As parents, we want our children to thrive physically, emotionally and socially. We want them to be accepted and embraced for the wonderful, quirky little humans they are. We want them to have friends, good friends.
Over the last two years, I've had the pleasure of watching AJ thrive in middle school with an incredible friend group. He's found his tribe of friends who share common interest, laugh hard together, definitely fit together in their own wonderfully weird way and have each other's backs. It's been such a joy to get to know these boys and to see AJ have the friendships he's developed. And, boy, is he a good friend, thoughtful, kind and empathetic.
With Teddy, it's always a bit of a mystery what happens outside the realm of our supervision. We know he's had playdates with our friend's kids and that he's a social boy who believes everyone is his friend. He's had two friends from the bus and school through the years who have done play dates, and he's certainly enjoyed those. But this last year has been incredibly special in terms of friendship.
At his after-school programming, he became friends with another younger boy. Since I don't do after-programming pickup most days, I was quite confused at the library when all of the sudden a woman asked me if Teddy was Teddy. I said yes, and she told her son that Teddy was at the library. This little boy screamed Teddy's name, ran across the library and scooped him into a hug all the while Teddy was grinning and excited to see him. I told the lady I needed a bit of help, and she clarified her son and Teddy were friends from this programming. It was just cool to see that relationship.
The other relationship that has blossomed into a full-on bromance is Teddy and his friend Mikey. What started as classmates and friends at school has evolved into all sorts of play dates this summer, playing baseball on the same team, shared dinners and all sorts of fun. No matter how much time these two spend together, it is never enough! Mikey is constantly asking what Teddy is doing, when he'll see Teddy and if Teddy can come play. And Teddy is always searching for more of Mikey, asking in his own way to include him in activities and literally bouncing up and down with joy to see him every time.
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| Baseball besties made this season even more fun! |
It was interesting hearing from Mike's parents about their introduction to Teddy. They said Mikey constantly talked about Teddy, how much fun they had at school, how they sit together, and nonstop chatter about Teddy. But they never got details exactly on what they did together or what they talked about, so they weren't quite sure what to expect. They reached out to us through a letter sent home on the bus with Teddy how they've heard all about Teddy and would we like to get together. I was so tempted to be sassy and say we'd never heard a word about Mikey but figured that wasn't a good way to start a friendship. You can imagine that when they learned Teddy is non-speaking that clarified for them why they never heard what the boys discussed.
I'm so glad they reached out because the two boys are such a joy to watch together, and they make each other so darn happy. Mikey talks enough for both of them, but they understand each other with Teddy's signs and gestures and simply get along.
For a child like Teddy, it's incredibly cool to see this type of friendship develop. I'm here for all the best friend moments! (No, really, I still have to supervise Teddy. But dang, this is mostly joyful to supervise.)
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