With a Wave and a Smile

The hubby and I are polar opposites on a variety of personality traits. He’s laid back; I’m high strung. He’s spontaneous; I’m a planner.

A major commonality though is the way we interact with other people. Something we both noticed about each other early on in our relationship – and something that I think attracted us to each other – is that we are both outgoing and decidedly friendly.

By that, I mean that when walking down the street, we choose to keep our heads up and give at least a smile, if not also a “Hello” when passing by someone – whether we know them or not.

We have never expected that we will be perfect parents. We’ll make mistakes – that’s part of parenting. But, we’ve always said that it’s important to us not that our children necessarily be perfect, but that they be good. Good neighbors. Good students. Good workers. Good friends. Just generally good people.

Miss Olive is a superstar at waving. She doesn’t just wave, she parade/beauty pageant waves. We’re not sure where she learned that, but it’s adorable, so we’re sticking with it.

Whether we’re at the grocery, at the hubby’s office, out to eat, visiting Grandpa’s work, or anywhere else, the ladybug flashes a big smile and waves furiously at every passerby.

A small part of this is simply that Olive loves waving. But a larger part – the part the melts my heart every single time – is that she genuinely enjoys the interaction.

She’s thrilled by anyone who takes the two seconds to smile and wave back. If they give a verbal “Hi,” she’s 100 percent sold and babbles lovingly back.

Alternately, when there’s no response to Olive’s repeated attempts at pleasantries (even after she’s waved so much her arm is about to fall off and still no one has bothered to return the favor), she finally gives up and give me a look as if to say, “I waved, Mama. I smiled, and I waved. Why the heck didn’t they wave back? What’s wrong with them?” I, of course, say aloud, “You’re right, Baby Girl. Yes, it’s very nice to wave and smile at people. It’s very nice to always say ‘Hello’,” in hopes of her not being dissuaded in the future.

Earlier today we went to a baby shower where Olive had never met anyone before. From the minute we walked in the door, she was instantly besties with everyone in the room. The more Olive smiled, waved and made silly faces, the more responses she got. This egged her on, and she became an even bigger ham.

This evening, we went out to Longhorn for dinner with the hubby’s grandfather. From Olive’s perspective, the entire restaurant was filled with people who it was her duty to say hello to and get a reciprocal smile from. Thankfully, we were surrounded by tables of very baby-friendly diners who enjoyed Olive’s company as much as she enjoyed theirs.

I feel proud each time Olive puts herself out there to make a new friend.

I think we’ve been blessed with an extremely pleasant child with an exceptionally positive disposition by nature, but I’d also like to think that some part of Olive’s extroverted, friendly personality is from the hubby and I leading by example.

What are some behaviors/lessons that you feel are most important that your children learn from you? Do you consciously teach these, or just try to show them in your daily life?