I'm Not Ready

When Katie was born, I became a bit isolated. We kept to ourselves in Winder, and then Aidan was born, and once again, we stayed fairly isolated. Then we moved to the apartment in Douglasville and I became pregnant with Noah. I joined MOPS, and I met some of the nicest, most caring and unselfish women I've ever known. They gave up their Christmas Eve to take Katie and Aidan out so that I could rest with Noah on our first day home from the hospital. They even made us lunch, dinner, and Christmas breakfast, and my heart was overflowing. We then moved to our house in Winston, and I continued to stay friends with MOPS women. Katie made friends with our next door neighbors, and suddenly, we no longer kept to ourselves. Those kids were constantly over, helping themselves to my food and making messes, but we nipped that in bud and the kids rarely came over. Instead, Katie became friends with our other neighbors, and it worked out well. Then, we moved again, and unfortunately, our neighborhood did not have any young kids in there, so once again, we became a bit isolated.

As we began searching for a house to call our own, we came upon our current subdivision. We drove around and saw several young children, happily playing on the sidewalks. We made the offer, and 4 months later, moved in! We have been craving having young families around so that the kids can play with other children and stop living like nomads. We began going to the pool, and Katie quickly made a friend named Mary. Another time, as we were walking to the pool, a car pulled beside us and recognized Aidan--a boy from his pre-k class, Hayden, lives across the street from us, and his dad coaches t-ball in Dacula!

Most recently, Katie has made friends with the girl next door, Mackenzie. Suddenly, Mackenzie is over at our house daily, and Mary has been stopping by as well. I am not ready of this!! What happened to the days of playdates, where the moms made the plans and chatted while the children played? Suddenly, Katie has become Ms. Popular, and her new friends are constantly ringing the doorbell and asking Katie to play with them. Overnight, I have turned into That Mom--you know, the one who wants to know exactly where her child is at all times, sets a specific time for her child to be home, and has implemented strict guidelines when friends are over. Don't get me wrong--I am thrilled that she is making friends, but I have not been on this side (the parent side) of having friends over without adults. She growing up too fast. All of a sudden, I am flashforwarding 10 years and can envision her asking to go out to the mall in her friends' cars--augh!! I know this is part of growing up, but I am having to grow up as well, in a sense. I am becoming more than a mom of small children. I am also the mom of an older child, and it's a bit scary, because it's unchartered territory for me. Now that she's 7, of course I can't expect to have "playdates" like she used to have. Instead, she's going over to friends' houses and inviting them over here. She's making plans to go trick or tricking with a group of friends, and poor Aidan cried when Katie took off with her friends without him. It's a time of change for all of us!