Social Butterfly

I went to Barnes and Noble with Tara yesterday. It wasn't supposed to be an outing really...I just had to return something and head out. But it was so cold outside that I just couldn't muster the courage to get out of the building once I had entered it! So I decided to hang out there - it doesn't take too much convincing to keep me at a bookshop anyway. I picked up a book to browse and went with Tara to the kids section, where they have some seating and place for kids to roam around. The book turned out to be very interesting and soon I was pretty much the only mom in that area who wasn't reading to her kid or running after her and talking in a cute voice to everyone around. This left Tara to fend for herself and I must say, she made me proud. She just headed off on her own to mingle with the crowd. She went right up to where a couple of kids were sitting and expressed interest in what they were up to. Then she joined them on the little ledge where they were sitting, and even invited a couple of other curious onlookers to join her. Soon, she had picked out her favorites and collected a little coterie of kids around her. At one point, she walked up to a baby who was sitting on his mom's lap and started a "conversation." The best moment was when this lady, in a different accent that I didn't think Tara would understand said, "Hi! Would you like to meet the baby? This is Jack...and what's your name?" Without a moment's hesitation and very confidently, my little one said, "Tara."

I just sat behind my book, beaming.