The Mountain

The other day, the kids and I spent a couple of hours at Raymond Park enjoying the wonderful sunshine, the playground, and the sandbox. Oliver and Emma don't have hours worth of stamina for anything but a sandbox. It's amazing how long they can be entertained with a shovel, bucket, truck and a little patch of sand.
While at the playground, Oliver made friends with a boy named Felix (a friendly 5 1/2 year old.) He was playing by himslef near them in the sand, and as Oliver went over to him, touched his back and said "Hi I'm Oliver" I truly almost cried. The tears welled up. I have been a tiny bit worried that Oliver might have a hard time making friends because he hasn't shown much interest in playing with other children in our Gymboree class. My heart leapt out of my chest and shouted hooray as I sat and watched him play with his newest acquaintance. Felix had been building a "mountain" in the sand and Oliver was intrigued. He leaned over to Felix and asked him "are you going to teach me to build a mountain?" Again, I melted completely.
No sooner did they start building, then Emma came over to join in. I noticed Emma mimicking everything that Oliver did, and was even nodding her head pretending to speak full sentences. Unfortunately, it became pretty clear that Emma was knocking down the mountain. Oliver and Felix announced that she was "ruining the mountain" and Emma was banished to the other side of the sand pit. She was quite content with a bucket and the sand, but it made me a little bit sad that she has already filled the role of the little sister who the boys don't want to play with.
As we got ready to go, Oliver thanked Felix for playing and said goodbye. I was so pround.