Friends Like Me

Total milestone today:

I took Rain to a bookstore today. Like the last time we went a few days ago, she quickly found the stage area where they do storytime for the kiddos. She gets up there, and for whatever reason, begins what I can only call an oration. I mean, she is laying it out there. Her hands are all flappin' with emotion, and she's using phrases like, "Remember!" and "OK? OK?" emphatically. After several minutes of addressing the audience (mainly me), she returns to a play area where there's a train track set up with lots of trains. I'm still sort of laughing about her whole speech thing, when Rain walks up to a little girl (a few years older than herself) playing with a train. She sort of plays next to her for a minute, then all casual like, says, "What your name?"

I was stunned. Rain loves playing with anybody, but she usually just resorts to saying, "Hey, Girl, follow me!" or, "Hey, Boy, want [to] play?" To hear her actually put into simple words a request for an intro to friendship was ... cool. I mean, for a second, I got a smidgen of a cringe in my belly ("If this older girl totally rejects her or ignores Rain, how is she gonna take it? Will she care or understand?"). After a few moments of silence (when I began to wonder if the girl had heard her at all), she said, "Vivian." Rain said, "Oh." That pretty much sealed the deal. They played until Vivian had to go home.

She may have her daddy's stern gaze, but she has her mommy's need for social interaction (read: find me on Facebook)! Muah haha