Courtship

Many of you know that since we have been married, we have lived in four different states.  The place that we lived the longest was in New York, and we lived there until Lukas was 3.  While in NY, we developed friendships with some great people who we still love and look forward to spending time with.  One of these families is the Rau family who has a little girl named Hannah that I used to babysit a couple times each week.  She and Lukas are 2 months apart in age and have literally known each other since the nursery.  As toddlers, they were best buddies.  Lukas still calls Hannah his girlfriend even though we haven't seen her in a year. 

Today was the first time I thought that Lukas' eye was starting to wander(Keep reading Amy).  There is a little girl named Corey on his soccer team, and the two of them were sitting out one quarter together.  The entire time, they were paying more attention to each other than anything else.  They were hitting and kicking and wrestling back and forth the entire time.  Corey's mom jokingly asked us if this is what dating looks like at this age. 

After the game, we went to Grinder's for lunch, and I asked Lukas what he thought of Corey.  He said she was nice and that she is his friend.  I told him that his cousin Zack has a girlfriend knowing that he always wants to be like Zack(who is only 7, by the way).  He said, "Well, I have a girlfriend too Mom.  Remember(said in that tone of voice reserved for when your parent is totally stupid)?  It's Hannah."  Right.  "Yeah, but do you think Corey is cute?"  "Maaaah-mmmm, Corey's just a friend.  Hannah will always be my girlfriend." 

What I'm wondering is how long can this last?  He sees Hannah once a year at most right now, but  is totally loyal to her.  Hannah's eye may be wandering(Is it Amy?), but he doesn't know that.  I'm thinking that as long as he has a girlfriend who lives in another state, then I don't have to worry about him wanting to hang out with a girlfriend here, right?  I know he's only 5 right now, but what I'm hoping is that we can keep this going for years.  Until now, I have not encouraged it, but maybe I should.  Anyone think this fascination with Hannah can last until he's 21?

There is something to be said about the concept of arranged marriages.