The people you briefly love when you have children.

[Psammead]

Because they make your or your children's day.

I was thinking about this today when DD was waving madly at a bus driving by, and a woman waved back. Thank-you, woman. DD was very happy.

So.

1. People who wave from busses/trains etc
2. People in shops who give your children something free (balloons, slice of luncheon meat, bit of deformed criossant etc)
3. People who smile/wave/make funny faces/chat to your child in a queue, or on a bus, train, plane etc.

You are all brilliant human beings. Add to the list!

The man who sells jewellery in Long Eaton Market, who gave DD all the broken pieces as pirate treasure.

All the Wavers, everywhere (I am one).

Those who compliment our parenting and DD on her behaviour.

The lovely stall holders at Notts Uni Mayfest on Saturday who let us have an emergency balloon from their very fixed bunch, as ours had escaped.

The lovely polish lady down the road who clearly adores DD and gives her sweeties. When DD was 4 she thought the old lady looked lonely so we posted her a home made Easter card....and so their mutual love began.

sniff Lovely thread.

The woman in the pharmacist, when I staggered in with an ill three year old and a very ill one year old, then was struggling with the syringe-thing on the top of the bottle of baby Nurofen I'd just bought (and which I needed to get down my one year old urgently, because the GP had just told me, gently, that if her temperature didn't come down I would have to take her to A and E). That lovely woman came over and took the bottle from me and expertly filled up the syringe whilst I fought back tears and said weakly, "Thank you so much..."
(I then gave the one year old the dose, and she was nearly back to normal in almost no time.)

The two women sitting opposite me on the train when I was travelling alone with my eldest, and breastfeeding her and feeling a bit self-conscious about having to do so right under their noses. They clucked and smiled at me and said how you never see people breastfeeding these days, and how lovely it was.

The old woman in church who came up to me after a service (breastfeeding again) and said, "I saw you singing, and feeding your baby, and it was so lovely. So lovely and natural!"

The woman in Waitrose who saw me standing and waiting for my husband, pregnant and tired out, and led me round to the staff area where I could sit down, and brought me a drink of water.

Oh oh oh. The lovely midwife who came to do our home visit just after my eldest was born, when I was in a newborn fug of hormones and sleep and worry and tears and convinced I was killing her / starving her / doing everything wrong. I will always remember her looking at my baby, who had just entered one of her very rare wakeful moments, and saying softly but with emphasis, "Baby is OBVIOUSLY doing well." Hard to convey now how comforting and kind this was at the time.

My NCT antenatal leader, who, at postnatal reunion where I was the only mum not bf, despite a long and tearful struggle, said "There are many ways to nurture your baby".

The person who handed my buggy into my local suprmarket when i drove off and left it in the car park......just for reference baby was in car!!!
I love that person:)

For the little old lady who always compliments my DCs when she passes them and she tells me how blessed i am:)

Franca I go to the Dinosaur Cafe in Exeter! The owner and his wife are both lovely, so friendly and welcoming.

Sniff. I have something wet in my eye.

The various staff in our suppermarket who let DS sit on the counter and pack all our shopping into bags, and especially the ones who discretly pass anything breakable or that might be a treat to me/DH to avoid tantrums!

Similarly anyone queing behind us who waits patiently and smiles at DS packing all our shopping into bags.

The man who let DS smell and touch flowers at the edge of his garden, and then cut a load for us to take home 'for playing with later'. They looked lovely on our table!

All the poeple who wave and say hello back when DS waves and shouts 'Hi' maddly at strangers.

Our chilminder's cat (not strictly a person...) who puts up with DS's current obsession with pointing out eyes, which usually involves him jabing at eyes. This cat is astounding, it just stands there, it doesn't even run off, let alone lash out!

Not quite the same but I was admitted to hospital for emergency surgery when DS was 13 weeks old, the lady in the bed opposite heard me crying as I missed him so much and struggled over with her drip etc to hug me and kept checking in on me for the next few days, so lovely and comforting, especially when she was ill too.

This thread is making me weep happy pregnant tears!

Our neighbour with a landscaping business across the street who doesn't mind DS (21 months) walking down his drive to pat his truck, talk about his truck, look into his truck and sometimes (when our neighbour is in his garden!) he comes out, opens the truck, lets DS sit behind the wheel, and compliments him on his strength and 'you'll have to work with me one day, we'll build great things!" DS is passionately in love with this lovely, lovely old man, who has endless patience and really enjoys toddlers, it seems!

People who wave from lorries of any kind.

The nice people doing a bit of digging/land-smoothing at our local park, who put the lights on for DS and let him sit behind a wheel (seeing a pattern here?!)

Anyone with a balloon. Don't need to give it to us - DS will talk about a "BAMOOOON!" for hours.

Teenagers who turn out to be delightful with toddlers when you're frazzled and waiting to pay for something. Bless you, American teenagers!

Anyone who gives you sympathy/praise/a look of support when your toddler is playing up in public.

The waitress in New Orleans who entertained DS, brought his food early, and generally captured his heart this last boxing day morning when we thought he was going to have a complete meltdown after a long trip. Brunch was delicious, too! I know we tipped her a lot, but nothing could put a price on her saving my holiday!

Cabin crew on Delta and KLM have always been wonderful when I've travelled alone transatlantic with DS as a baby and a toddler. Always offering to heat up food, bring extra blankets, refill sippy cups, and making room in the kitcheny bit at the back for him to roam when he was trying to walk and fed up of bring held. Bless them, it was a hard journey and they made it so much easier!

People who help with pushchairs on public transport or trays in cafes. I will definitely do this, when I have a hand to spare!

People who drive buses or trucks of any kind past at the moment that DS has decided to have a sit-down protest. Look, DS, look at the van! Shall we follow it for a bit? :)

Yy to people in cafes who carry your drink to the table while you wrestle with the pram containing a screaming and hungry DS.

The BA steward who took one look at me traveling alone on a transatlantic flight when DS was 15months and crying hysterically and said 'I think mummy needs some champagne' and nicked one from business class for me

The dustbin men who wait every Thursday morning til the DC get to the window and wave at them - started when DS was tiny, all the way through pregnancy and came up to congratulate DS on his baby sister when she arrived. Kids are 5 and 3 and we all still wave! I love those guys

DS was 9 days old and it was our first venture out on our own to a shop. Was crapping myself about everything and was knackered etc and as I lifted DS out of the car a lady walking by exclaimed "he's just GORGEOUS!". Totally lifted me up.

All the people who don't mind their drive stones being closely examined.

All the lovely friendly old ladies with their compliments.

And YYY to anyone who helps you put a flailing toddler leg into a trolley seat.

The lady behind me in the queue in Asda, Christmas Eve 2008. DS was 3 months old and I had totally underestimated how long it would take to do the shopping (had never been at home for Christmas before). DS was screaming with hunger. Lady behind me unloaded my shopping onto the conveyor belt and packed it into carrier bags for me, so I could feed DS.

Heres the heavily pregnant one who is now crying over all the lovely stories... Booooo hooooo! Need more tissues!!

Seeing cats and dogs when we go out for a walk, they keep my toddler happy in the pushchair (I'm not sure dogs and cats count as people though....)

All the lovely people (mostly old ladies/gents) who have complimented me on my kids & my parenting. You've made me stop & appreciate the moments so much.

The lovely bunch of teenages on the el in Chicago who adopted rather tired ds and charmed him for the whole journey, then got off a stop early to help us down the chairs with his buggy.

My wonderful GP - who when I was pregnant with ds and having a very rough pregnancy, insisted in making appointments in the middle of the day every week to check on me & get me out of work for as long as possible - refused to schedule another time slot!

My lovely in-laws who cherish my kids, support us, and think they are the best things since sliced bread.

The lovely old lady who stopped to comfort ds when he wet himself in the street, gave him 10p to buy smarties (well, the thought was there, if not quite the cash levels) & confided that she sometimes wet herself too.

To the man in the shopping centre when I was out with dd1 and dd2 years ago, they must have been about 3 and 1. We were sitting down for a snack and I was unwrapping food for them.

Man: lovely children, you're lucky to have them
Me: yes I am
PAUSE
Man: and they're lucky to have you

Bikerunski - your "I think, for ten minutes, we filled each other's gaps" finished me off.

What an oddly moving phrase.

Here's mine. One bitterly cold Boxing day four years ago. I'd been separated from my dp six months and was on a park bench watching my dcs play feeling very lonely and alone but (I thought) hiding it well. An elderly man came with his grandchildren and sat down beside me as all the dcs played. We got chatting and he told me how he had found himself alone with 3 dcs thirty years before and how he had coped and how it had all tuned out for the best. As he was leaving he took my hand in both his and said softly "I know you will find love again"

It sounds strange and a bit creepy now but at the time I was hugely comforted and heartened by him.

Lots from when the twins were tiny. One memorable one was their first flight when they were four months old. We'd been taken apart at security (pram dismantled, everything checked, all hand luggage sifted through...) and were really frazzled and stressed by the time we got to the gate. The plane was boarding and were trying to stuff the giant mountain buggy into its storage bag and, in my desperation, I handed the babies to the people nearest to me - two suited businessmen. They looked pretty astonished but then were so sweet - happily holding them and laughing to one another (no doubt at the random turn their day had taken on the way to their business meeting in Geneva). I used to hand my babies to people to hold all the time, roping in teengage boys on buses, sitting them on old lady's laps, etc. I always found that people loved it - small children are wonderful to hold, especially if it's a novel experience.

Another one was on the bus the other week. I had my 12 month old in his sling and was sat next to some young bloke on his way to work and my baby, at the fiddly contact stage, was grabbing at his hand. The chap smiled at my baby and stroked his hand and let him hold it. Babies and small children allow us to show our tenderness. It's a wondeful thing.

The elderly couple in the cafe who had a conversation with my daughter and then rushed out to their car and came back with a brand new teddy that they had being going to sell at a car boot sale, but 'he looked like he wanted to be loved by someone just like you.' She LOVED it!

The teenager who helped me when my pushchair fell over because i had too much hanging off the back, and was trying to hold on to a tantrumming 18 month old. Picked up all the shopping and offered to push the pram home for me (we were on my estate so he probably knew it wouldn't be too far, but he was heading the opposite way and didn't know me at all.) Your mum did a good job, young man!

Oh, and the pilots of the Quantas flight we took from London to Singapore recently. DD made tham a card to say thank you for flying the plane such a long way and the stewardess took it up. As we were getting off, they waited at the entrance and took her up to the flight deck where her card had pride of place and sat her in the Captains chair with his hat on whilst they showed her the cockpit. Her teddy was sat in the other seat in prode of place. They must have been keen to get off the aircraft and back to their hotel, but they seemed genuinely pleased to meet her and were quite unhurried in the time they spent with her. We emailed Quantas to highlight how lovely they were.

The bin men who used to wave at DS when he was little and watching from the window.

The man collecting for the RNLI last week who gave DS extra stickers in return for a small donation and asked him his name and said what a lovely boy he was. I am going to donate to the RNLI every chance I get now!

The lovely mum in the post-natal ward, who, when I was a blubbering wreck and in so much pain from my CS that I couldn't change DS's nappy, took over from me and cheerfully wiped his meconium-streaked bum, sat me down and gave me a hug and told me that it would get better. Such a simple gesture, but it really made a difference.