It is comforting when I arrive at the day care center and find Moomin playing rambunctiously with a squirming mass of children. Usually he hangs back from roughhousing or active play, so the rare times when I see him in the thick of things, laughing and yelling, it makes me weirdly happy for him.
I like it that his temper is quiet and his usual spot is on the floor or pillows, reading or dithering around with little animals and action figures . . . I was also that way as a kid, and so I understand it. And yet I want to know that he’s not missing out on rough and tumble play. Today I saw that he trusts the other kids enough not to kick him in the head! He wasn’t afraid, and they were all nice to him, and he was nice to them. Beautiful! Possibly I also worry a little that he is so low-key in a crowd that he misses out on basic exuberance.
I think the kid in this photo is his new friend Nadiel, who “borrowed” his lego dinosaur a few weeks ago. So that’s also nice to know, that he’s not holding grudges the way he often does.
I think he’ll have fun there this summer!
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