I am always amazed at the speed in which my daughter can make a new friend. She is a naturally gregarious person and has a knack for remembering people’s names. And, let me just say, the girl is NOT shy. This really comes in handy when we go to the park on our own (as in, not meeting up with anybody for a pre-arranged parkdate). Within a few minutes, Miss A finds some kids to buddy up and run around with, and I can park it on a bench and enjoy the fresh air for a minute. Once or twice, she has tried to join a group of older boys playing – who really didn’t appreciate it, and told her so in the gentle manner of 8-10 year old boys…and she came to me crying. I think she was shocked that someone in the world would actually not want to play with her. I hugged and soothed her and took her on the swings, and in no time, she had found someone closer to her age. When we left, the boy ran after her calling, “Come back to play soon! Goodbye! I love you!”
The other day we went on a shopping trip to Ikea (I needed stuff to help complete the mini-stage for Miss A in our basement…more on that later) and the line was – surprise! – long. Do yourself and your sanity a favor and never try shopping at Ikea on a Saturday.
Anyways, so to keep Miss A amused while I waited in line my husband took her to get a drink.
While in THAT long line, Miss A happened to see a girl wearing the same pink Hello Kitty watch that she had on (not that surprising, since she got it at, gasp!, MickeyDee’s). That was enough for the two girls to launch into their life stories. By the time Aishtyn came back with her drink, she was planning sleepover parties.
Wouldn’t it be cool if we could maintain that ability as we got older? We’re in line at the grocery store, and see that someone else has the same babysling or whatever and bam! we’ve made a friend for life.
Melonie Johnson 