These days, Dom likes to hang with the big kids.  We just spent the weekend in Delaware visiting my brother, his fiancée, and her two children, four or five years older than Dom.  They are the most polite, well-behaved children I have ever met, and I have no idea how their mother has raised such perfect kids…I need to take lessons, I think.  But I am off track, once again.

Dom met the kids about four months ago.  Apparently, they made a huge impression.  Once he found out that we were going to visit Uncle John, he asked whether he would see “the babies” (Anyone under age 10 is a baby, according to Dom).  We told him he would see them when we got there, and he spent the rest of the car ride talking about his friends and the fun stuff they were going to do together.

Once we arrived at their house, it was as though I didn’t exist.  My future niece and nephew ran to meet our car, and from that point forward, Dom was theirs.  They immediately ran into the backyard, where they ran in circles and played with the zillions of toys scattered across the yard in preparation for our arrival.  Dom happily went from one activity to the next, watching his friends adoringly.

At night, when they were confined to the house, they had roving pillow fights, chasing each other all over the house.  They wrestled and played hide and seek (Dom is still playing hide and seek…he doesn’t understand that it takes two players). 

The only bad moment of the weekend occurred when Dom realized that he would sleep in his playpen while the big kids slept in their big boy and big girl beds.  He crawled out of it three times before I gave up and crawled into bed with him.  I am afraid we will soon be converting his bed. 

When it was time to leave, Dom said, “Bye-bye, Ray-Ray; Bye-bye, Riah,” but he didn’t quite get that we were leaving.  Once he was buckled into his carseat and he realized what was happening, he screamed, “My friends!  No!  Want friends!”  After 45 minutes of sobbing and whining, he finally collapsed.

As exhausting as that finale was, we can’t wait for our next trip.  It was heavenly to let Dom run off to play, knowing that the older kids would keep things under control.  Big kids rock!