Intro to Playgroups
I was working on a blog entry a few days ago, that I still need to finish up, but in light of me inadvertently participating in a playgroup today, I thought I would share. Today I had to run some errands, and one of them being I need to stop by the church we go to. Matt is going to be a godfather for one of his cousins, (well 2nd cousin once remove) and their church requires that the priest of our parish signs off on it saying Matt is in fact a practicing Catholic with good intentions. So me being the good wife that I am, I stopped by the parish office to have the secretary sign off on it. I also took Grant with me, because taking him places I figured gives me good practice to learn the art of running errands with a baby. And Grant seems to sleep like a peaceful angel in the car. With the exception of today on the way home, poor little guy was hungry, and cried the entire car ride home. I felt really bad. But anyways I went to the Parrish office, and had the secretary sign off on the paper. She was telling me about how there was a playgroup going on right then and there in the basement of the church. She asked me if I wanted to check it out, and me being polite, I said yes. I figured it couldn't hurt. After all this is what moms do, right? Hang out with other moms and let their little children play. Though I had a feeling I was going to feel out of place considering my child is not at the age of playing with other kids. He's more like at the age of sleeping all day.
So the secretary takes me downstairs to this creepy basement, I discover that the parish office and church connects to each other underground. We went through a bunch of hallways, and there we were in the "undercroth" as my church calls it. As I get there, there are about 7-8 moms, and one dad. And a bunch of small children running around chasing each other. Most of the kids there were at the ages of 3 to 4 years old. Once I saw the general age groups of kids, I knew I was going to feel out of place with my 5 week old baby. So I sat down made some smalltalk with the moms at the table I was sitting at. Conversation was short, and I felt really out of place, considering the moms seemed older, maybe in their early to mid thirties. And their kids were one year old and two years old. So I really couldn't relate with them, because I only have a wee little baby. I did give one of the moms my email, because she was going to let me know when upcoming playgroups were. Apparently they meet every Friday either at the church or at someone's house. My favorite part, was I asked for a pen to write my email address on, since I didn't have one on me, and she gave me a permanent marker and a piece of clear plastic that Hallmark gift wrap once was in. I thought it was a creative way to record my email. I got to say she was at least resourceful.
The best part of the playgroup was that they had food. They had pizza! So I ate a slice of pizza, in awkward silence as the other two moms chat with each other. Than I started at the icing cookie cake they had sitting with the food. It wasn't cut, and there were no knives to cut it. And I didn't want to be the first to slice into. There were spoons, and I was tempted to just take a big chunk out of it with a spoon, but I figured the moms would not appreciate it. So I let the sad cookie cake taunt me. Ha, though now that I think about it, I wouldn't have been able to have it anyways since I gave up chocolate for lent. And I think it had chocolate chips in it. So there you go, it doesn't make me feel as sad.
There was only one mom who had a baby near Grant's age. And of course she had two other kids beside him. He is six weeks, and weighs 13 pounds. Grant is 5 weeks and weighs 8 pounds. Grant looked so much smaller compared to him. And it made me sick that the mom didn't look like she just had a baby six weeks ago, considering it was her third pregnancy. She and other ladies awe and cooed at Grant for a few minutes and then after that walked away. I felt really out of place and awkward. I just didn't have much to say to these ladies. Maybe its because of my age. Though I didn't think I was that young. (Though I look way younger than I really am) I will be 28 in two weeks. Maybe a couple of them were my age. But with their 2-3 kids over the age of 3, it makes them see way older than me. I just don't have the life experience yet to relate to any of them. Maybe in another 3 or 4 years from now, I'll feel right in place with that group. But for now I don't think Playgroups is my scene. And it's not like taking a small infant to a playgroup will be that exciting anyways. I might as well wait when Grant is like 2 years old and old enough to run around and play with others. So maybe one day I'll love playgroups, but for now I just enjoy being antisocial and hanging out with my little snugglely bug Grant. :)
So the secretary takes me downstairs to this creepy basement, I discover that the parish office and church connects to each other underground. We went through a bunch of hallways, and there we were in the "undercroth" as my church calls it. As I get there, there are about 7-8 moms, and one dad. And a bunch of small children running around chasing each other. Most of the kids there were at the ages of 3 to 4 years old. Once I saw the general age groups of kids, I knew I was going to feel out of place with my 5 week old baby. So I sat down made some smalltalk with the moms at the table I was sitting at. Conversation was short, and I felt really out of place, considering the moms seemed older, maybe in their early to mid thirties. And their kids were one year old and two years old. So I really couldn't relate with them, because I only have a wee little baby. I did give one of the moms my email, because she was going to let me know when upcoming playgroups were. Apparently they meet every Friday either at the church or at someone's house. My favorite part, was I asked for a pen to write my email address on, since I didn't have one on me, and she gave me a permanent marker and a piece of clear plastic that Hallmark gift wrap once was in. I thought it was a creative way to record my email. I got to say she was at least resourceful.
The best part of the playgroup was that they had food. They had pizza! So I ate a slice of pizza, in awkward silence as the other two moms chat with each other. Than I started at the icing cookie cake they had sitting with the food. It wasn't cut, and there were no knives to cut it. And I didn't want to be the first to slice into. There were spoons, and I was tempted to just take a big chunk out of it with a spoon, but I figured the moms would not appreciate it. So I let the sad cookie cake taunt me. Ha, though now that I think about it, I wouldn't have been able to have it anyways since I gave up chocolate for lent. And I think it had chocolate chips in it. So there you go, it doesn't make me feel as sad.
There was only one mom who had a baby near Grant's age. And of course she had two other kids beside him. He is six weeks, and weighs 13 pounds. Grant is 5 weeks and weighs 8 pounds. Grant looked so much smaller compared to him. And it made me sick that the mom didn't look like she just had a baby six weeks ago, considering it was her third pregnancy. She and other ladies awe and cooed at Grant for a few minutes and then after that walked away. I felt really out of place and awkward. I just didn't have much to say to these ladies. Maybe its because of my age. Though I didn't think I was that young. (Though I look way younger than I really am) I will be 28 in two weeks. Maybe a couple of them were my age. But with their 2-3 kids over the age of 3, it makes them see way older than me. I just don't have the life experience yet to relate to any of them. Maybe in another 3 or 4 years from now, I'll feel right in place with that group. But for now I don't think Playgroups is my scene. And it's not like taking a small infant to a playgroup will be that exciting anyways. I might as well wait when Grant is like 2 years old and old enough to run around and play with others. So maybe one day I'll love playgroups, but for now I just enjoy being antisocial and hanging out with my little snugglely bug Grant. :)
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