Play Date

Do eight year olds still call having their friends over a "play date?"

If so, that's what we did yesterday. Alyssa's best friend came over at 10:00, we carved pumpkins, at 11:15, I fed all three girls and at noon, my mom picked us up and took us to a corn maze.

Back up there a bit. Before S arrived, Tom asked why there were four pumpkins on our front porch.

I explained that since S was coming over, we had to have a pumpkin for her too. And obviously, I need one to carve, so with A and O and me and S, four pumpkins.

He didn't understand why we were providing a pumpkin for S.

I patiently explained to him that when one invites a child over for an activity, one provides the materials for that activity.

He thought that was ridiculous and was quite adamant that he'd never heard such a thing.

I told him that if asked any mother out there if they would provide a pumpkin for a child they'd invited to their house to carve pumpkins, every single one of them would say yes, you make sure every child has a pumpkin.

I don't think I ever convinced him that this is common practice, though, so I finally gave up and told him to leave the logistics of having friends over to me. I think he is happy to do so.

And yes, we let S take her pumpkin home with her at the end of the playdate.

The corn maze was really fun. Except that Olivia, who fluctuates between 35 pounds nad 337 pounds, refused to take more than five steps at a time and insisted on being carried the rest of the time. My arms are sore today from all that carrying. We were in the maze for about an hour, that's an hour of me carrying O from one end of the maze to the other.

My mom mentioned today that maybe it wasn't laziness and being spoiled rotten that made O want to be carried. On the way to the maze we talked about the couple recently in the news for getting lost in a corn maze for four hours with a five year old and a newborn.

Olivia listens to everything. She might have been scared. That makes sense considering the way that she put her head down must of the time we were in the maze. For all we know, she thought we were in the very maze that those people got lost in. And she is small, from her vantage point the few times I put her on her feet, all she could see was corn, corn and more corn.

I guess a little muscle soreness is worth reassuring my child that she's safe.

Alyssa and S had a ball in the maze. They were always at least ten paces ahead of me and my mom and Olivia. They led the way the entire time and were a constant source of amusement.

I'd say we managed to make yesterday a play date to remember.