1 + 1 Makes Fun!!

She's getting a playmate! A regular five days a week playmate! I am sooo excited not just for the simple fact that she has a buddy to hang out with or that "socializing" my toddler is so important to me but because she gets to interact with another toddler without any interruptions from well-meaning adults.

I have a little secret -- I can't stand playgroups. They irritate me more than Canadian politics and President bush -- OK so politics. Period. Being someone who has worked in a room with a dozen toddlers at once finds that it is like finger nails down a chalkboard when I take her into a group of other young children only to hear, "SHARE that!" "No hitting!" "Wait your turn!" or my recent favourite, a mother told her 3 year old son, "don't play at the dollhouse, it's not a boy toy." I love that he went to the play kitchen next, hehe :)

What I am so excited about is the constant and quality interaction she is going to have by having another little one at our house for possibly a very good portion of her childhood. The two of them will go about their day and run into the many challenges of toddlerhood such as, "he 'tole my toy" "mi-ine!" "me! me! me!" I'll step in and guide them along the way and set boundaries when needed. But, for the most part, they're just going to play, play, play (because that's how kids learn). Sharing and waiting and not beating each other will come up as the life lessons that they'll learn naturally when the time comes -- and not by being snapped at, grrr :)