If you've ever been anywhere with Ryan, you know how popular he is. We can't get out of the grocery store or a restaurant without him stopping to chat with some old friend. And if he doesn't have any friends, he makes some. He and the server at our favorite restaurant are on a first name basis. He holds up the lines at gas stations talking to the cashiers. Ryan even runs into people he knows when we're on vacation in other states. His phone rings all day every day. He averages 20 phone calls and 1.2 hours on the phone every day. The guy's social life is out of hand.
Meanwhile, I get one phone call a day, if I'm lucky. I never talk to strangers, and I usually don't talk to people I know either. If I see someone I recognize at the grocery store, I'm likely to turn down the nearest isle, just so I don't have to talk.
It turns out Hanne is the mini girl version of Ryan. The other day, in the airport, we went to McDonalds. The cashier spotted Hanne, and soon had a whole slew of McDonalds employees out making faces and offering Happy Meal toys.
Then we got on the airplane, and the flight attendant asked if she could hold Hanne. I didn't think anything of it until the flight attendant walked off with my baby. At least we were in the air, so Hanne couldn't get kidnapped, but with all the child molesters these days, I was kinda concerned. The flight attendant whisked Hanne to the back of the plane to meet the other flight attendants. Then, without even glancing in my direction, she walked right past me on her way to the front of the plane to meet more flight attendants. I think she must have gotten chewed out at the front of the plane because when she came back, she moped, "I have to give her back." Luckily she stayed in sight the whole time, and I didn't have to go and awkwardly steal my baby back. When they finally returned, Hanne and the flight attendant were blowing raspberries and grinning at each other, and Hanne spent the rest of the flight looking for her new friend.
Hanne is on a first name basis with the server at our favorite restaurant too. If Ryan goes there without us, the server sends home rice and beans for Hanne. She also gives Hanne free mints.
Any time we're out in public, random strangers ooh and ah over Hanne's massive cheeks and try to have conversations with her. Hanne just grins back at them. I never know what I'm supposed to do. Am I supposed to answer the questions for her?
I don't think this kind of thing is normal. It's gotta be because Hanne is Ryan's daughter. I never expected any kid of mine to be social. But could any kid of Ryan's be antisocial? I guess it could just be the cheeks. They're like people magnets.
