Cold winter days

Baby S and I have been spending our winter days either at the library, strolling the beach or his personal favorite at the local daycare center's posh indoor playroom. He loves it there, can't get enough of the place with it's darling faux kitchen and living room, doctor's office and the doll nursery. It also has a baby sized jungle gym, lots of little ride-on cars and most important of all, lots of other children.

I often sit reading while he plays, galavanting about out of the corner of my watchful eye. Other mothers usually come in groups and gossip with friends or talk on their cell phones and because of this I seldom have the opportunity to meet anyone. The other day though I spied a young mom in her early twenties sitting alone. She looked up and smiled at me. I smiled back but then immediately thought, "have I done something wrong...did I forget to shut the gate" French moms don't smile. I rechecked the gate.

It turned out that this mom's son was close to Baby S's age and they seemed to be enjoying playing together. It wasn't until I started talking with her that I learned she's an étrangere from Turkey, which of course explained the smile. We're going to have a play date later in the week at her house. She seems very lonely and eager to talk. I can certainly understand that. She kept insisting on having the play date at her home, even though I gently suggested we go out somewhere, go to my place or come to the play center. She insisted though and I couldn't really continue to argue without seeming rude. I just hate spending days inside and Baby S has a great playroom at our house which is a good alternative when we don't go outside. I guess I just hate going to other people's house. It's probably a control issue. I really enjoy being in my house near my things, especially because visiting someone's house with a baby is always a chore. You never know what they'll get into.

Oh well, I can bake a pretty mean chocolate chip cookie. She has no idea what she's missing.