Taking snapshots in my mind

Today was one of those days where I literally took pause and made a conscious effort to record in my mind and on my heart what happened.  If I'd had my cell phone handy, I would certainly have snapped a couple of pics, but it was in the car and, well, maybe that was best as I likely could have disrupted the authenticity of the moments.

I took the kids, along with Gracie's nurse, Girlie, to the recently refurbished Veteran's Park.  It has a fully accessible playground and is only about a five minute drive from our house.  All three kids had a great time exploring - - Gavin is content anywhere he can walk and pick up pieces of "trash treasure" and hand them to me; Preston enjoyed running amok with a group of boys his age and exploring the skate and BMX park adjacent to the playground; Gracie loved that there were ramps to different playground features and slides for her to enjoy.  It was a nice outing for all of us.

But these moments, for me, won the day:

At one point, Gavin stopped playing with his push car and walked over to Gracie's wheelchair and tried turning her wheels.  I redirected him to the backside of her chair and showed him where he could hold on.  He immediately started pushing her chair for her (while Girlie helped control the steering).  I will remember it forever... just like I remember when Preston started helping push Gracie's KidKart many years ago.  It is, of course, fun for Gavin to push her along, but his determination to be involved and help her was obvious and so very sweet.  He says her name now, "GeeCee," along with his sign approximation of her name.  He is so loving and sweet to his big sister and, today, showed me that he will, like his big brother, be her helper, too.

A while later, he was back playing with his push car and found a little friend, Lucas, who is 19 months.  Gavin walked up to him, touched his chest gently and then wrapped his arms around him and gave him the sweetest bear hug.  Little Lucas just stood there.  Then Gavin pointed to his car, said, "vroom," and gave him another hug and a kiss.  Lucas climbed into the car and Gavin started pushing him!  It was so adorable and I (along with all of the adults around) was literally drowning in the cuteness that we witnessed.  Such a sweet display for Gavin's first impromptu and independent social encounter.