Faith had her first playdate with a friend from school at our house yesterday. Her friend, Anna Carmen, came home from school with us. The girls were gitty in the car on the way home and were very excited to be together outside of school. It was very cute to see Faith so excited to be with her friend. She hasn’t had many playdates with friends whose mom’s aren’t my friends. I realized that I need to do it more often. The girls played wonderfully together, of course, but it was difficult for Wilson. I had to keep him entertained so that he wouldn’t go downstairs to play with them. I realized that Faith is his playmate and when she has a friend over it is hard on him. He kept wanting to go downstairs to play with them. Eventually the three of them did play together. Wilson went and asked the girls if they wanted to take the cushions off the couch and make a castle. They said “yes” and I was proud of Wilson for taking the initiative and asking them politely to play with him.
Now this is where the story gets interesting…..The kids took the cushions off the couch, jumped around and then sat of them to watch one TV show and eat popcorn. After that they went off to Wilson’s room to play. I knew that Anna Carmen’s dad was going to be arriving to pick her up around 3:15 so I began to clean up the living room. That morning I had cleaned up the house so that when a fellow parent from CDS came into my house for the first time he would not think that it was the dirty and clutter filled house that I feel it typically is. I couldn’t do anything about the size or style of the house, but I could remedy the messy part. Well, 3:15 crept up on me and as I was about to put the cushions back on the couch when I realized how much popcorn and other crumbs were in the couch so I got out the vacuum cleaner. Wouldn’t you know it! As soon as I started to vacuum out the crumbs Anna Carmen’s dad arrived. I then thought, “Oh well! I guess he will see the couch without the cushions put back on properly.” He came in and was very nice. We then had to walk down the hall to get Anna Carmen to come out of Wilson’s room because she didn’t want to leave. We opened Wilson’s door to find that he had taken all of the clothes out of his drawers and they were scattered all over his room! After the kids jumped off the bunk bed a couple of times, Anna Carmen wanted him to see Faith’s room. Now he was going downstairs to see the rest of the house – which I had not planned on! The downstairs is definitely not the neatest : it is the place where we put things we don’t know what to do with. The Christmas tree was still in a box in the hallway! Faiths room wasn’t too bad, but the floor in her room is pretty ghetto because it is concrete with a throw rug on it. The kids then jumped on her bed. It looked like complete lawlessness! I had to assure him that the kids were not this hyper the entire time, they only got this way when he arrived. I seriously felt like a babysitter that was caught having no control of the kids and leaving the house a mess when the parents came home. Anna Carmen’s dad gave no indication that this was how he felt, but I felt that way. I was totally embarrassed and irritated because I had actually tried to make a good impression.
I don’t know why I feel that I have to impress anyone, but with the parents at the private school I feel a bit insecure. I assume that they all have a lot more money than we do, and therefore, all have bigger and better houses. They may, but it shouldn’t matter. I know that each year we will be scraping together every last penny we have in order to send Faith to this school, and it is worth the sacrifice. I have to accept that we are who we are and not compare myself with the Jones’, or the Gunns in this case.
In the end, I got over it and met Erin and her kids at the playground. She assured me that my kids are well balanced and have fun in our house. That is all that matters….and it is.
We played at the park for an hour, even though it was only 39 degrees out. The only reason we left was because poor Miller was freezing. It was a good way for me to clear my head and put things into perspective. I am still a bit embarrassed about how the play date ended but it is nothing to dwell on. Live and learn!