Over the last few weeks, C has become increasingly “daddified.” If I’m around, no one else will do for anything. Yesterday, when she awoke from her nap, she got up on her own and came into my office to tell me about her nap and her trip to the grocery store with her Mimi. After she finished she gave me a high five and then asked for a boppy. I got up and started walking towards the fridge, at which point my mom showed up and offered to lie back down with C. My poor daughter was horrified.
It took a good twenty minutes to calm her down.
I’d by lying if I said that I wasn’t a little flattered. Having a small person totally love you, trust you, and depend on you is a wonderful feeling. ‘Nuff said. But it has its drawbacks. I love having C at the office, for example, but it’s difficult to do that on rainy days if C sees me and just wants me to hold her or read to her. A month ago, I’d read her a story and then say “now it’s Mimi’s turn to read to you,” and she’d happily trot off. Now she wants nothing to do with anyone else and cries at the suggestion of leaving me.
Obviously, teething is also playing a role here.
A few months ago, when C was mamified, I tried to convince Katie that it was really hard for me not just because she didn’t want that much to do with me but also because it’s a rotten feeling to be the one always taking the child away from what makes her happy. “You might not like being the only one who can take care of her,” I’d say, “but imagine how it feels to be the one always making her cry!” Now I know the other side of the coin.
And she does cry when I leave her. C comes to work with me three days a week, and my mother usually beats us here in the morning, although she also tends to leave an hour before quitting time. But on the other two days, I take C to my mom’s house. And that has not been going well lately. For a few of those days, I finally had to have my mom peel C off of me while I ran out the door, having already spent thirty minutes or more (translation = making myself incredibly late to work) trying to get a daddified girl off my lap. On Monday of this week, my mom put on an Elmo video for long enough for me to sneak out of the room. Today, C was sitting by the front door, and the second she turned her back I made a run for the back door and escaped through the garage. I always wonder if C gets confused when she turns back around and I’m suddenly not there. And I feel absolutely terrible about it.
I wonder how long this will last. It’d sure be nice to have a middle ground.