Good Friends
It's good to have a good friend.
When the child was little we were worried that being a single child she would have no friends to play with but that seems to be something we should have not worried about.
As I wrote the other day , she has 26 friends coming to her birthday party so she's covered there, but I am talking about neighborhood friends and we're lucky as we had a family with not one - but two little girls move in 2 doors over just a few years ago.
I took a while until everybody was a little bit older to know each other but it really gelled with Kindergarten and now she has a fast friend. Let's call her Ethel. (not her real name, because this is the internet)
Ethel and the child sit next to each other on the bus. It's a 40 minute bus ride for the child on the way home. Other parents pick up their kids because it's "too much" for their special flowers to be on the school bus. We're like "Screw that - we're getting our money's worth. She is SO taking the bus".
This means by the time they get home they have their afternoons planned out for the most part. Sometimes Ethel is here and sometimes the child is at Ethel's so it all works out.
We had to get a chime for our ring camera because we were missing when Ethel wanted to come and play and rang the doorbell, she's here that often.
They like to come to each other's house because it's different. Different toys and different rules. Also we have a dog. Ethel was afraid of the dog but is no longer. Now Ethel wants a dog.
The child confessed to me tonight that when she's there she can watch TV. There's a no TV rule here on weeknights. She gets more than enough screen time on the weekends. So she's over there partying it up like it's 1999.
Ethel likes it here because we have a huge roll of paper and we tape it to the wall and they can smear paint over it all and not get in trouble. Also: dog.
This is all working out great and I am glad they both have each other to play with and grow. The friendship really gelled this fall so I bet there will be more coming and goings through our front door this year when the weather warms up.
