How Am I Raising an Extrovert? HOW?

I have a reputation of being ... let's call it "intense" at work. I have perhaps been described as a bulldozer because I am very willing to speak up and keep pushing until the right thing gets done for the customer. It's never said as a negative, or at least not to my face, so we'll phrase that as I'm good at advocating for customers.

Which, HA! I suck at advocating for anything outside of the office. I am SO introverted and the fact that I have to fake my way to extroverted several hours per day means NO WAY NOT DOING IT AFTER WORK. I just don't speak up. I can make it through loooong social situations without saying a word.

For example, there is MUCH drama happening with both cheer and dance and I'm going to just crawl in a hole and wait for the storm to pass. Without getting into details, there's really dumb stuff like Alexis' schedule being a mess happening. I don't know where she needs to be when next week, but I do know that she's scheduled for a dance class during her second day of 8th grade. Because THAT makes sense. Let's schedule a dance class during school hours. GREAT IDEA.

Ahem.

I should be rattling cages about all of the drama, but I'm tired. So tired. Can I just go take a nap? Knowing how I typically deal with these situations, I will eventually hit it straight on and get it fixed, but not until the last possible second. I avoid talking to humans like the plague.

But not Mila. Oh no. That kid is going to be AWESOME at advocating for herself because she is quick to speak up and demand that things be made right.

Mila finished up a dance camp tonight and I had promised her ice cream after her little performance. Of course she remembered that promise, so we went and stood in line at a little local place. As we were in line, Mila spent WAY too much brain power trying to figure out what she wanted. Eventually she settled on a raspberry something or other and she wanted "the face sprinkles" on it. This particular ice cream place puts candy eyes and a nose on a scoop of ice cream for little kids. Apparently Mila thinks it's all that.

So I ordered her raspberry whatever and asked for them to put a face on it. They asked Mila what color eyes she wanted and then ran off to make the thing. In between there, they were busy helping other customers because the place was slammed, as it should be in early August when the weather demands ice cream. Apparently they were a little too busy, though, because the girl who got Mila's ice cream completely spaced on the "face sprinkles."

Mila looked at her ice cream and instantly gave me the look. "Where is the face?" she demanded. I explained that they must have forgotten but it was okay and we should just go ahead and go. Mila considered my advice for a second and then stomped her foot down, spun around, and marched back to the window.

"This is unacceptable," the tiny little person declared to the woman at the counter. "It needs to have face sprinkles."

She got her face sprinkles, which I think is supposed to teach me that it's supposed to be possible to make a change like that without making enemies, but it sure looks like it requires extroverting.

No, thanks. I'll just keep quiet over here instead.