A blessing and a curse

Jake is just incredibly sociable.  He smiles and interacts with everyone, and is rarely anything but a complete pleasure when we are out and about.

For that, I am certainly grateful.  It’s definitely fun to run errands with him.  It can certainly be easy to be productive and efficient with him along.

But at the same time, his being so darned cute and affable can be a hindrance.  And not because of him, really.  Because of other people.  He draws people in, makes them like him, makes them feel special with his smile and eye contact.  Certainly this is a great talent, and if he learns to use it well it will be an asset to him in nearly any career he chooses.  But now, I love it and could use to turn it off occasionally.  We hit Costco and the supermarket today, and I couldn’t go more than ten minutes in either store without someone impeding our progress.  I heard about how adorable he is.  Jake got four different games of peek-a-boo.  “He looks like a doll.”  “He’s so happy.”

I try not to get annoyed by it.  I’m fairly certain the people who seek out interacting with me, or with him, it’s to fulfill a social need of theirs, or something.  And naturally I love hearing how cute and sweet and happy my kids are.  But after a while, man, I just want to eat my Costco slice of pizza and find the best dates on the yogurt and get on with my day… before the little cute happy guy gets hungry or tired and isn’t nearly as charming anymore.