Last time I talked about the compulsion to go outdoors as the weather has improved. We found ourselves at the park more and more often. While we don’t go everyday, a couple of times a week (generally before noon) we find ourselves excitedly pulling into a parking space and walking our way to the swings or the slides or the body of water that holds the many ducks. It rains so rarely that the water has been drying up to reveal more and more land to walk out on. We get closer and closer to the center of the pond and, as such, get closer and closer to the ducks. This is a very exciting thing for our son.
What is surprising (or maybe not) is that there are rarely other children (or anyone) there before noon. Generally the park is completely ours. We share our time there only with the ducks, the trees and the breeze. Recently we found ourselves going to the park but there were other children there. A young boy and a girl (brother and sister I think). As our son is rarely around children his own age he was noticeably excited to see the “babies” (older than him) playing at the park. We got out our ball that we always bring to kick around and throw and headed towards the swings. This day our son wasn’t interested in swinging because he wanted to play with his friends at the park.
He proudly walked up to the kids and threw the ball to them. They responded happily to seeing a baby and played catch with him for almost twenty minutes. Our son beamed with happiness. When they eventually had to go he said “bye bye” and waved. Then, and only then, was he interested in swinging, sliding and looking at the ducks. Friends come first after all.