Toddlers as Conversation Starters

Sebastian and I are back from Miami. It's bittersweet to be home. We had a great time in South Beach, splashing around at the beach and running through the sand, but glad that Sebastian is back to his regular sleeping schedule and eating habits. No more staying up late on school nights for awhile.

But I noticed an odd thing while traveling and staying hotel bound for a few days. Maybe it's the cuteness of my particular kid (heehee) or maybe it's that a kid (in general) is a good conversation starter. But either way, I have to say that Sebastian and I seemed to beckon random attention from random strangers. Mostly men. Who knew?

It started shortly after arriving to La Guardia for our departing flight. In line, at the Duncan Donuts, a tall man began talking to Sebastian about his Hot Wheels. He literally bent down and started a (one-sided) conversation with my little guy. I smiled  politely but a bit uncomfortably. I proceeded to order my cappuccino and subtly pushed Sebastian's stroller out of the man's direct line of sight.

"Your son is adorable." The man suddenly said. "How old is he?"   

"Thanks. He's 18  months." I responded to the man and then directed my attention to my son. "Here we go Bubba, time for our flight."

I smiled politely at the man, wished him a good day and quickly headed toward the security check. Whew: A quick and easy out.

A few minutes later at security, the fellow checking my ID smiled and said hello to Sebastian. I smiled back, he smiled at me. We walked on toward the check point eventually coming to a security attendent who stopped in front of Sebastian and started talking to him about his "bobo" (aka pacifier).

"Oh, you don't need that bobo little guy. You're too big for that."

I attempted to smile politely although this is one subject I'm not too keen on having with strangers. The security looked at me and started telling me about his son who is now a teenager. I managed to be polite while keeping my responses short and eventually made my way through the security check and off to my gate.

Once inside the plane and *comfortably seated, Sebastian and I sat and waited for the plane to fill up. All the while I kept my fingers crossed as I hoped that the seat beside us, in the center of our row, would remain empty. A few minutes later I discovered we had no such luck as a guy who looked to be in his 20's stopped in front of our row to put his bag in the overhead compartment and squished into the seat next to us. Darn. I silently prayed that he liked kids while I entertained Sebastian with the tiny window that was overlooking the plane's right wing.

Shortly into the flight, Sebastian dropped his car into the gentleman's lap. Oops.

"Here you go, little guy." The guy said and smiled. 

"Sorry." I said.

"You're good." The guy replied. Whew. He seemed to like kids.

We did end up having a conversation, the stranger next to us, and I, most of which consisted of talk about my kid or kids in general. The flight ended with Sebastian's feet touching our new friend's leg and my coffee on the stranger's tray. (You have to love the closenses of these darn airline seats.) But with a "Nice meeting you" and an exchange of FB names, Sebastian and I were off on our adventure in MIA.

Once at our hotel and seated at the hotel restaurant for brunch, another conversation was started about my son and his magical curls by the waiter/GM of the hotel. Interesting. Has my son really  become the way to every strangers heart? Hmmm.

*there's really only so much you can do to get comfortable in a tight airplaine seat with your 30 pound, 33.5 inch toddler on your lap.