem....

i had organized this baby roundup through a yahoo group for parents in my hood, and, once i had gotten some interested responses and a general consenus of nap times (the force that rules our lives: the nap!), had posted a message to the group that gave the time and place, and said that i'd be identifiable by my red-and-white striped shirt. (yes, the one that i'm wearing in the new photo that i just put up in the sidebar. purely coincidence. though i do love that shirt—esprit from like 5 seasons ago. anyway....) so i get there a little before the appointed time, the boo and i get settled, and then...we wait. the appointed time passes and...we wait some more. i start to feel totally conspicuous and like a total loser in my red-and-white striped shirt, like some dork who set up a blind date and is waiting there holding a red rose waiting for the girl, who came down the street, saw him and his rose, and kept on walking. fifteen minutes pass. we do some swinginating. finally, at around 20 after, a mom comes over by the swings and asks "are you guys from the yahoo group?" and though i want to say "yes, don't you see my stupid shirt and why are you so late my anxieties are all acting up??!!", i just smile and introduce myself and go meet her kids (twins!) and their babysitter...who had been there the whole time we'd been there, but how was i to know? i was the one wearing the striped shirt, they were suppose to be looking for me! so we chat for a bit, then another mom shows up with the most adorable little girl who is wile's age almost exactly but is walking like a pro, then deena and finn randomly show up, not knowing about the group, and even more randomly ask me if i know of any playgroups (of course i do! don't you see the shirt?!), so we pull them in, and then another mom with a little boy named lucas who i spoke to at the farmer's market once...and i don't feel like a dork anymore. in fact, i feel like a mover and a shaker. someone who gets things, um, moving and shaking.

oh, right, so how did wile like it? well, there was more mom interaction than baby interaction at this meeting, but i have high hopes for the future. i brought 4 balls with us, which minimized the "i don't have a ball in each of my hands oh my god!" freakouts. and wile and lucas did some slide-climbing and smacked each other on the head, which i take as a sign of a budding friendship.