Magnetism is a funny thing...

It's funny how often I meet other parents of special needs children like Jaymes, when we go to the park. It's like we're magnetically attracted or something. The other day I took the kids out, since I had my mom's car on loan. We met K. and his friend/mentor P.

I don't know K.'s situation, I thought maybe Down's Syndrome, but I'm a cruddy judge of those things. He was maybe 15? I'm also bad with ages. He had a baby doll (aptly named Baby) who he kept putting on the tunnels and slides, then playing for a bit, then playing a sort of hide and seek to find Baby. It was really sweet, and funny at times. He'd pop Baby's head through a window on the tunnel and burst out laughing, and Jaymes would crack up too.

Later on, K. decided to push Jaymes on the swing. I was a little nervous, because Jaymes is tiny, and none too steady on the big swings, and K. was a little overzealous pushing him, but Jaymes loved it. He did eventually fall off the swing, but the ground was super squishy rubbery stuff, and he laughed as he plopped on his belly.

I think it's interesting to note that until Jaymes and K. met up, they were both playing alone (or with their companions) and ignored or given odd looks by the other kids. Admittedly, K. did have some odd behaviors, and that look to him. We are fortunate (or unfortunate, perhaps) that Jaymes is, physically, "normal" looking, and so does not get teased or tormented the way a child like K. could be. Anyway, the kids loved each other, despite the huge age gap. We're going to try and meet up more often at the park.

Here is the video. Mind you, his fall looks awful, but he popped right back up giggling. It wasn't nearly as painful as it looked, apparently.