I had a big heart swelling I am so proud of my daughter moment last night. DD 2 1/2 has always been a little shy out in public and though she has been coming out of her shell a little at a time she still seems to hang back and follow other kids' leads. She has some friends her age and I notice that while around them she dummies herself down in her verbals... shortening her sentences to 2 or 3 word sentences b/c that is how they talk but she still has fun with them. Last night we went to dinner at a restaurant that has a playground out on the deck. When we got there there were 2 girls that were quite a bit older than DD playing on the equipment but when she went out on the playground they were headed back to their seats. DD of her own choice ran over to them and asked if they would be her friends and then asked if they would come and play with her. And they did. It was so exciting to watch her out there holding her own with the kids that were about 8 to 10 years older than her. She hanging out with them I noticed her vocabulary was in normal range for her ability so no dummying down and her physical ability as she tried what they were doing seemed to increase. I guess she just needed someone to show her some new tricks.

So mommy was very proud of DD ... that was a huge step for her to go out of her way to ask them to be her friends and play with her.