Wanted: Friends

Lucy is all aflutter these days with friends.  She is averaging 4-7 days a week with friends, playdates, activities, etc.  She talks about her friends all the time, she calls them on the phone to arrange playdates, they are around or she is over at their houses all the time.  All of this is great, unless you are her little sister, just trying to keep up, just trying to get a little bit of attention, just trying to be part of that whole scene.
This is why I am on a full force mission to find Harper her own set of friends, not just tag-alongs of Lucy's or castoffs that happen to be sitting next to her. 
When we have friends over it is heartbreaking to watch Harper try to get in on the conversations.  If the girls are talking about their favorite princesses, there is Harper yelling over them, "I like princesses, they are pretty.  I like Ariel and Belle, they are my favorites!"  She will then repeat this same statement over and over again until they acknowlede her (or I point out to them to do so).  This usually ends one of two ways, one, they are overly patronizing and talk to her like she is a baby, or two, they laugh because of the way she said something.  Either way, it never is the response she is looking for and she ends up sulking or trying even harder to be cool in their eyes. 
She says she has a "playdate" every Thursday.  This is really her dance class, where she doesn't really know anyone, but she is dying to have a "playdate" that doesn't have anything to do with Lucy.  When Lucy asks he who she played with on her "playdate" Harper says, "I dunno their names.  Ask Mommy."  Lucy scoffs and usually tells her that they aren't really her friends or something else big-sistery.
We are working on it.  She has been playing with a little boy down the street some and there are a few little girls we are working on setting up playdates with.  The only problem in Graham- because around here there is always another little sibling waiting in the wings needing some attention.