If I were to test Logan on the Myers-Briggs scale, I have no doubt that he would tip the charts as an extreme Extrovert. He needs people like I need quiet time, they give him energy and make him happy. This was especially obvious when we took him out of his social network at home and brought him to a place where he didn’t know anyone.
Meeting and making new friends was his first priority. It really didn’t matter their age or gender as long as they liked to laugh and have a good time.
Since we have been here, he has met and made more friends than all of us combined. We call him Mr. Cartagena. We will be walking in the grocery store or down the street and someone will roll down their window and say “Hola Logan.” Followed by me asking, “Who is that?”
Moving from the suburbs to the City made for a very different social structure. No longer were we able to open our doors to neighborhood kids in our quiet cul-de-sac. We had to do something I kind of hate, “play-dates.”
Learning other aspects of city life has been great, but this one was difficult for all of us. Access to friends was harder, it seems like daily life is ruled by scheduled activities and we both missed the ease of outside free play.
We have had to learn to navigate our way around this, I don’t want either of my kids to miss out on running wild and finding adventure in their neighborhood.
We have really made an effort to have our new backyard, the beach, be our run free time. We invite families we know to the beach on Saturday or Sunday morning and let the kids just play.
Trying to do what I can to keep this guy socially involved and keep some of the aspects of life we love. We are grateful to be here with some awesome families and I hope they don’t get sick of us! I’m so proud of Logan for keeping his sense of adventure and his outgoing nature through the past couple months.
I can only imagine having to remake your entire world when the choices are not yours. I know he is learning skills here that will help him long after this is over and making and keeping friends from all over is a big one.
