My New Friend, Lucas

If Lucas and Grace were 16, Donna and I would both be requiring chaperones anytime they were together...For Grace, she was so excited to see Lucas (who just turned 4), that she tried to hug him and hold his hand the minute that he got out of their van. I think Lucas was a little surprised and not too sure what to think of her, but it didn't take long before he asked Grace to sit next to him on the bench to watch the monkeys, and they were holding hands as they walked around the zoo. It was so adorable.

When we first headed to the playground, Grace wanted to swing (her favorite part of the playground) and Lucas wanted to climb, but eventually the two were chasing each other up the steps, over the platform and down the tube slide. Grace was so tickled at how Lucas was going down the slide backwards and sideways that she layed right down on the ground to reinact it. Then she sat between Donna and I as she tried to pretend to be a grown up, but that only lasted a few seconds. Lucas really wanted to play with Grace and when she headed back to the swings, he saved a climber for her and stood there yelling her name until she finally came back to play. Then later, Lucas (Grace called him Luka) noticed when the two swings were open and saved one just for Grace since she liked them so much. Ahhhh, what a sweetie! It was so nice to talk to Donna, too.  I am glad that I took this time off, but I really miss spending time with adults....

It was time to go home after a couple of hours, and it was obvious that neither of the kids wanted to go. Lucas sat on one of the "rock" benches and pouted. Grace walked over to tell him, "It's okay," and put her hands on his face to comfort him while he just pouted a little more because he seemed to like her sympathy. When Grace bent over, looked right at his face, and  kissed him on the lips, though, Lucas's eyes got really big. It was really funny watching them today, but I think Donna will need to take Lucas home and warn him about agressive girls like Grace, and we are going to have to figure out how to curb her "friendliness" before she turns 16! As Gracie would say, "Oh my goodness!"