Someone forgot to tell Simon that Friday the 13th is bad luck; he had one of his happiest days ever, the credit for which is due to Molly and Sophie.
Molly came over yesterday morning to tape Simon for a class she’s taking about language development. Her spring break was this week, and Simon was out of school for teacher training, so the timing was perfect. I had feared a repeat of the shunning Simon doled out when she showed up during winter break, but thankfully yesterday played out in a polar opposite fashion.
We talked about Molly coming over Wednesday and Thursday, and he clearly understood us this time. After breakfast and a bath, when we told him that Molly would be arriving shortly, he sat on our couch in happy anticipation for fifteen minutes or more. No books, no music, no toys, no TV, just looking out the front door waiting for Molly.
And when she did arrive and knocked on the door, Simon broke into a huge smile, squealed, greeted her enthusiastically, took her hand and led her to a favorite toy, and then immediately turned to me and said:
“Goodbye, Mommy. See you, Mommy.”
When I didn’t immediately take the “hint”, Simon took matters into his own hands—literally. He grabbed my hand, said “Mommy walk,” hustled me to into the kitchen, and added for good measure, “Mommy go to kitchen.”
Hey, I know when I’m not wanted! It was thirty minutes before he was willing to share Molly’s company with me.
In case a morning with Molly wasn’t treat enough, he then got to have dinner with Sophie. Simon thinks everything Sophie does is wonderful. When she runs, he runs. When she squeals, he squeals. When she puts her hand in his water, he doesn’t care, and when she spits milk all over his face, he laughs and waits for more.
Last, he talked about Sophie all the way to dinner, and then after dinner talked about her some more.
“Sophie come to park,” he’d say.
“That’s right,” we’d reply. “We’re going to the park, and Sophie is coming with us.”
None of this is particularly new, except Simon had never said her name before tonight. Just in the last two weeks or so he has begun to name his classmates, specifically Lola, Greta, Rachel, Bela, and Baron. Then last week he called Leah by name. And now, last night he managed the name for his oldest and dearest friend of all.
It’s hard not to feel like a new era is dawning, the era of real interactive play and friedships. I can’t wait to see more, and I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be a great summer.