Summer Friends

Summer must have been a strange transition for Shane. During the school year, his social life started at the bus stop. It continued through the day, through the after school program, and then when we got home Henry and/or Raheem typically greeted us. If it was the right night, we'd go to some sort of activity shortly thereafter.

Cue summer.

Shane wakes up and it's a quiet house. Nova got a new job working at night, so he's got to be quiet.

Quiet, heat, and boredom are all part of the summer experience. I don't think Shane has to deal with excessive amounts of any of them, though. Carrie works and had a few side quests, so I've been Shane's main social life.

Unless I take him out and about.

Which I do.

We try to see Dylan and Eli at least once a week.

We sold lemonade with them on Saturday.

They had a couple friends drop, Miles and Mason.

The boys managed to share a tablet without fighting.

They ended the night chasing fireflies (a timeless classic).

We met up with Dylan and Eli at a park later on in the week.

Gotta love parks.

And trees.

I remember trying to teach Shane how to swing "back in the day." He's got it now.

They all do!

Henry is normally the first person we see on any given day. If Shane hears him he wants to run outside.

Henry normally has something interesting going on. His parents are kid-centric.

We have a few toys Henry likes, too. Raheem shows up later in the day if he's around.

Henry goes in to nap around noon, so Henry and Raheem don't always cross paths until the evening.

We usually play outside, but Raheem's come in a few times. He's better at being quiet than Shane.

Raheem wanted to draw and show me how to make a snowflake one day.

Haven't seen Nadia as much this week. There was one night she was out there late, but Carrie and Shane were snuggled in for a movie night.

We haven't seen Tae as much. She only comes down in the evening. She's good enough with the younger kids she may end up getting hired as a babysitter down the line. She likes to pull kids in wagons, help them on bikes, etc.

Shane enlisted her help to build a water fountain. She held the hose and had it fill one watering can to fill another.

Taekwando is our only organized activity. It's once a week.

Shane likes to climb on the walls after class and try to get other kids to do it with him. Maybe I should try to get some of the parents phone numbers. I tried to reach out to one family from tee-ball, but never heard back. It'd be nice to connect with a couple more families (that hopefully have nerdy dads!). A couple of houses sold on our street, but I don't think any new kids are moving in. 

I think I went on a lot more play dates than Shane does when I was his age, but he's got a little social life going on. I don't think he's gone a day without seeing other kids. We don't typically stay out with anyone or at any activity more than 2 or 3 hours. We haven't done drop off play dates or any spending the nights since Daniel lived across the street from us.