Playgroup Turns 5!

On Wednesday, July 24, 2003, six moms and their infants (2-6 months) met at the totem pole along the Lakefront (at approximately Addison) to talk about our babies, our births, our nascent motherhood. Five years later, we're still meeting to talk about our children, ourselves, and everything in between. Today marked the 5th anniversary of our playgroup. We celebrated with a BYO picnic and lots of shared desserts at the place where it all began. Five of the original six remain in the Chicago area; four of them came to playgroup today. In 2003, we were all new moms with a single baby each. Since then, we've grown to include four other moms with 23 kids between us.

Twelve of those kids romped in the grass after our picnic in the grass. Then, much like our first meeting, we did a stroller caravan over to the playground.

Surrounded by his friends, The Boy was aggressive toward another little boy who wanted to play with them. All four swings were occupied, so he demanded that this little kid get off the swing so that he could get on. Twenty minutes later, a swing opened up and one of two boys in another party got on. The Boy was on the swing next to it, and this other kid started demanding that The Boy get off it. I had to laugh. I guess The Boy is your archtypical 5-6-year-old.

Parking in the lakefront areas is free during the week before 6 p.m.