eye to eye

We walked into Checkers and I spotted her just before Friday did.

This, is going to be interesting, I thought.

Friday stopped dead with an intent look of studied interest and puzzlement. I racked my brains for the current politically correct way to explain dwarfism.
Then I decided to let things run their course.

'Mum, why is that lady so small?'
The lady moved closer, selecting her veggies.
She smiled at Friday, eye to eye.
'Hello, what's your name?' she said.

Friday answered and then the lady said.
'I'm quite small aren't I?'
To which Friday responded, 'I've got an eye infection.'

The lady smiled, and took a step back.
'Are you looking forward to Christmas?' she asked. 'By Christmas you'll have grown a bit, ' she continued, 'but I've finished growing. By Christmas you'll be taller than me.'
She put a punnet of strawberries in her basket, smiled goodbye and moved off.

On the way home I explained that the small lady's bones had stopped growing when she was a child and so she stayed small. And later when I got a moment I went online to gauge how well I'd responded to the situation. There's not much out there, but from this I think I did okay.
Except for the poor character part! Staring is a family failing I'm afraid, though I prefer to call it 'noticing intently'.

Any of you been in a similar situation? How did you handle it?