Lessons at the park

Our city has some awesome parks.  We try to take in new ones all the time.  We happened upon one that was a great set up for the girls with high climbing structures but instead of plastic walls it had metal bars so the girls could easily walk up the stairs.  It is also nestled along a creek for big brother to go fishing so it was a total score!

We were the only ones at the park for quite a while then a family of 2 girls (8 and 6 years) and a 4 year old boy came and played.  This family was enjoying going down the slide together like a train and the girls thought that was cool.  Dariya even jumped in and these sweet kids included her in the train like she was a member of the family.

Then the kids decided to play "ice cream shop" underneath the play structure out of one of the little house windows.  They included Dariya and Alayna right away and started asking them what kind of ice cream and toppings they would like.  I stood back for a second to see what would transpire and to my joy the girls not only interacted but, interacted well.

Dariya was saying and signing strawberry for which kind of ice cream she would like and then signing chips for chocolate chips on top.  Alayna actually SPOKE and made sentences to these complete strangers.  She was saying things like, "I want strawberry ice cream please" and "yes more chocolate chips please".

I was overjoyed.  Just watching the girls be able to fully be included and interact with other kids and be able to be understood was a snapshot of beauty to this mom.

Just a simple day at the park turned out to be so much more, a social and speech lesson all wrapped into one without me having to get involved at all.