Playgroup #1 - 3/2/08

For the playgroup session, we all met in the same room as the intake session and there were three other mothers and their sons present. My first thoughts after meeting them was that they seemed like such great and positive parents. I felt like I probably wasn't doing as well as they were in the parenting department.

Joey played very well with the other boys though and I felt proud of him.
They boys were instructed to work a maze together as a team and they had decide among themselves who would go first, who would go second, third, and last. The last person to make a line on the maze and finish it would be the winner and would get to choose which toy to play with first. After hearing those instructions, I got very nervous. I thought a genuine "Joey coniption" was inevitable. I figured they would be getting some very useful footage today! To my surprise, Joey was quite nice and polite with the other boys. They didn't argue too much with him though, so I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. I was RELIEVED that Joey won the maze game. I knew I'd have a huge battle and embarrassing moment if Joey lost. I was lost for words, however, when Joey tried to say that he himself did not win, but instead "everybody won". He was trying hard not to brag or be a bad winner. I had never seen that side of him. I was so happy I wanted to cry.

The rest of the session was pretty uneventful. I really was expecting much more drama, but the boys were very friendly and accepting of each other and Joey just fit right in. I couldn't help but wonder if this was supposed to happen this way. It seemed like it didn't really accomplish much but I know that the research team knows what they are doing. I'm looking forward to seeing how all of this plays out. I'm sure that I will be happy with the end results!

At the end of the session, a researcher took Joey to another area and asked him how the playgroup went and some other questions. I don't know exactly what they were. I would love to know what Joey said! I'm sure it was entertaining.

After that, they took me and Joey to another room alone and told me to talk to Joey about the session for 4 minutes, ask him if he liked the other boys, and tell him some things to improve on. Those 4 minutes felt like 10 minutes. I asked him some questions but he didn't seem to want to talk much. He acted silly and just didn't seem interested in what I had to say. I believe it was videotaped... I wonder if I will be used as a "good parent" example or a "bad parent"! haha