One of the consequences of becoming parents for the first time in our early 40s is that my husband and I have very few friends with kids who could be our son's immediate peers. Most of our friends' kids are older, in some cases already in college. So we do not have a lot of ready-made friends for our boy.
This is an added benefit of daycare: The Boy has the opportunity to make friends.
I know what "they" say: that kids The Boy's age don't really play with other kids, they play near other kids. Parallel play, they call it. So I had always assumed that parallel play meant that babies don't really make friends.
Enter: The Dude.
The Dude is just 10 days younger than The Boy. In fact, he and The Boy look so similar that on The Dude's first day at School, The Boy's dad momentarily mistook The Dude for The Boy (until he saw their faces).
They've developed at different rates. The Boy is quite analytical and has a pretty long attention span for a baby. The Dude seems pretty social. (At least, he always smiles at me!) The Boy sits well, if you set him on his bottom, but he hasn't actually ever gotten into a seated position by himself yet. The Boy also army crawls. The Dude has already figured out how to sit up by himself and, this week, The Dude started crawling. (I was so excited for him! Go, little Dude!) The Dude is also a tad bit bigger than The Boy. But, generally, The Boy and The Dude are as close to each other developmentally as they can be.
The Dude is The Boy's best friend.
I know, I know . . . how can I know this for sure? And is that even possible?
Well, here's what I know: When we bring The Boy to School, The Dude lights up. The ladies who care for their class say that these two always want to play together. The other day, I dropped The Boy off at School and The Dude squealed with delight, smiled, and banged his hand on the play mat until I put The Boy down next to him. I have come to pick The Boy up from School to find him and The Dude awake in their cribs "talking" to each other. And there was one day when I arrived, sat The Boy in front of The Dude on a play mat, and the two of them sat facing each other, laughing, clearly thrilled to be in each other's presence. It was so darned cute.
Who says babies don't have friends? My baby does. And his friend is one cool little Dude.
