Just some things

I've been noticing lately that Lilah is growing more social. For anyone who has been around her, it may seem obvious because she's been an endless string of chatter for 2 years. It seems different now, though. She really engages with people and has blossomed into a social butterfly. She is incredibly observant of the world and people around her and seems to be at ease in every situation.

We were at Found Sound, Ferndale's newest record shop, a few weeks ago. They had a projector playing the T.A.M.I Show (quite loudly) and chairs set up theater-style with an aisle down the middle. Lilah Rose meandered around the store, asking about various cut-outs and record sleeves. Then I blinked and she was gone. I had a momentary flash of panic before realizing she had only ventured 3 feet from my side. To the middle of the theater aisle. And was positioning herself in the middle row, sandwiched between couples trying to watch in peace. I debated hauling her out so as not to disturb them, but opted to see how Lilah did solo. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles took the stage. She watched for maybe 30 seconds, then was inspired to get down. As in groove and dance and stomp in time to the music. Between each song, she cheered wildly and clapped. People around her didn't know how to take her at first. This tiny person was standing on a chair swaying and clapping to James Brown and the Supremes and hollering her enthusiasm between songs. At one point, I truly believe she sensed the crowd's uncertainty. She looked around the room and assessed faces. One or two acted put out. A few nodded at her. Most didn't meet her eye and pretended to watch the movie. Some children might shrink down in their chairs, discouraged. Most would have lost interest after the first song. Not my kid. She kept scanning faces until she saw mine. She pointed to the screen, and made an exaggerated show of clapping and grooving to inform me she intended to continue to boogie. I smiled and gave her a thumb's up. Her face lit up and she went back to it. Only this time, apparently bolstered by my approval, she turned around in her chair and pointed to the couple behind her. "Hi. What are you doing?"
"Watching the movie."
"Me too. And I'm dancing." She paused, then commanded, "Clap."
"Oh, well we're just watching quietly now." Her little blue eyes narrowed.
"You clap. Like this." She showed them, slowly and condescendingly, how to clap. Emphasized every motion, just in case they'd never learned how. They gave in and clapped. "Yay! Now dance."
"No thanks, but you can keep dancing!" She sighed.
"No, you dance. Like this." She bopped up and down and weaved her head, hands in the air. Threw a twirl in for good measure." The couple looked at each other, then around to see who was watching, and shrugged. They started to bop a little. Lilah clapped her approval and pointed to the people across the aisle. In a loud whisper, "HEY! CLAP!" And the whole thing started over again. She had 75% of the small crowd engaged in some kind of action by the time Dano was finally done shopping at the other end of the store. The owners of the shop were laughing and taking pictures. I watched the entire display, alternating between wondering whether I should allow my 3 year old to force a group of adults to kowtow to her whims, and amusement that she was able to very confidently gain command over a small army in under 10 minutes.

It was the same today at the park. I was knitting on a bench and Lilah was playing on the structure when some more kids came to join her. They appeared to range in age from 4 to 1. The youngest had a parent in tow, and the older boys went off together to climb things. Lilah was thrilled to see other kids around, and wasted no time running over.
"Hi! I'm Lilah! Is that your baby?" She pointed to a girl probably hardly younger than she was. The man holding her hand nodded. "And you're her daddy?" He nodded again. "Okay! Bring your baby over here. She wants to play with me." He hesitated, then followed. Lilah played with the little girl, who was much more interested in playing alone. "Come up here, baby!"
"No." Lilah pointed at the man.
"Your baby said no. Put her up here." And he did. It went on that way until we left the park to go to dinner

We went to Found Sound after we ate, and as soon as we walked in, Lilah pulled me to the counter. "Hold me, Mama!" I picked her up, and she laid her head on my shoulder. "Hi. Do you have a gift card for my Daddy?" I was amazed. She and I had stopped in a week ago to ask about a gift card for Dano's birthday. A week ago. They didn't then, but had told us to check in again soon because they planned to have gift cards available. The employee tonight apologized and told her they didn't have them in yet.
"It's okay, sweetheart. Daddy's just going to buy records with real money instead." She sighed.
"Fiiine." She raised her hand and greeted the owner as he walked in. "Hey. What are you doing? Do you have your dinner? Are you going to eat it?" She pointed to bags in his arms that smelled strongly of Chinese takeout.
"Yep! Hi."
"Ok! See ya later!" I laughed and shrugged at him.
"Apparently you two are best buds, at this point."
"Well yeah, we are!" She tried to engage with a little girl her age in the shop, but the she hid behind her mom and wasn't having any of it. Lilah talked to her mom instead. "She's a baby, and you're her mama, and that's her daddy shopping like my daddy, and that's her...cousin?" Pointing to a little boy. Lilah couldn't have cared less that the little girl clearly wanted to be left alone. She was making a friend, come hell or high water.

We left Dano to his shopping and walked to Easy Like Sundae. We walked in and I handed her a full punch card. One free frozen yogurt! She walked over to the counter. "May I please have a cup for my frozen yogurt?" The employees "awww'd" in unison and one walked over and handed her a cup.
"Have you been here before? Do you know how it works?" Lilah nodded. Easy Like Sundae is one of her favorite haunts.
"Yes, ma'am." The "awwws" resounded yet again. We've been fine-tuning her manners lately. She chose her flavor and pulled the lever (her tiny mind was blown when she realized you could swirl two flavors). She chose her toppings (M&Ms, kiwi, blueberries, candy eyes, and whipped cream. Yum?) and handed the employee her punch card. "This was Daddy's card, but he gave it to me so he could shop." We took her treat outside to the white, beachy Adirondack chairs. I always sit to the right, Lilah to the left. We ate frozen yogurt and watched downtown Ferndale. She asked about the shops, cars, dogs, and people. Where they're going, what they're doing, do I think they have a cat. We sat until the sun started to go down and Dano came to take us home.

It just amazes me to watch her. It scares me a little and I have to keep such close tabs on her in public because of how friendly she is and how awful some people are. All in all though, she charms people to death within 5 minutes of meeting them. She isn't always so charming at home, but the more I see her in public and even thrust into brand new situations some kids would shy away from, I see how strong her little spirit is and how she finds her place no matter what. She's going to grow into such an amazing little lady. I'm so proud she's ours.