Friday, May 22, 2009

Playdate Frenemies

My friend J and I were pregnant at approximately the same time give or take a few months. Sugarbaby was born in May and her darling daughter, A.L. was born in August. We'd sit around, fat and happy during our pregnancies, and muse over how fun it would be that they were so close in age. They'd share clothes, toys, eventually crushes. They would be the best of friends.

When A.L. was born, we got together as often as we could, like moms with newborns do, for a play date. Where the play dates consisted of us gossiping and snacking and sipping a beer if it was that time of day. Where the babies slept contentedly in their carriers or sat propped on our laps like a bag of flour. But then came the day when Sugarbaby decided mobility no longer eluded her. She could move and move she did. Now play dates consisted of A.L. hanging out in her exersauser and Sugarbaby rolling around the floor.

And then Sugarbaby progressed even more. Being a whole three months older than A.L. makes a big difference when it comes to milestones. Sugarbaby was sitting up, crawling, pulling up on the closest available piece of furniture or human leg. She would make her way over to A.L.'s area and pull up on the exersaucer and scream in her face. At first it was cute. Oh look, she's excited and saying hello.

A few months went by and now Sugarbaby could crawl and A.L. could sit up unassisted. We visited J's house for a play date and I plopped Sugarbaby down in A.L.'s room to play. Quick as lightning she crawled across the floor and form tackled A.L. Whooping an Indian war cry the whole way. Once A.L. was down, Sugarbaby commenced to grabbing skin and clothes and biting her face. She would have pulled hair if A.L. had any to grab. It was a struggle to pull my crazed daughter off my friend's sweet baby. I was aghast. What was wrong with her? Why was she so darn mean?

This wasn't a one time occurrence. Anytime J and A.L. were around, Sugarbaby tried her best to get at her baby friend. You could just see the look of trepidation on poor A.L.'s face. She was scared of my daughter. In an instant I had a vision of Sugarbaby being a mean girl. You know the ones I'm talking about. The popular girls who bully, and manipulate, and back stab. Mean girls. Just plain mean.

It has been a few more months since Sugarbaby's initial attack, and A.L. has begun to crawl around and hold her own. She even outweighs Sugarbaby but that doesn't stop my mean little girl. She still tries to get her bluff in with A.L., but every now and then she plays nice. And sweet little A.L.? She's learning to fight back. She better start now and put Sugarbaby in her place, because there's only room for one mean girl in this household. I bet you can guess who that is.





Round One




Round Two






5 comments:

  1. Babywrestling! WOO HOO!

    (and Mom's standing by taking pictures LOL)

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  2. sugarbaby is a bruiser, that other baby looks terrified. someday they will be buddies i am sure

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  3. Susan- I know. I'm sooooo responsible.

    Suz- They're getting along better now but she better watch out cause A.L. is going to be way bigger than her.

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  4. LOL,great action shots! The look on the poor baby's face as Sugarbaby looks like she's about to eat her and take her down simultaneously is priceless. Good luck to those friends, I hope they can eventually play nice. I'm sure they will :)

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  5. They love each other.But come on now this is what girls our age are STILL doing. better to learn early.

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Now play nice and for every comment you leave, I'll buy you a pony.