New Year, New beginnings

Monsterhugs is taking a gigantic shift...an entire move so to say.

January 1, 2011, the Ozturk household moved out of our beloved neighborhood in Sunnyside, NY and in to Albany, NY. It was a dreary first month of snow, snow and more snow and a little sleet/slush in between. Way to welcome us, Albany!

Monster and I are struggling together to find friends in this quiet town and having a good time meeting new people. It's beautiful watching a 2.5 year old embrace new people like this, everytime she yells out happily to kids "Hey friends!" my heart melts. How easy it is for children to see a new face and write it up as a friend without a shred of judgement or calculation. I can read the caution in many moms faces "will this child be a good influence on my kid" "is the mother someone I can trust" "I've never seen this family before, who are they?"

To be honest, I trust I may have the same look of terror on my own face for the moms to see. "Is Monster a bit too intense for this kid?" "what if the mother never wants to see Monster again because of her intensity?" "She hasn't even turned 3 yet, please don't see her height and expect too much from her!"

I find myself unnecessarily offering her age when she starts chucking toys around like any two-and-a-half year old would. Feeling embaressed when she is disruptive during story time. So it is a huge relief if even one mother seeks me out to offer any words at all. We've been lucky so far that there is no shortage of these considerate moms around and at each toddler event or story time, I haven't felt more than just slightly out of place.

It's a motherhood thing that, more than for myself, I have been proactive to find buddies for Monster. Instead of our own lack of friends, neighbors and acquaintances, we've been worried about the kid having friends and neighbors. It is just one of those things that take priority over many other things when you become a parent.

Of course, when the child needs a companion and the only companion around is also the main writer of a blog, the blog takes second, third or even fourth place down the priority list. In my list, it has been way down since we got swamped all at once. It will slowly crawl up as I'm finding my way around here, and finding things to share.

How do you deal with moves and finding neighbors? How do you meet friends and find your children buddies?