It's not at all an exaggeration to say that Adele taught Mila the word "Hello." One day Mila didn't know the word, the next she was saying it back to Adele before Adele could croon, "It's me."
It's pretty much the most adorable thing ever. It's true. (There is video, but it's not GOOD video. Alas, Alexis has made it her mission in life to get GOOD video. We'll see what happens.)
With the discovery of the word "hello," Mila instantly realized its power. The two little syllables are certain to get smiles in the car. They're even more certain to get smiles in a store.
Any store.
Every store.
All. The. Time.
"Hello" has become Mila's mantra. Her brand, if you will. From the time we set foot in Target, for example, she has her Hello Face on and greets every person she encounters. She repeats herself every ten seconds the whole time we're there.
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
The responses range from smiles to feigned deafness, but even the feigned deafness makes me laugh because I answer for the person who is too busy to enjoy a moment with a friendly toddler. When I answer, I do it with a bit of flare. "Hellloooooo!" I'll say.
Mila will mirror my inflection. Adding flare to her "Hello" is a surefire way to attract someone new to her conversation.
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Hello!
Mila goes on and on, often smiling with glee when a stranger joins in on the conversation. Tiny is legitimately tickled that other people know her secret little word that makes people happy.
Last night, Mila and I had to do a Target run while Alexis danced her heart out at rehearsal. I somehow made it to the register with less than $10 worth of things, which MARK THE CALENDAR, PEOPLE. That's better than winning the lottery! And less likely to happen!
Anyway.
As we stood in line, Mila stood in the back of the shopping cart. Cooperation is not one of her life skills, so that was pretty much the safest place for her to be. From her station, she tried grabbing candy and magazines. She threw items I needed out of the cart. She basically did everything she could to make a simple task very complicated.
She also said, "Hello," to absolutely everyone.
And as we stood in that line, a 50-something year old woman turned, smiled, and returned the "Hello." As I watched, a single tear found its way to her eye before the woman turned to me and said, "You have no idea how much I needed that smile today."
She's right. I have no idea. But I suspect a certain feisty little toddler is onto something when she spends her time making people smile with her simple two syllables.
Hello.
