Please and Thank you

Today was playgroup.
I meet with my friend Nancy beforehand to caffinate and then we head off for 2 1/2 hours of wall-to-wall toddlers. I don't love playgroup, but Nora does, so I do it for her. And to break up the mind-numbing amount of hours I have to entertain her. The "class" she's in now is for 2-3 year olds. I've noticed a change in the parents this class. The kids are beginning to be enrolled in activities.
One mother said, "I can't do Thursday because we have Spanish in the morning and ballet and piano in the afternoon."
I can only assume she was talking about the 3-year-old Tilley and not the baby. Weird. I can feel the competition starting, or maybe just changing. Because now it isn't about things we can't control, like growing, walking, or talking but things we can control like learning Spanish and ballet and piano.
Most poignent of all was during snack time when one of the other mothers was crouched down amongst all the toddler and Nora turned to her and said, "More water please." With not only shock, but actual horror the mother looked first at Nora and then at me. Her look clearly said, "How dare your child do something mine can't." Worse yet, after she poured the water Nora said "Thank you."