the park at 4

Lovie and I stopped off at a park yesterday after I picked her up from school and conned her into leaving by way of Slurpee's from 7-11 prior to the park stop. The park we stopped at was one closer to home to avoid horrendous traffic. I just have zero patience for the traffic: the waiting, the foot on the brake pedal oh but wait, here we go let's clutch it and gas it ... nope, brake.

Spring has finally sprung around here and it was quite lovely so why not?

As soon as we got out of the car, Lovie ran off to find some friends to play with and quickly darted toward an adorable puppy. She started petting it, after asking its owners if she could, and started following the two older girls who were near the dog as well.

"I'm four!" she proclaimed to them in such a way as if to say "I'm badass and you WANT to play with me, yo."

They both kind of looked at her like, "Give me a freaking break, twerp," but then their eyes found mine. I smiled trying not to be too intimidating but truth is, the whole time I pretended to be on my phone, I watched and thought to myself, "Break her heart, I'll break your face."

Yeah, I hover a bit, I know. But guess what? She's 4 and she's my baby. Actually, I generally don't get too close unless she comes to me or calls for me--or unless I feel like something fishy may be going on. I know she's got to figure it all out on our own-- that some kids suck (let's be honest) and can be mean.

The girls played together for about two minutes before the older one went off to join some other kids. Fortunately "A", the 6-year-old, kept letting Lovie hang with her even though I could tell she wasn't too thrilled about it. Lovie and A hung around for nearly an hour (it seemed) by the swings before they made their way over to the slides. That's when they spotted... BUBBLES.

A mom was blowing bubbles to her 3 year-old boy, "N". Lovie gravitated toward them and started blowing bubbles and chasing them with N. She spent the next hour playing with him and it was super cute watching them interact because they were both having fun and not caring how old the other one was, etc. The mom and I talked the whole time, too-- something that never happens. I usually hover from a distance and avoid much contact with anyone.

I need Lovie to learn to fend for herself, yes, but she's 4 not 14 (oh Christ that scares me even more). She does so good on her own--asks kids if they want to play or if she can play with them, tells them her name and age, communicates about whatever--but she's my baby... and not for much longer!

We were there for over two hours and it was pretty fascinating watching her the whole time. She's growing so fast. And she's become this really really awesome person. I'm just glad others are seeing it too.