Jonathan Had Fun

We had a wonderful day yesterday with Jonathan. When we met him we clearly saw fear in his eyes, but that quickly went away as we reminded him that he had seen us at McDonald's, and gave him quarters to feed the animals. As we walked through Maymont Park in Richmond, looking at the animals, we talked with and interacted with Jonathan. He did not seem shy at all. A very short time into our visit he was walking along, talking to Tim .

Tim pointed out animals to him and both shared little bits of information they knew about them with each other and the rest of us.
As our walk progressed, Jonathan became tired and sat down to rest. I pulled out bubbles that I had brought along and he seemed to really enjoy them. After convincing him it would be better to chase them on flat ground instead of the side of a hill, we walked on.
A short way up our path, Jonathan slipped and skinned his knee. After a short rest for recovery, he let me hold his hand to help him hop along, saying, "I can't walk on it at all." Within about 10 hops uphill, I suggested he let Tim carry him on his shoulders. Jonathan let Tim pick him up and seemed to really enjoy being carried along, especially when Tim let him steer him by putting his hands up as handle bars and turning as Jonathan led.

When we reached the top of the hill, the two ladies that were with us left us with Jonathan while they went to get the car. Jonathan seemed a bit nervous, but I pulled out the bubbles and he enjoyed chasing them as we coaxed him up to the meeting place.
We left the park a short time later and got a drink, finishing our time for the day at a duck pond. Jonathan kept looking for flat rocks to skip in the water and played with a feather in the water with me. At one point Jonathan came up beside me leaned in and kind of gave me one of those head-shoulder hugs that completely warmed my heart.

Jonathan was smiling very big as we said good-bye and told him we would see him again very soon.
The meeting was a success.