She's Going to be Stolen

My baby is a social baby. She takes after her father that way, I suppose. He certainly is friends with everyone and everyone is friends with him.

But as I said, Z is social. She's happy when I put on the baby carrier, because that means she's going out the door. If I put her in the carrier and don't leave right away, she starts fussing. "What's with the false advertising, Mom? I thought we were going places??"

As we walk through our neighborhood, kids run up to grab Z's leg or hands and greet her, adults greet her by name and hold her for a minute or give her kisses. She graces them with smiles, coos at her favorites, and grabs for the noses of those who hold her. 

Then there's the offices. She's known by name in the phone company's office, workers coming to take her from me and trying to get her to laugh and smile. Yesterday we went to the post office and, yet again, she was a crowd favorite. 

 

But the refrain that I hear most often is "she's going to be stolen!" Why? She's too friendly, she doesn't cry when she leaves my sight, and she sort of blends in with the local kids. Are they saying this seriously? Not really. But is it hard for this new mother to hear? Of course! 

The lady at the post office who first took her from me immediately said, "I'm going to walk around the corner with her and see if she cries." I assured her that Z wouldn't cry. She walked around the corner and, surprise surprise, Z didn't cry. "She's going to be stolen!" the lady proclaimed, then walked with her into an adjacent office. I could hear Z making friends while I chatted with the lady next to me, then after a couple of minutes I followed her into the office too. Sure enough, Z was sitting behind a desk, chewing on a lady's water bottle cap, happy as can be. 

Will she be stolen? Well, I hope not. But it's nice that, at least right now, she gets along with everyone.