Socializing and Mice

Yesterday was a busy day.  Usual errands in the a.m. followed by a visit from my SIL from 11 to 2:30.  Then a bit after 3 we had to head out to a BBQ.  KC and Lissa used to go to this really neat music program and their teacher Mike was throwing the BBQ  Mike presently lives in China with his new wife and baby A.  They come back once a year and spend a month or so with Mike's folks and the BBQ was their last chance to gather with family and friends before they head back to China in two days.  Mike invited us because KC emails him every other moth or so with questions about what life is like in China.  (have you seen pandas?  do you do tai chi? do you have noodles for breakfast?)  Mike loves the questions and said he would invite us to the BBQ  In one of those odd 6 degrees of separation things, Mike's dad is someone I know very well from work.  Mike also was the person who recommended Rob's piano teacher to me, so I told Rob that Joe would likely be there as well.  However, we went to this knowing that we would likely only know those 2 or 3 people.

Truthfully that would never bother me. I can and do talk with anyone.  What impressed me is that the kids did great.  There was a bounce house and a lot of other kids and the littles played very happily with everyone for more than 2 hours.  Rob stayed close by me but did talk with people.  I used to get the "s" word thrown at me a lot when we began homeschooling.  Like somehow this was going to make my kids freaky fearful little folk that would not have a friend in the big wide world or a clue as to how to make one. 

I think in a lot of ways it has worked just the opposite.  I am not sure that KC would have a lot of friends in public school. Although he is a loving and gregarious little boy, he loves things that are atypical in our society.  Sparkly dress up stuff for imaginative play.  Ballet.  Yes he also loves to break dance and play baseball but I know that he would have issues if he shared the less traditional interests on the playground.

 Rob also shows more assurance and has a great abiility to start and maintain peer relationships.  Last Thursday he was late coming home from the park.  After 15 minutes I had gotten in the van to go check on him.  (mostly because I know he does try out bike tricks and I didn't want to wonder if he was lying there with a broken ankle!)  I saw him walking home with a friend. He was pushing his bike so that they could walk together and they were engaged in an obviously happy and animated discussion. I just turned a corner and headed home on a different street so as not to embarrass him.  Rob apologized for the late return when he came in and said he and  his friend had gotten involved in talking about trading cards.

So I don't worry too much about socialization anymore!  LOL

Later in the evening the kids were having popsicles in the backyard and KC came flying in the house to tell me that Blake had caught a mouse.  Blake is the DOG!  A Brittany Spaniel.  A BIRD dog!  From a champion bloodline if we want to get down to it.  But Blake?  He wants to be a cat!  And he had indeed caught a mouse.  I guess the whole dang family marches to their own drummer don't they?