Happy 2nd Birthday Week: Buddies

Another big part of our 2nd year was play dates and making buddies.

In the last year, John has gone from not even knowing other children are in the room - to standing back and watching them intently - to trying to play with them and make friends. Overall he is pretty passive when it comes to play dates, although if they are at our house he is more comfortable. He shares really well. He loves going to the park with his friends the best. I think it is because he is on neutral ground and he does not feel smothered.

There is one particular little girl that he is most comfortable around, Amelia. He hearts Amelia. :) It must be her gentle personality that he likes so much; he is super relaxed with her. They will play and laugh and run and share, all with no warm up time required.

He also loves all of his neighborhood friends and asks about them a lot. Again, there is one older little girl (4), Elyse, that John is fascinated with. He will follow her around, is always looking for her to "show" her things. She is so sweet to him and shares and plays with him so well. When it comes to his little boy buddies, he likes to run and swing and play with them too, but John is a few months younger than all of them. The age difference is pretty noticeable right now, but I think as he grows up a bit more and that age difference isn't prevalent, he will be asking for them all the time. Then I will have to adopt the "boys will be boys" theory.

When we see his cousins or friends we have not seen in awhile, he remembers them because we always go through pictures and talk about who people are and what we did with them the last time we saw them. He is enamored with his cousin Maggie, absolutely adores her! He talks about Brendan when we talk about swords or birthday parties. John and Brendan are going to be pretty fun as they get older!

He does not talk much to the other kids, but each time we see them he gets more comfortable and steps a little farther outside his comfort zone.

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful families in our lives and buddies for John to grow up with!