Hayley and Kate Minter

Hayley and I tend to make regular trips to the town park in the evenings when Holly’s at rehearsal (or, more accurately at this stage, performing). It’s a fun change of scenery, and the town park is really quite nice. There are usually a range of kids at the playground, from kids her age up to the standard allotment of insane 10-year-old boys playing “tag” on the slides.

Hayley doesn’t tend to pay much attention to these other kids, beyond saying “hi” and usually getting ignored in return. But tonight was a little different. The playground was empty when we got there, but some other kids showed up shortly thereafter. One was a little blonde girl who looked around 4. Hayley said “Hi, little kid” to her, and she said hi back. Then they started playing together!

They went around together, playing on the slides, pretending to be in an ice cream parlor in this “doorway” part of the playground, just generally hanging out. Then the little girl took Hayley over to the softball fields and they watched the softball game for a few minutes together. I just stood a ways away, watching them and realizing that my little one was managing to interact with someone outside of her immediate social group.

The other girl had to go home soon after that, but it was a milestone night.