Playdates with Todd

Last weekend one of my bestest friends, Todd, came up to visit with his friend, Emily. On his previous visit, he came solo and Megan did NOT want to be his friend. She was firmly entrenched in her 'shy phase' at that point, so I figured it would be that way.

So I was hoping with him being here the whole weekend, and the fact she was several months older and a little more confident. On Saturday morning Todd and I happened to come down the stairs together and as we entered the kitchen Megan came barreling in from the living room to greet me. As soon as she saw Todd she SLAMMED on the brakes and careened into my leg so fast. She would not peel her eyes off my pajamas. Hmmm ... this was going to take some work.

Ironically Emily had no problem gaining entrance into Megan's heart. Emily lovingly, and patiently, sat at Megan's play table with her and created a wonderful scenario involving her 'little people' farm animals. At some point sheep were talking to cows, fences were mended repeatedly, and when Megan hopped in her lap, I knew they would be fine. But we still had the Todd problem.

What could we do? After much contemplation we took a walk to the playground. That seemed to unlock the inner kid within Todd and thus allowed Megan to finally accept him. Now, Todd (even at a playground dressed in a starched shirt and dress pants) did some dangerous maneuvers on the playground equipment that I was not fond of for my very impressionable daughter to pick up on, but for the most part he was fine.

Now that he's figured out the way to Meggo's heart, I'm sure they'll be pals for life.