The Mayor Of Toddlerville

The Mayor

Okay, I am sure every parent thinks their kid is the center of attention, the kid other kids gravitate to. But I'm pretty sure Stella is all those things. In fact I've started to think of her as The Mayor. The Mayor Of Toddlerville, that is.

I first started to notice this when I walked in, late, to a local sing-along at The Oak and The Iris cafe, near us. Ms. Katie the singer was strumming along, all the kids were a-whirl on the floor before her, and there right in the front was Stella Rae, getting down as all the other kids spun around her, a light radiating from her smile, completely at home. The center of it all.

Other kids, I believe, kind of feel this way about her too. Stella has a few friends who run right up to her when she enters a room (she likes them too, it's not one sided.) Older girls, in particular, can't get enough of her, they crowd around her.

Stella even has some older, older friends that I don't know too well. There is one local nannie, a very nice woman, who comes over and talks to us (her) every time we're out together. But she's mainly talking to Stella. I'm just her spokesman at this point.

At Storytime Stella is always welcomed and greeted by the other kids and by Miss Cindy, who reads. She sometimes doesn't know the other kids names, but Stella? She picks her out right away. She's not always sure who I am, though.

Okay, I am surely biased here. Every parent thinks, no KNOWS, that their child is special. And they are. To them. Other people maybe don't care so much. But I get a feeling I am pretty much right on in thinking of Stella as The Mayor ... of Toddlerville. It's a wonderful place to be, but you can't stay forever anyway. Soon enough you have to move on to Pre-Schoolville. So then we'll see. I'm not too worried.