Today was one of those glorious “OMG, winter might not actually last forever” kind of days.  After days of pouring rain that left nearly every basement in Massachusetts flooded, today was perfection.  Temps in the 60s and bright sunshine, hardly a cloud in the sky.  We were thrilled to make a triumphant return to one of our favorite playgrounds.

It was a playdate with the usual suspects, our core group of twin-mom friends.  Six moms, 15 kids, no biggie.  The playground is reasonably friendly to the littler ones, and who can complain when you’re wearing sunglasses and no jacket? But one of my favorite parts of the afternoon was the pairing of Becca and her buddy, A.

I first met Miss A when she was about eight weeks old. Her mom was my “big sister” through our twin club. She had two newborns, I was still enormously pregnant.  After my kids arrived, we took the double strollers out for walks, had “playdates” at each other’s houses, and have generally become good friends.  So it’s safe to say that my kids have known A (and her brother, D) their entire lives.

I remember how tickled I was when I realized the kids knew each other’s names.  Now? They tell stories about each other when they’re not around, they ask to go visit, and today, they spontaneously held hands at the playground.  They were beyond cute, holding hands up and down the play structure, down the slide. You could hear their little voices, negotiating the play. “Wet’s go over ‘dere! You go ‘dis way, I go ‘dat way. OK!”

I loved seeing the changes in the way they interact, now that they’re older (A is 4 months older, please ignore the fact that she’s crazy-tall and my daughter is a midget).  I love how spontaneous it was. Neither mom suggested one play with the other, much less that they should hold hands all over the playground.  I love how very “girl” it was, again in such a spontaneous way.

Oh, Spring. Welcome, my friend. We were waiting for you.

I’ve mentioned it before, but when my kids were about five weeks old, we started a new mom class. It was at an awesome local maternity/child center, and a perfect baby-safe first outing. There were nine of us new moms. I was the only one with twins, which I’m actually grateful for. (They have since added a twin-specific new mom group, but I’m glad I took the “normal” one. I had enough twin mom friends, it’s nice to know other people, too!) We all showed up that morning, I seem to remember it was an early class, like 9:30 in the morning. Everyone was frazzled, but I think we were all thrilled that there were little seats set up on the floor for us, a Boppy for everyone, plenty of space for carseats, no worries about boobs left and right. I think the entire first class was spent with us all going “oh, your baby does that, too!” It was such a relief.

Our teacher, Carole, was the greatest. A registered nurse and lactation consultant, plus just the nicest manner and greatest group facilitating you could hope for. As the first class wound down, she told us, matter-of-factly, that we should all go out for lunch together. Right now. We all just kind of looked at each other, shrugged, and did exactly that. We did lunch after class every week for the six weeks of the class. It was great! She also told us to try to get together mid-week, and we sometimes managed that, too. It was a perfect kick-start that you need when you’re clueless and sleep-deprived.

One of the things that I marveled over the most was the dynamic of our class. Of the nine moms, the only thing we all had in common was state of residence and the birthdays of our firstborns. Different ages, different backgrounds, different professions. And yet, we all got along really well. We didn’t even have the ubiquitous “annoying person” that tends to mess up group dynamics. (Unless… crap… unless that obnoxious person is me. Um, if it is, sorry guys…) We were a totally random set of people thrown together, and it just plain worked.

And continues to work. We’ve tried to get together periodically for brunches, though I’ve missed the last few due to a strange illness curse that strikes just when we’re about to do something fun. I worried it would happen this weekend, too, but with only a very slightly runny nose on Rebecca, I decided we were a go.

7 of the 9 moms made it, and the only two who didn’t either had family in town or a tiny newborn.

We had such a blast, you’d think we got together every week. Pot-luck brunch seems to always go well. Nice time of day for the kids, plenty of kid-friendly food. The kids played, the dads pulled them around in wagons, and we even shut the door and had a mommy check-in for the first time in ages.

We marveled at the fact that our once-tiny-newborns are now about to turn two. Since our class, the group now has two more babies, and I suspect there may be a few more in the next little while (no, not me!).

And, yes, we bribed them with donuts just to try and get a group shot. With marginal success. Better luck next time.

So, a huge thanks to K/C/C for hosting, and a big hug and kiss to all of the moms. Can’t wait for a group second birthday party. I’ll make cupcakes.