We don’t have many kids in our neighborhood. Parents have kids and move out before they hit school age so they can avoid sending them to our public schools (which have a pretty low graduation rate). We have two under two nearby and a nine-year-old and his three younger sibs down the block and around the corner.
Donovan, though, is right across the street.
He lives with his mom during the school year and comes back to Michigan during the summers. We met him two years ago and he and Devin hit it off. Even with a nearly four-year age difference. Last year they played a few times. This year, though, they’re nearly inseparable.
I love that Dev has a good buddy. And that he now crosses the street and knocks on the door and asks, “Can Donovan come out and play?” And I love that Donovan is actually a sweet, well-mannered kid who can act as a role model. (Although he was teaching Devin how to sing “I Want to Rock ‘n Roll All Night” as we took the dog for a walk tonight.) One never knows what types of kids their children will end up hanging out with. There are a lot of brats out there. So having him hanging around my house so much is not at all annoying.
At least not yet!
The other thing that’s fun about him is that he was terrified of my dog, but now he’s fascinated with her. He asked me tonight, “Can we take Juliette for a walk?” The first few days he wouldn’t come into the house unless she was put into the backyard while he and Dev scampered to the basement where they could close the gate. Now he’s sitting on the floor in front of her and asking for doggie kisses.