the park

Today I took my anonymous charges to the park for a picnic dinner. I had three of them, and the littlest guy is two and a half.

So he's playing on the merry-go-round and all these seven year old boys in soccer uniforms come up and jump on the thing and my little charge starts to push them. Pretty good speed, too. They were pretty much ignoring him until one of the cleated demi-athletes says, "Man, you a Cubs fan? That's awesome." My guy said, "uh huh!" and proudly lifted his capped head to smile at all those big boys. Who continued to ignore him. Then another said, "He's pretty strong for a little dude." Beaming, my charge replied, "Yeah, I's pretty strong," and proceeded to push with determination, laughing and grunting and laughing. The boys started paying more attention, asking him for a turn, helping him get on and off, and generally making sure they didn't run him over. He was in his element.

I think I learned a little something about men today. They totally open up and strive when men (or seven-year-olds) they look up to encourage and accept them. I know I see this in my guy. Am I on to something?