I was nervous about meeting my friend and her 11 month old baby for coffee this morning. How ridiculous does that sound? I've known her since we were at playgroup and she's seen me in all manner of states yet, for some reason, I still had a knot in my stomach as I left the house and headed for the bus stop.
This is because, three weeks ago, I had the mummy date from hell. It started well (Pip lulled me into a false sense of security by drifting off to sleep just as we walked down the high street towards Boston Tea Party) and ended with me vowing to never, ever leave the house again. Bit dramatic, in hindsight.
Basically, to cut a long story short, Pip screamed/wailed at full pelt for a solid hour. 'Got a good set of lungs on her, that one.' Yep, she has. She had fed and napped that morning, so God knows what was going on, but by the end I was totally frazzled and ended up feeding her on a park bench to calm her down, despite not wearing a nursing bra or appropriate clothing. The passing cyclists got more than an eyeful, but by that point my dignity had well and truly done a runner.
So, back to today. Pip fell asleep on the bus and woke the minute we walked into the coffee shop (oh no, here we go again, I thought). I peered gingerly into the pram but, instead of the pink eyebrows (her cue for us all to take cover), I was greeted by an enormous smile beaming back at me.
I lifted Pip onto my knee and she was mesmerised by my friend's baby, who was having a whale of a time sat in his highchair. And... we were able to chat for a whole hour!! Obviously, we paused for the odd knee bob and peek-a-boo, but on the whole our little babies were more than content just taking in the scenery and admiring each other. What a stark contrast to the previous date.
Walking back to the bus, I felt on cloud nine. Perhaps I can actually do this mummy thing. Maybe it's safe to leave the confines of the house every once in a while. My mind started racing, I might take Pip swimming, we could go on a picnic, we could even manage a holiday! On the bus home I told the driver to keep the change (who does that on a bus??) and even engaged in a conversation with a toddler who was rubbing his grubby fingers all over Pip's pram (anyone who knows me will know this is very out of character!).
In reality, I think the main difference between the two mummy dates was the fact that my friend's baby is older than Pip, so she was just fixated on all that he could do. Not really anything to do with me suddenly nailing parenthood. Perhaps that's the answer... I need to borrow a baby who's a few months older than Pip to accompany us at times when I could really do with a contented baby for an hour or two. There's probably some science in there somewhere, explaining that babies make great leaps when with older children etc. etc.
Obviously, I'm under no illusion that I could quite easily have another mummy date from hell in the near future, but for now I'm going to stick the kettle on, browse Travelzoo and bask in this glory for a little longer.
Josie x
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