Generosity

I admit it. My mind was blown. But also, I felt so proud.

I walked Baxter to school today because Matt is off on a business trip in Hawaii, poor guy. It's been a long time since I've done the morning walk, usually being the one who picks him up at the end of the day. Now that the kindergartners are seasoned school-goers, they convene in the "upper yard" of the school each morning, where all of the big kids (up through fifth grade) gather. It was sort of startling for me to see all of these enormous kids running around, playing basketball, jump rope and well, just running around, out there. Baxter looked so small.

Well, little 16-month old Lyle stood on this busy school yard, just staring at the balls. Oh, those balls...yellow balls, blue balls...balls being thrown up in the air towards the basketball hoops, balls involved in games of catch. Yes, balls that were in use. Not only in use, but in the hands of The Big Kids. "Ba! Ba!" he'd shriek, pointing at the balls and then looking up at me, as if to say, "Um, hello? Why are you not bringing me over there to play with one of those?" It did not even occur to me to try. I simply told him, "The kids are playing with those, we'll play with your ball at home." But he persisted. "Ba! Ba!" he said excitedly to Baxter. Honestly, I didn't think much of it.

That is, until Baxter said something unintelligible and took off running in the direction of the ball court. As I watched, dumbfounded, my child politely and enthusiastically addressed a GIANT boy (in 3rd or 4th grade, I'd say) and returned with a bright yellow ball. Lyle's face lit up and Baxter said, "We can just play with it for a minute, I told them we'd bring it right back." And sure enough, I turned and looked at the big kids and saw that they were standing in a small circle on the court, looking as surprised as I was that they had let him take it. "I told them that my little brother really, really loves balls and just wanted to play with it for a minute," he said. Lyle was in heaven as they threw the ball back and forth a few times, and didn't complain for a moment when Baxter ran off and gave it back to the waiting kids, thanking them for the loan.