Big Step for Eli

A major milestone in any kid's life is his first playdate. Eli, being the little brother, has been dragged on many a playdate since he was very small. In fact, he spent many a Wednesday afternoon/evening watching Simon and his friend Andrew beat the living crap out of each other for months when he was just a tiny baby!
Even now, when he has a playdate of his own, it is almost always with Uri and almost always because Simon and Boaz are playing together (or because Tali and I just want to hang out with each other). He's at that in between age where he can sort of go to a friend by himself but I don't quite trust him to go anywhere other than to Tali's, Debbie's or Abby's without me. He has gone to all of their houses alone, but he knows them all really well so I'm not sure how much it counts.
I was a little surprised today when I got a call from Rena, the mother of a boy in Eli's gan named Itai. Rena said that Itai (who is one of the youngest in the class--he won't be 3 until June) has never before asked for a playdate with anyone but for the past week or so has been asking every day if Eli can come over to play. She said she has no idea whether Eli even knows that Itai exists or if they play together, but she promised Itai that she would ask if Eli could come over to play. I said of course and so we will try to figure out a time. She has 3 other kids--I should ask if any are Simon's age and maybe we will just all do something together because I don't know how it will go for Eli to just go to their house when he doesn't know her at all. I asked him tonight if he wants to go play at Itai's house and he got a huge smile on his face and said yes. So who knows. We'll see what happens, but I guess he is growing up!