Spain Dad, a baby blog

Our friend Barbara is hoping to be a grandma soon, so she asked if she could take care of Alleke on Monday night to get some practice.

So, on Monday night April and I went around the corner to get a drink, and Barbara took Alleke down to the playground.

When we got home, the two of them were sitting on the couch reading books. We asked how the evening had gone, and Barbara said Alleke had played all night with her friends–digging in the sand with the younger ones and chasing the older ones around the seesaw.

We raised our eyebrows and looked at each other.

“Alleke has friends?” April asked.

The next night I took Alleke down to the playground. I sat next to her and watched as she picked up fist-fulls of sand and stared at the sand as it ran through her fingers like mini waterfalls.

A woman walked up and set her son down next to Alleke in the sand. She also set down her canvas bag, and began taking out beach toys. She handed her son a plastic rake and Alleke a scoop.

The woman looked up and must have noticed I was staring at her because she stopped what she was doing.

I *was* staring. I must have looked confused too because I was racking my brain for an explanation for this woman and her son. I didn’t know who she was. I didn’t know her son either. I had never met either of them before. But they seemed to think so.

“It’s okay,” the woman said, giving me a reassuring smile.

She pointed at our kids.

“They’re friends,” she said.