And so another phase begins

My baby is graduating from Mommy-and-Me type playing with other kids to My-Buddies-and-Me type playing, where I just watch and let him do his own thing with the other kids. It's weird to watch him playing at day-care or nursery without my constant commentary ("Look, Baby, this is Nora! Say hi to Nora! Can you share? Share your truck with Nora? Hooray for Baby! Baby shared his truck with Nora! You want your truck back from Nora? Can you say please? OK, Nora has decided to play with the truck for a little longer! Can you be patient? Can you wait for Nora to finish? OK, Nora's all done now! Now you can play with the truck again! Can you say thank you? Thank you, Nora!"). Instead I watch through a little window in the door and hope my commentary about sharing, patience, please, and thank you will prevent him and the other children from being bullied, ignored, or ostracized.

Last night at the Extended Family Christmas Party, Baby toddled into the basketball court where a bunch of kids were playing a variation on dodge ball that involved rolling a volleyball under the volleyball net.

I watched from the doorway as Baby shuffled back and forth through the middle of the game. He was already in his feetie-jammies, and he was by far the youngest kid there, so I was a little nervous about potential slippings or clonkings.

Even though rolling a ball more than about two feet is beyond his immediate ability, he laughed and clapped for all of the other kids who did it, which they appreciated. And then the other kids were classy enough to stop the game and let him try to throw the ball. When he gave it his best one-year-old effort, they all clapped for him. Baby happens to think that all humans between two and four feet are about the coolest ever, so he was deliriously happy when they clapped for him. When the game dissolved into some kind of running around in lines game, they were so sweet about not bumping into him, but also running close enough to him that he didn't feel deserted. He loved it! I loved it! What a great party!

Non-Mom playing? Bring it on.