Preschool romance

Gabriel doesn't talk much about his preschool class. There are some really cute kids in his class that have been together now for two years, but he still doesn't seem to have bonded with any of them. I was chatting with another Mom on the way in to pick them up a few weeks ago. Her daughter, Olivia (who is even taller than Gabriel, who is really tall for a 3-year-old), was talking over the weekend about school, and mentioned Gabriel. Then she paused and said, "He's cute". Her Mom said that her husband almost died and couldn't believe he was already hearing those words coming out of his daughter's mouth about a boy.

Tuesday when we were walking in, we saw Olivia and her Mom, and Gabriel said hi to Olivia. That was the first time he ever said hi to any of his classmates, even though I nag him to quite often. So Thursday when I get there to pick up Gabriel, the room is still really dark and it takes me a minute to focus. Gabriel was sound asleep on his mat, and Olivia was sitting next to him rubbing his back. I almost dropped Joel. When I got my composure back I told her that she what a really sweet girl she was. Gabriel woke up and was totally oblivious to the whole thing. Olivia handed me his shoes to put on him, then folded up his blanket and put it in his backpack for him. I told her she was a really good helper and made Gabriel tell her thank you, which he mumbled in his sleepy fog. We ran into her Mom on the way out, and I mentioned that Olivia was very sweet and helped us get our stuff together today. I didn't have the nerve to tell her about the back rubbing.