a little confirmation of our parenting

When I dropped Liam off at kindergarten this morning, I sat in the van for a few minutes to watch him on the playground.

(I know, kinda creepy for the kids to see a van parked outside their playground. But I drive a navy mini van. When I was growing up, all the "strangers" drove white or grey cube vans. Most of the kids from his class know me and came to the fence to wave.)

In Liam's class, there is a set of twins. The little girl, A, sat together with Liam at their little tables for the first half of the year. Her twin brother, T, has a high functioning case of autism (or low autism). At the beginning of the school year when Liam was having such a difficult time adjusting to the new routine, new faces, AND NEW LANGUAGE, he bonded with T over the fact that they had the same indoor school shoes. And you thought that grown women were the only ones brought together by foot wear! T can be a challenge for the teacher as he's often disruptive and loud, but she says that the other kids are great with him.

When Liam entered the playground, I watched as he walked around looking for the little friends that he normally plays with - the usual suspects. Not finding them, he wandered around a bit until he found T off by himself.

I saw Liam trying unsuccessfully to engage T in a game of tag. He would walk up to T, gently tag him on the shoulder, then run off a few steps watching over his shoulder to see if T was following. T was pretty oblivious at first, but Liam kept going back and back.

And back.

After the eighth or ninth attempt, T finally realized what Liam was trying to do and took off running after him. With THE BIGGEST smile on his face. At that moment, I was so proud of my little boy and his big heart.

Peter and I must be doing something right.