First Friendships, Part I | Traveling with Baby

As my son grows older and creates friendships and relationships with others, my heart swells with joy as I see him transform from a baby-into-a-child–a very social child.

He’s spent a lot of time around adults, especially as he’s grown up in my chiropractic office. He knows almost every patient by first and last name as well as what order of therapy rotation that they use in the office.

But, it’s a different social awakening to interact with his peers–and to see what type of personality bursts forth in various situations.

Calvin is friends with an adorable little girl, “A”. They first met when they were babies, and they’ve grown up seeing each other fairly often.

This weekend, we took Calvin to a family friendly concert with Disney’s Imagination Movers at the Charlottesville Pavilion. Thanks to an extra ticket from Starr Hill Presents, Calvin was able to invite one friend to join us.

Guess which friend he wanted to invite?

Calvin’s been asking for a sister for a long time. As much as he loves playing with peers, especially playing rough and tumble with boys, he likes hanging around girls like “A”–to pretend he has a sister.

When walking to the Downtown Mall for the concert, Calvin wanted to hold her hand to cross the street.

At one point, I was carrying Calvin while “A” was holding onto my skirt. I think later on, I was holding A and Calvin was holding on to my skirt.

For an afternoon, I knew what it was like to have two small children close to the same age. The lovely thing about it is that they got along so well.

They both enjoyed the concert . . . even though they were pretty worn out by the end (both wanting to be held, or nearly crashing out on the chairs).

But, they did clap their hands and dance to the Imagination Movers who could play some entertaining rock, blues, and jazz–and create an entertaining and family-friendly show.

Sure, the concert was fun, but I was more interested in the story that was unfolding before my eyes with these two young friends.

Just like when he’s around small babies and younger children, when Calvin wasn’t completely exhausted on his Daddy’s lap, he was very concerned when dancing “A” ventured a little too far away from our seats to dance in the aisle.

He felt it was his duty to convince her to head back toward our seats.

When she ignored his pleas, he took it upon himself to try to lift her and bring her back by himself.