Jaden had his first play date with a school friend today.  We called his friend, Isaac, to see if he wanted to go to a gymnastic academy’s open gym.  Jaden did a happy dance through the house when he said yes!

We played a short game of “I Spy” and talked about Christmas.  Then I heard Jaden lean over to Isaac and say this:

I miss my brother Owen today.  Would you like to pray with me?  Dear God, today is a thankful day.  A different day wasn’t so good.  I miss my brother Owen.  Everyday when you see him, will you make sure he is ok and let him know I love him?  If he is ok, will you give me a sign?  Thank you very much.  Amen.

Where did this come from?  What on earth did my son find the courage to ask his friend to pray with him?  I was so so so proud of him and knew I must have done or shown him something right.  I choked by the tears as I tried to find something else we could all talk about – I didn’t want my silence and awe to make Jaden feel like he had done something wrong – when what he did was so right.

Walking into the gymnastic’s academy, I thought I had everything under control.  I had taken the triplets to open gym twice before so I had the whole thing scoped out … I knew what to do.  When we got to the gym, I sort of panicked a little — it wasn’t like the open house’s I’ve taken the babies to during the week.  Mind you, I expected the kids to be bigger, I didn’t expect there to be 10 times more of them and it to be MASS CHAOS!  I watched from the parent’s room as the boys ran in two different directions and almost got trampled.  They didn’t understand that kids were forming lines to take turns jumping and using the equipment.  So off went my shoes and I headed to the sea of kids to help the two boys out.

We jumped on the trampolines.  We jumped into the giant pit of foam blocks.  At one point the boys were getting stuck in the foam blocks (I swear it’s like quick sand trying to get out of this thing) and Jaden leans over the edge and reaches out his hand.  He yells, “Isaac, quick! Grab my hand!  I’ll save you!  You’re my bestest friend ever!”  Super cute, right?

As the night went on, I could tell when the boys kicked into overtired mode.  They started giggling and getting really silly.  At one point Isaac just plopped over and laid flat on his back in the middle of the floor.  I looked down over him and asked him if he was tired.  He nodded … then jumped to his feet and ran off to the next thing.  Pretty sure he just kept moving so he didn’t fall asleep standing up.

We finished up the night with getting a treat out of the vending machine.  I handed each boy a dollar bill and helped them push the buttons.  Of course both boys picked out candy – noooo they couldn’t have picked something like goldfish crackers or pretzels, could they?  Ha!

Our first school friend play date was wonderful!  The boys played well together and they both had a lot of fun!  I really hope we can continue having these kinds of play dates 🙂  And to think I was so nervous about having the first play date!!

Love, Mel