Since it’s the school holidays and scienceworks was crazy, we’re doing a lot of staying at home. We had some HS friends over on Tuesday so that I could discuss some plans with the mum about her new science club and she wanted me to be involved. Alex was being very difficult and not particularly kind to the boy who is a year his senior, Daniel of course would not leave me alone for a moment. The playdate did not go very well – Alex was very energetic and slightly aggressive. When they left, I poured my attention onto the kids and Alex told me that he wanted them to leave so that he could play with me. I could sense as much, and it’s happened before. We played on the trampoline mostly and then watched Totoro again as Daniel loves the cat-bus and sits down for nothing else. Alex spent the evening watching Oggy and the cockroaches on his iPad and then we read ‘The Twits’ before bed.
On Wednesday we met a new HS mum and her almost 6 year old son at the skate park. Before they arrived, Alex found 3 boys to play with who also had bikes and were quite adventurous and energetic like Alex. I asked Alex to include the new HS boy, the other boys were good about it and tried to help but the new boy was not keen. It became apparent that Alex had little in common with this boy except for age. the other boy was not very physical, and so the park was probably a bad choice for a playdate! Once the 3 brothers had left, I suggested that Alex and the HS boy play with the cars he’d brought. The played with them on the ramps which kept them busy and united for a short while. Alex is not keen on meeting up again though s for now we’ll have to leave our interactions for HS park days and gymnastics.
Vio took the kids to his parents and I heard all about the baby pigeons Alex was watching Battle Force 5 on Netflix and paused to tell me why his bike was faster than the HS boys scooter that day at the park. He talked about friction – how his tires had bumps on them and the scooters were smooth, the size of his wheel and the pedals. I just sat back and listened.
The following day we had another playdate, but this time with a long term friend that went to school this year. Alex had asked for a ‘toy club’ and for his friend to bring toys. The kids played great and at the end decided to swap 2 transformers until they see each other next week.
On Friday we visited my SIL briefly. Alex plays well with his cousin now, though he can be a bit of a toy hog. It can be a bit hard on Daniel. We came home as we were having another HS friend over, though this has been a long time friend that shares Alex’s love of trains. It’s great that they can play this for so long, because after they have little in common. They played quite separately or else just needed the space. I don’t usually like to have so many interactions in one week, but it just kind of happened with people’s schedules and it being the holidays.