Play dates!

This weekend was Alby’s third play date of the month – he is such a sociable little man. 

First off we had Kathryn, his buddy from nursery.  Actually the word buddy downplays it slightly.  When Kathryn sees Alby she screams his name at the top of her lungs and flaps her arms about.  (She actually shouts his name whenever she goes near the nursery). Kathryn’s mum was having a super busy week so I volunteered to have her for a couple of hours after nursery one day.  

Any concerns I had that Kathryn wouldn’t be too keen on me collecting her at the end of the day were quickly dissolved – she and Alby ran out of the nursery room holding hands, chased each other down the ramp and into the field and then all the way to the park.  We headed to the supermarket and it was my easiest shop by far as Alby and Kathryn kept themselves entertained poking each other, giggling and seeing who could shout louder.  

Alby and his bestest, Kathryn

The second trip was quite a bit more challenging.  From 2pm to 7:30pm I had sole responsibility of Alby and his buddy from NCT days, Arthur.  To begin with it was all quite easy.  I took the boys to the park where they ran around like crazies. Also at the park was a man with his racing pigeons which added a surreal moment to the day as he took one out for us all to stroke.  Once we came home things got a bit more complicated as we moved from neutral territory to Alby’s patch. What’s more, both boys had decided that sleeping was for wimps and missed their afternoon naps, making for tired play mates.  Both boys are also obsessed with tractors and cars and quickly decided that sharing wasn’t cool.  For the next few hours the day went in waves – me exhausting myself coming up with ideas to distract the boys with which they loved and were the example of best friends, followed by me collapsing exhausted and them getting all rather grabby and pushy with each other until I could finally take it no more and came up with another activity. 

Double trouble with Alby and Arthur

An ingenious moment came when I decided to take them to Mark’s office.  From there they watched a helicopter take off, ran around the hanger shouting (Alby loves the echoes you can make in there) and played in a jeep.  Awesome.  When it finally came to home time they both crashed out in the car completely shattered. I followed shortly after.

Only a mild helicopter obsession

The final play date came this weekend and words do not describe how gutted I am that I don’t have photo evidence of this.  Two of our closest, most precious friends came up to visit with their little girl Milly.  She’s six months younger than Alby but the age gap was no issue and the two of them were quickly thick as thieves running around the garden, sharing toys and having cuddles. 

I won’t pretend that Alby is the most perfect of playmates.  Tiredness makes him physical and sharing is, obviously, a skill two year olds have to master.  That said, on every occasion I have praised the work done by and experience he has managed to gain from attending nursery.  I know that there are a huge number of studies which claim nursery can be emotionally damaging to young children, indeed I got freaked out reading many of them when Alby was still a real tiny bub.  However, what I see before me is a well socialised, generous little boy.  He fetches drinks, shares snacks, offers toys and gives out kisses and cuddles to one and all.  He loves holding hands and running around with other children – even the big kids.  He hasn’t mastered sharing but he isn’t too far off, if another child has a toy he wants he offers them a replacement instead of simply committing day light robbery. Yes nursery can have it’s faults but for this month at least I am very chuffed with my friendly, happy little boy.