Mommy dating

There are online dating services out there for nearly everyone - eHarmony, Match, J-Date, Craigslist even. There are not really sites out there though for 'friend dating'. Want to meet other gals to add to your social circle? Well, walking up to a girl at a bar and saying "hey want to be my friend" could really backfire on you...not that there's anything wrong with that. Want to add other moms to your mommy circle? Well, there are some solutions here - hospital or community sponsored mom's groups, gym and music classes, the park etc. But the mommy dating phenomenon is kinda strange.

We've been going to Gymboree Music for a couple months now. The boys love it. And they love the other kids - Wyatt, Samantha, David, Emily, Trevor. And the moms are really friendly - one got out my carpet squares for me the other day as I walked in with my arms full of boys. One commented on how much more wiggly Michael is getting (bonus points for remembering which kid was the 'low motivation' one, and knowing which kid was which - arms full, I missed nametags). One just laughed when William walked up and started squeezing her son's cheeks. And I know all sorts of things about their kids - first teeth, first steps, troubles with new foods, napping challenges, you name it.

But to this day, I have no idea any of the moms' names. In fact, this week, we followed one of the moms almost all the way to our house (I promise that it wasn't as creepy as that sounds). She waved at one stop sign and I said to the boys "Boys, wave to David's Mommy." So now I'm thinking "Hmm... David must live rather near us. It could be fun to get together with them at the park or Panera or something". But would it be weird for me to say to "David's mommy", after 2 months of music class, "Hi, David's mommy. I am Tina. Do you want to have lunch with me?"

The thing is - I have my friends. So I assume that other mommys do too. But just because I have my 'out with the girls' friends, doesn't mean that I can't make some mommy friends. I suppose the fact that these other moms are at Gymboree by themselves, not with a group of friends, could mean that they're also looking for some mommy friends. But then I think - I have mommy friends too. We just don't go to Gymboree together because our kids are just slightly different ages. But we also don't get together for lunch or park dates every week because we live all over the county from each other.

So...maybe next week at Gymboree I will say "Hi I am Tina". I may have to work up to asking another mommy out on a 'date', but maybe I'll get there.