Bunnies in the backyard. Or, the Little Man.

The playgroop twins brought their bunnies back from upstate last month and P was anxious to meet the new additions. Leslie had chopped kale prepared for the kids to get in touch with their nurturing side and Phoenix thought this was sooooo neat. He often likes us to feed him, too often likes to feed us, regularly and maliciously feeds Baby Brother (pretend poop and other pleasantries) and too rarely gets to feed others :) So this was perfect. The rabbits were an unbelievably soft and sweet surprise for a bunch of city kids.

P still seems nervous around the largish group of kids (any more than One being largish for him) and hung right by me (On me, actually) a lot of the time but did venture off some. But he seemed much more settled this time. There are a couple of other kids that stick by their moms, so I'm not concerned, just chuckling, since the other kids Have to be more fun than me. I joined a few moms at the food table and P just sat on my lap listening and playing with a fascinating magnetic dress toy. Some of the moms chatted with him about his Florida trip - winning his heart. Then when I came up short on his cable car questions (Dez and Nini have a couple of cool cable car toys), their mom, Leslie, not only answered his questions, she read him a book about cable cars. As usual, the child is enamored with all of the Adults in his life, blowing the moms extra bye kisses at the end of playgroop.

On a warm day last weekend we came home to a very busy stoop with multiple neighbors out gabbing and kids playing ball. P wanted to run up and get his ball and "come back down to chat." As he ran back down the stoop stairs I expected him to veer to the boys playing ball. Nope. He dropped his ball and marched right up to the group of dad and stood there, listening and nodding and watching. They stopped talking and looked down at their knee level ... but he wasn't sure what to chat about and marched back to me. Doh. I can't blame the kid. Half the time he sees the neighbor boy, the kid is so grumpy he won't return P's "hello!" But the two neighbor dads, forgettaboutit. They chat him up like an old drinking buddy. I'm sure they feel grumpy half the time too :) we adults just hide it better.

So it wasn't completely surprising when he told me that he is a "grown-up now." I can lead the kid to other children, but if Ol' Stewball only wants wine, that wet river ain't gonna do him any good...