Charm School

It seems Ari's charm knows no bounds.
I'm reminded of Ray Liotta's young Henry Hill in Goodfellas when I frequent our local shops. The kid just has this neighbourhood wired.
Every day we visit a local Baker's Delight, where in exchange for a few blown kisses, Ari receives a free hot-cross bun (or fruit bun when it's not Easter).
At the Italian deli up the road, he's handed free pieces of ham to sample.
A few days ago, Ari was in the shopping trolley at our local Coles when an older couple in front of us in the queue were quite taken with his smiles.
They cooed over him before handing him one of a dozen Lindt easter eggs they'd bought. Then another. And then another.
Ari has never eaten chocolate that I can recall, so this presented quite a situation. The couple clearly wanted him to tuck in straight away, but I made some feeble excuse about it being close to his lunchtime and tucked them away in a shopping bag.
The kid's already learned the incredible power of a smile. And I'm (really) not talking about the free food here. I love the fact that he's already figured out he can make people happy by being a nice boy and smiling at them.
It's a lovely, lovely trait that I hope he never loses.