Playgroups are Brutal

But not in the ways you might think. Ours, for instance, is a wonderful group of supportive, friendly, usually relaxed moms without a lot of drama, intrigue, or competition. We've been meeting since the babes were all a few months old, about two years. Each week we meet at someone's house and talk while the kids trash the place. Then we leave.

Oh, and in between, everyone eats. The hostess serves breakfast or lunch or snacks--we used to be very ambitious. I made chili twice and ordered out pizza and had sundaes. There have been wonderful salads, wraps, and huge spreads of pastries and nibbles. AND the guests bring things--there's the obligatory box of Munchkins (I used to always bring Pepperidge Farm Cookies), and we have a couple of incredible bakers (everyone gets excited when they RSVP!). It's becoming less fancy, more functional, as the children have become toddlers (and many of the moms are now pregnant with #2). But I love it. I mean, what else does a SAHM need--good friends, adult conversation (and it's not always about kids!), and food, plus no clean-up (we're pretty shameless about leaving places a mess, but we each take our turn and it's ok--it's impossible to clean up with a toddler experiencing the "I need a nap" collapse).

But food is becoming a real problem. We used to just breast and bottle feed the babes; then it was the jar food phase. And we all did Cheerios (well, we did an organic oat variety) and Gerber Graduates. But now everyone else's kids can (though won't always) eat everything. Except mine. And so playgroup is becoming difficult, right up there with birthday parties for sheer trauma (I'll tell you sometime about crying in the bathroom over cake at a birthday party). Mainly to me. Mind you, everyone knows and is great about the allergies and helping me police their intake. But I want the kiddos to be able to eat chocolate chip cookies and mini-hot dogs in crescent rolls and macaroni and cheese. Especially after they've asked for the umpteenth time, watching their friends inhale these things.

I do take a treat everytime--I had been taking fruit salad but now that DS can't have pineapple or mandarin oranges, he just doesn't get excited about a bowl of apples and grapes as a treat. Today's goodie was a failure. We cheerfully made gluten-free cornbread (from a mix, with applesauce for buttermilk and oil for melted butter and egg replacer) this morning and even licked the bowl clean (DS had eaten all my blueberries so we couldn't make muffins). However, when the time came to actually eat the cornbread at playgroup, no go. They also didn't want the cereal, special pretzels, "smooshed fruit," "wizard cookies" (a GF cookie with little wizard imprints), or raisins I had brought along and presented with great enthusiasm. They wanted the chocolate chip cookies and the mini hot dogs.

And so, after trying all the tricks in my huge purple backpack diaper bag, I gave in and unwrapped numerous mini hot dogs from their buttery crescent shells (and hoped that they weren't chock full of peanuts or something; luckily, the kids' allergies manifest as skin rashes and only if they have a significant amount of a food. Still . . . )

And they loved them.

Sigh.

I won't even bother posting that cornbread recipe.