Preschool Soap Opera

Monday night, as soon as I walked in the door returning home from another long day at the office, I heard my loving hubby say to my son, “Tell Mommy who you played with at school today.”

Hmm… since Little Dude seems to have a new “Best Friend” everyday, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Ryder? Jordan? Keegan? Jaada? Heather? Nope, none of those. He happily replied, “Lily.”

I only recently learned about “Lily” when I had to pick up Little Dude early from school one day. It was the end of nap time, and he was still curled up on his mat with his blanket. A cute little brunette next to him informed me that Little Dude was still sleeping. Then she proceeded to tell me how she and Little Dude had played “Power Rangers” all morning (clearly her idea since my son has never seen the show) and how she made sure that his nap mat was close to hers.

I thought it was sweet that our boy had found yet another friend to play with at school. And I really didn’t think about this fling with Lily again until that night as my husband kept the conversation rolling.

“Tell Mommy what you played,” he instructed.

“Husband and Wife.”

So now Lily was on my radar. Who was this girl really? Is it too early to have little boyfriends and girlfriends? What are the rules for dating in preschool? I managed to push aside all crazy thoughts and consoled myself with the knowledge that little kids play different games every day with different kids.

But that was before last night’s déjà vu when Little Dude informed me that once again he played “Husband and Wife” with this Lily kid. Two days in a row!

OK. Now I was a little concerned. As a woman, I was quite impressed with Lily’s girlish assertiveness. Somehow, she had gotten my wild child to forgo his normal rough and tumble play for the more mellow “husband and wife” role-play. But as a mother, I was a little weary of my sweet little boy falling prey to some potentially overbearing chick. Did she lure him in with superheroes (which he’s totally into right now) only to pull a bait and switch for her domestic agenda? Has she done this to other boys? Where will this all lead?

Yes, I realize that I have become that mother. All this time, I had teased me husband for being a self-proclaimed helicopter parent. But now I must acknowledge that I have become the hovering mom… at least where girls are involved.

There is still plenty of time before I really have to start worrying about girlfriends. Seriously, our little man is just a popular guy. So why wouldn’t Lily want to play with him too? And Little Dude is willing to play with anyone – boy or girl – as long as it’s fun. So he must be having fun if he’s willing to play “Husband and Wife” two days in a row. I'm sure he enjoys pretending to be just like his Daddy. He does like role-playing. After all, one of his friends used to be called “Buzz Lightyear” because he wore his Halloween costume everyday for a month straight. And Little Dude loved putting on a Superman cape or Batman mask and pretending to fight crime with him.

So I don’t need to get my panties in a bunch just because my precious little boy is playing “Husband and Wife” with his new friend. Who knows… maybe today they’ll go back to pretending to be Power Rangers. And if they don’t, that’s ok today. Of course, I never asked Little Dude if he was pretending to be the husband or the wife…