We’ve only just arrived in Buenos Aires, but I can tell already this is a very family friendly city. Every restaurant has high chairs and stores our stroller, the waiters always help with simple food options for the kids, and brightly colored playgrounds are all over the city.

As we walked the Retiro neighborhood today, we discovered a nice playground to let the kids run off some energy. While the slide took the attention at the beginning, soon both my kids made fast friends.

My daughter the tomboy, found a group of kids playing with the sand and throwing it, and immediately wedged herself in the group, helping her self to their toys, and forcing herself on their game until they let her play. She has few words, but that wasn’t a barrier.

My daughter has no issues inserting herself

My son found a friend who showed him how he could use the seesaw (the old fashioned kind where if you did not hold on to the handholds you will make a six foot fall – not the wimpy giant-spring-loaded teeter-totter that my kids were used to back in the States) to make sand slide down it, or shoot it up in the air so the sand flies. Soon they were running all over the playground together, from the slide, to the swings, to the seesaw. Apparently, play works in all languages.

Partners in crime

The best part of the day, watching Santiago run up to the other kids and say “Hola! Want to play with me? Gracias!” Then, making sure to say “Adios!” to all his new friends. Yelling “Espera!” to his sister who wanted to go down the slide as another was walking up it. One day and he’s already using some of the Spanish that I (and Dora) taught him from time to time. Excited to see what two weeks will bring.