Splashy Morning

I belong to a local MOMS Club chapter & I highly recommend joining something like this if you are considering staying at home.  It isn't exclusive to mothers - we have a stay-at-home-dad in our small group too.  I was hesitant at first to join such a group.  I live in a relatively small town and didn't want to not "fit in" and then run into someone from the group at the grocery store.  I also have plenty of family nearby and found lots of things to keep us busy when Addison was a small baby.  As Addison grew, I began to realize that she truly needs exposure to children around her age.  When she was about 10 months old, I went for it and attended my first MOMS Club event.  I have found the group to be diverse, yet like-minded enough that we can empathize with each other's situations and offer great support.  We plan all sorts of activities and everything is casual.  We let the kids be kids and we all understand when someone needs to leave early.  We also have one night per month when we go out without the kids.  Can you believe it?!  Dinner, movies, pedicures, drinks - anything for a little adult conversation!  Sure, we end up talking about the kids most of the time, but at least we don't have them clinging to us or running away (it's usually one of those two extremes).  

This morning one of our members had us over her house for an awesome playdate.  Her husband rents party equipment and set up two huge inflatable water slides.  Addison is SUCH a water girl so I knew she'd love it, but OMGeeeeeee, she was thrilled.  Shrieking, jumping, laughing, and babbling away with water splashing everywhere.  It isn't easy to bring your little ones places, especially places involving water.  It is a lot of physical hard work (have you ever applied sunscreen to a wriggling toddler?).  In the case of this morning, seeing the beautiful smile on my daughter's face was an apt reminder of that "they are so worth it" cliche that experienced parents like to impart on new parents.  Will she remember this day?  No, but I do think it helps build her personality and character.  I think happiness can be learned.