Girl in the House

From the back seat, on the way home from school, Zach let out a long, heavy breath. "Mom," he sighed, "Who am I going to marry?"

"Well, you don't have to decide right now. You've got plenty of time to decide," I said, trying not to let  him see the huge grin on my face.

Then, considering whether or not to dig further, I plunged right in: "Are there any girls you like right now?"

"Well, Shelby and Ashley are really nice to me in gym class..."

Bingo! Here's the thing about Ashley: She and Zach are in the same classes and sessions together at school, and her mom Leanne and I have become really good friends. Leanne and I also spent three days together on our Sacramento trip this week talk-talk-talking about various things, but we still wanted more time to chat. So earlier that day, we had agreed to try to meet up at the park after Zach's baseball practice and let the kids run around together.

"That's really cool, Zach, because I think we're going to see Ashley for a little play date this afternoon."

So. Fast-forward to the park. While Leanne and I were yakety-yak-yak-ing, Ashley and Zach were having the time of their lives running all over the park together. Before we knew it, it was 6:40 (yes, at night) and I knew that Dave and Luke would be wondering where the heck we were. So I tried to peel the kids apart from each other, and this is what I got:

"When can we have a playdate?"
"Can we have a playdate right now?"
"Can we have a sleepover?"
"I want to go to Ashley's house."
"I want to see Zach's house."

I told Zach, "I know that Friday is the day that Ashley does playdates, so why don't we have her come over on Friday?"

To which Zach leaned over to Ashley and whispered conspiratorially: "It's good news! My mom says we can do it on Friday, and today is Friday, so we can do it today!"

Finally we compromised: Ashley would come over to our house for dinner, and Leanne would pick her up in an hour.

Fast-forward to our house: Imagine Dave and Luke's surprise, when not only did we show up at 6:45 at night, but the first person who walked in the house was a girl.

Ashley and Zach dashed off to the playroom and immediately got wrapped up in some sort of Lego/train project. I was scrambling to make dinner, but I couldn't quite tell what they were doing, so I asked Luke to peek in on them.

Luke returned a few seconds later and said, in a total deadpan, "They're kissing."

Then he cracked a huge grin and said, "I'm totally kidding! They're just playing trains and talking."

Ashley charmed us all at the dinner table chatting about vacation, food, and asking us each about the "highlight" of our day.

Then she and Zach dashed back off to play again. When Leanne came to pick her up, they were camped out on the bunk bed, watching train videos on the iPad, having arranged ten different stuffed cats to sit in a circle with them.

When it was really time to leave, Zach gave her one of his stuffed cats to "sleep over" for the weekend. It truly was just about the best playdate he's ever had. Looks like he's met his match.