Very Nice Boys

We knew the lovely weather we had yesterday would be the last nice weather we'd see for awhile, so I took advantage of the sunny skies by taking the boys to the playground. We spent an hour there yesterday evening before picking up Tab.

Our favorite playground is at one of the elementary schools in Lawrenceville. It has an elaborate fort-like structure made of pressure-treated wood, with tunnels, ropewalks, monkey bars, and sliding boards. It has ladders and tires to climb and poles to slide down. A sturdy swing set and several picnic tables shaded by tall maple trees complete the picture.

Since it is a school playground we can't come here when school is in session, but the playground is open to all after 3 p.m. on school days. Sometimes the aftercare kids at the school play out here in the late afternoon, but when we arrived yesterday there were only a few slightly younger children and their mothers. It appeared to be an established playgroup since the mothers all seemed to know one another and all left around the same time.

Once the playgroup departed there were only my three guys and one other little boy left. The other kid seemed to be about the same age as the twins. He was a cute little boy with dark hair and big brown eyes. He stared wistfully after my kids as they ran around the fort playing a game of their own invention, a combination of Tag and Hide-and-Go-Seek.

One of the nice things about having three children close in age is that even if there are no other kids at the playground, the boys always have each other to play with. I thought of that again when I saw how lonely that little guy looked. I was on the verge of suggesting to Daniel that he invite the boy to play with them, but he thought of it himself before I had a chance to pull him aside. Shyly, the boy nodded yes and joined in their game. At one point I looked up from my book to see Daniel run past closely followed by three smaller boys, Pied Piper in miniature.

"Hey, kid!" Daniel called back to the dark-haired boy.

"Ask him his name, Dans," I chided.

Stephen approached the little boy and talked to him. "His name is Alex!" Stephen shouted to me.

"Alex! Come here, Alex!" the boys called as they raced around.

When it was time for us to leave to pick up Tab, the woman who had brought Alex--mother? grandmother? babysitter? I couldn't tell--thanked me. "You have very nice boys," she said in what sounded like a Polish accent.

If only you knew, I thought, remembering a three-way fight I had broken up just that morning. I smiled and thanked her.

"Bye, Alex! Bye!" the boys called.

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