friends, friends, friends

There are many reasons to be sad to leave California, but at the top of my list are the great friends the kids, Kevin and I have made. And while Kevin and I will be sad to leave our friends, it's really going to be tough to see Peter and Lucy leave their first friends behind. This is especially true now that Peter really has friends rather than playmates.*

cute, but causing trouble: Peter and Lillian at the farm

Tonight we visited downtown Mountain View's street party, which featured a cover band, some classic cars, and so many of Peter's friends he didn't know who to greet first. He ran and jumped through the park with Lillian, danced with Jack and Maddy, walked the balance beam with Ellie, and almost made it to the bounce house with Wyatt, until the bathroom called. This after a full day at the Children's Discovery Museum with Sofia and Samuel.

 I love how Peter has a different mode of interacting with each of his friends. They aren't a homogeneous group of toddlers in his eyes: they're people, and they each offer their own type of fun. Just like adults, he turns to some friends for quiet play, some friends for raucous good times, and some friends for a frank discussion of the finer points of animal poop.

Samuel and Peter watch the cow pen get cleaned

Kevin's a little wistful that Peter will probably not ever get this much attention from girls again. With a few exceptions, Peter's good friends are girls who like to great him with great big hugs and the occasional kiss. Kevin's also pretty certain Peter's seem more action in his first two-and-a-half years than Kevin saw until he graduated college, but, you know, kids these days and all...

I'll note once again that Lucy, who believes herself to be two years old, too, is also enamored of Peter's playmates. She's even joined in a few rounds of ring-around-the-rosie with them, although she often falls down a few beats too early.

*This is useful for parenting, too. When Peter asks "what's Lillian doing?" or
"where's Jessie going?" my answer is usually not what he wants to hear - and probably not true: "oh, she's eating a big bowl of broccoli" or "she's going home to take a nice, long nap."