I Miss My Bumblebee

This week has been trying for us in many ways, but the one who is suffering the most is Sanjay. It is Sanjay's first time in a full day childcare situation... and he's not just dipping his toes in, he's getting fully soaked. In order for us to take advantage of the full week skiing, we arranged for him to attend the local preschool 4 days this week. By the second day, it was a little tough on us as well... and as we were driving back from skiing at Vail, Daddy says, “I miss my Bumblebee”. This elicited a response from Priya that we've come to expect... complete and utter jealousy. She wants Daddy to miss her, too... and just as much if not more than he misses Sanjay. So, she suggests that “tomorrow I'll ski with Mommy all day so that you'll miss me”. And, her voice was serious and downhearted as the words came out.

When she acts this way, there's nothing I can do to avoid seeing myself in her. This particular incident reminds me of a time in elementary school when my sister broke her arm and seeing all the attention she was getting, I really wished that I too had a broken limb. Ugh... all the bad things. Why do they have to mimic and adopt all the poor habits and behaviors? Granted, my personality is quite flawed so there's a lot to choose from. I only wish that the things I want to change about myself (if I hadn't been practicing them now for nearly 40 years), I could at least hide from my children.