A wedding to remember

On Saturday our friends Jen and Mark were wed in a lovely ceremony at Lauxmont Farms in Wrightsville, Pa. Since it was nearly a two hour drive there and we would have therefore been away from Noah a minimum of ten hours had we left him with a sitter, and because a horse farm sounded like a child-friendly wedding site we decided to bring him. Mark wasn’t quite as sold on the idea as I was, mostly he was worried that we would be the only one there with our kid. And he wasn’t too far off – all the other kids there were family. But I really wanted Noah with me (as always because I’m a freak) and part of the reason is that he is both a social aide and a buffer. I have to follow him around as a result I’m not forced to stand around and mingle uncomfortably – and if someone wants to talk to me they merely have to remark on the boy. “So Nicole, what have you been up to?” “You’re lookin’ at him.” Noah had an awesome time – running and going and going and running. He saw cows, horses, got on a school bus, danced, rolled around in the grass, touched bugs and immensely enjoyed the great outdoors and the attention of many smiling folks. But in the back of my head I still worried that maybe it wasn’t the best decision to bring him – it would have been nice to be able to sit down and talk with a few folks, and at the same time as my husband too, and maybe since all the other friends had the good sense to leave their kids at home we had made a faux pas. But on our way out of the wedding the groom said to me “People tell me your wedding day goes by so fast and all you remember is a few snapshots of the day. And I know one of the things I will definitely remember is watching you play with Noah in the grass. Thank you for bringing him.” And I teared up - for the third time that day - first seeing the bridely Jen and hearing her sisters speech already made me emotional. So anyway – it was a lovely day. On Sunday I asked Noah if he had a good time at the wedding and he summed it up like this: “YES! Big party! Jen and Mark! Music. Dancing. Outside.”

Sunday was a pretty yicky day- it was rainy and sticky and it had none of the excitement that Saturday did. We did a lot of lazing around, some light cleaning and I took Noah to the park in the rain until he was too soaked to continue running around.

Today I took Noah to a playgroup that restarted in Fishtown. It’s a funded program so there is no fee – which is really nice. There were a whopping 25 kids there ranging in age from infants to four. They had free play time, circle time with songs and a story, a feeling exercise with different tactile objects, an art project and then a snack. For the most part Noah stuck by my side and played by himself, he didn’t even sing the words to the songs he knew because he was too busy watching all the other kids sing - however he wasn’t scared or upset at how many kids there were either. He was interested but just observant and I see that as reassuring. It also helped that he had met a couple of the kids before. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually knew six of the other mothers. I felt so freakin’ social. Anyway, I look forward to taking Noah every Monday morning. It should be a really good thing for him. And me too.

And now for a quick Noah bit:
My favorite Noah interaction at the moment occurs when he’s getting a little tired and a lot cuddly. He’ll climb up for hugs and kisses and say “What doing, Mama?” And I’ll say “I’m loving you, Noah.” And he’ll say “YES! It fun.”