::sultan's playdate::

I'm not so good at setting up so-called playdates for Max. It's hard because I don't want to just send him over to somebody's house that I've never been to. And other moms feel the same way of course. So it often feels like the first time the moms have to hang out too, get to know each other and keep an eye on the kids. And sometimes that's fun, sometimes not so much. And when it's a nanny or somebody watching the kids, that's just weird.

The nice thing about Max's school though, is that it's a co-op. I didn't know what a co-op school was before we moved here. Basically the parents are all very involved. We go in and clean the school a couple of times a year. We throw fund raisers. We got in once a month and act as the teachers' aid, bringing in snacks, playing with the kids and cleaning up. It's nice that I have time to be that involved in Max's world. It's fun because when you're in the classroom once a month you get a chance to get to know the other kids. And through that it's a little easier to know the other families and feel comfortable with each other.

Anyway, long story short, or short story long, I got Max a playdate. It was with one of the little girls from school whom he adores. In fact, around the time that school started she was his imaginary friend. He'd pretend she was living here too and talk about her all the time. So as I figured he would be, he was psyched.

This little girl is an extreme animal lover. All she can talk about are horses and unicorns at school. When she got to our house and discovered we had a dog she almost lost her mind. She looked at Max like he was crazy and said "you never said you had a DOG!"
She LOVED Sultan. And Sultan loved her right back. She'd let him lick her all over for as long as he wanted. She lay on him and stroked him, hugged him and chased him around. She even picked the "boogies" out of his eyes.

And because she thought he was so cool of course Max had to play along. So he showed off the "tricks" he can do with Sultan. (you know, sit, down, stay). That was pretty exciting.
But then things started to go downhill when she decided she'd rather play with Sultan than do anything that Max wanted to do. She kept saying "I think Sultan wants to spend some time with me now."
I tried to say that Sultan needed a rest and they should go do something else, but she just argued that she'd rest with him.
Max got that bummed out cranky look on his face, and I couldn't blame him. It was as if somebody came over to play and then decided they'd rather hang with your little sister instead!

But then I got them playing hide and go seek or something. Then of course Sul got tackled.


Then she really made Max's day and reinacted the Mama Fish Movie with him a couple of times. That was truly awesome. And it was awesome for me because for once I didn't have to pretend to be Kelly.

It all ended well with a viewing of Martha Speaks on PBS. And naturally they had to watch it with Sultan. I'm surprised they could even see our little TV from where they ended up sitting.

It was pretty cute. And I think everybody ended up having a great time, although things obviously didn't turn out exactly as Max had planned. Luckily he's a pretty good sport.

Now if Max only loved Sultan as much as his little friend does we'd be in business!