Say what you like about Jonah Butler, but that guy has the ability to make a new friend on a moment's notice. We had a great time playing with our visiting friends Tamsin and Emma on Sunday, followed by a trip to the city via ferry on Monday. The moment we boarded the boat, Jonah struck up a conversation with fellow 3 year old Max, and the two of them spent the rest of the trip snuggled in a window at the front of the boat together, loudly providing misinformation to each other ("See that right there?" Jonah asked, pointing to a container ship. "That's a fishing boat!"). Once we arrived in the city and bid Max goodbye, we settled into a little park to kill some time before meeting Daddy for lunch. Jonah scrambled up a statue, where he found a four year old named Evie, who asked, two seconds after meeting him, "Do you want to play kitties with me?"
Did he ever.
So Jonah and Evie played kitties for a very long time, after which we followed Evie's family all through the ferry building. After a nice lunch and visit with Daddy, we headed back to the ferry...where we immediately ran into Max, heading home after his visit to the submarine at Pier 41. And so Jonah and his old friend Max spent the entire trip back getting into trouble by climbing on, over and under every chair on the boat. It's a wonder my usually empty threat about getting kicked out didn't actually come true. What an exciting day. Jonah is currently passed out in his bed, with the ice cream that I didn't get a chance to wash off before he fell asleep still smeared all over his face, for a quick nap before swimming.
Nate, not usually one to play kitties, enjoyed hearing all about Evie's dad's earthquake experiences. It's always interesting to watch adults react to him as they slowly get where he's coming from. "What's your favorite part of kindergarten, Nate?" asked Evie's friendly dad. "Earthquake drills," lied Nate. So Evie's dad told him about being in SF for the big 1989 quake. "What time??" asked Nate excitedly. "5:07," replied the dad. "5:07 what???" demanded Nate. "5:07 pm." "Ahh, so 8:07 pm in Rhode Island," Nate offered.
Another Nate tidbit: The story of how I got to thinking of this is too long to reproduce here, but as we were walking to lunch, we walked up a set of stairs. When we got to the top, I asked casually, "Hey Nate, how many steps was that?" "Six!" replied Nate. After repeated questioning, he explained that he does not always count how many stairs, etc., but that sometimes he does. I guess I got lucky by asking when it was one of those times. Another fascinating piece of the mysterious puzzle that is my little Nate.
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