Separation Anxiety

Not hers, mine.

We had dinner at the in-laws’ tonight.  All in all a mellow, fun time.  Nearing time to leave, we told Lane (as we nearly always do) that she can come home or stay overnight with Grandma and Grandpa.  This time – a first – she chose to stay there.  I’m sure it had partly to do with Grandma bribing her with playing Candy Land.

And she even made Frank and I completely bust a gut as we said goodbye, because her final wave was one of impatience — pretty much waving us off as she started playing Candy Land with Grandma.  It was REALLY funny.

Despite my slightly heavy heart that she wants to stay there, I can also look at it as a developmentally great thing.  She has a trust in her grandparents, and a trust that I will indeed come to get her tomorrow, as promised.   I’ve heard from a few sources, the goal of parenting is to marginalize yourself, to work yourself out of a job.  I guess that means Frank and I must be doing something right.

It almost seems funny, because I can’t even sit here and say that she’s weaned yet.  She certainly does not nurse with any amount of consistency, but still about once a week she’ll ask to nurse, and she gets to nurse for a count of 10.  Half the time she doesn’t even nurse for the full 10 count, but usually she kisses my boob at the end of it.  🙂

Of course, despite all that, I completely reserve the right to miss her a little (or a lot), even if I’m also feeling freed of putting her to bed for a night.

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A memory

My grandfather, who is still alive and 88 years old and still going strong, likes to reminisce about playing hide and seek with me.  I can’t wait to see him – we’re going back to Buffalo, where I grew up, right after Christmas and staying a week.

Here are his two favorites.

When I was 3 or 4, we’d play hide and seek.  My grandparents had this cabinet/end table, where they kept the 3-4 bottles of liquor they had in the house.  I fit in it quite perfectly at that age, so I’d take all the bottles out, climb in and close the door.   He was always good enough to pretend he couldn’t find me.

I’d also hide in pretty good spots — behind the couch was a favorite.  He’d walk around, ‘looking’ for me, and would say, “Hmm, I wonder where Lisa is hiding?” and I would say from my spot behind the couch, “I don’t know, but don’t look behind the couch!”

I love hearing him talk about that because you can tell how fond those memories are for him, and it just makes me feel so loved and special to hear him talk so happily about time we’d spent together.  It makes my heart smile.

My grandpa’s just wonderful.  I hope he’ll be around for a few more Christmases.  I’d love my kids to have some memories of him.