Play Dates

Every good caretaker knows that your charges need a chance to get outside of the norm. From nannies in Manhattan, to mothers in the 'burbs, playdates are the mechanism of choice for that change of pace. Well, this caretaker has been watching his primary caretakee and decided it was time for a playdate.

To help pull it off, I call a fellow caretaker and arranged for our caretakees to get together this morning for a marathon scrapbooking session. We corralled the kids at his place (he also has a Wii, bless him) and let our caretakees go crazy at my place. My caretakee prepared by organizing all her scrapbooking paraphenaial and putting plain and peanut M&Ms in a bowl. (Paper, pens, scissors, ribbons, pictures, glue, and chocolate: the essentials for scrapbooking.) When the other caretakee arrived, with bags and containers in tow, I knew the playdate was going to be a success. Here were two people ready to do some serious scrapbooking.

I had a wonderful time at the other caretakers house, checking out his favorite sites, playing a little Wii, watching his son play some serious Wii (my crystal ball is telling me that Cars will be our next Wii purchase), letting his daughter and Clara play together, then piling everyone in the car for a CostCo run.

At one point we had to run by our house - I'd forgotten to grab the Mario Party 8 disc out of our Wii - and found the two caretakees, surrounded by the accoutrements of their hobby, going to town. I snapped a pic for posterity.

Playdates, scrapbooking, and CostCo. Can we get any more suburban?