summer playdates

Sebastian has been missing his school friends, and so on the days I was home this week we invited Nathan to come over and hang out with us. On Wednesday they played at the field for a couple of hours and then came back here to play with Legos and carve sticks they'd found in the forest. I had a moment of wondering if I should let them play with sharp knives, but then decided to see how things went under close supervision. They had a good time - only minor cuts! - and managed to make a dent in some fairly thick branches.

In the afternoon we went to Wilson Pool with Anne and Camille - it was warm and sunny and the children dove and splashed and cannon-balled and pretended to be otters and somersaulted and went down the slide. Sebastian practiced holding his breath (18 seconds!) and swimming as far as he could under water - it is amazing to see him becoming enthusiastic about learning to swim and getting more competent.

Today we were heading into Forest Park for a longish walk, and invited Nathan to join us. The boys had a great time together - running, hiding in the ferns to scare us, running some more, throwing pine cones. Seb was thrilled.

 

We came home to play - Seb taught Nathan the rudiments of chess and then they made a robot car - and eat lunch. After the boys had some field soccer play, we took Nathan home and went to collect on the first of our summer reading prizes at the library. Liesl chose weird silly putty; Sebastian chose a Voodoo doughnut; more books were checked out (bless the MCL - we've got 90+ checked out right now). And then we went to play in the water fountains at Jamison Square, which for some reason did not hold the usual allure today. They got bored and hungry quickly and so we retreated home.

Liesl has been patient with being the odd one out; she has been my little shadow. We baked chocolate cupcakes; we have read many books; she chalked a rainbow and a unicorn on the driveway; today we painted together - a picture of flowers, trees, seagulls, and sky.