Missing Mama

The girls have done pretty well with the temporary no-Mama routine today. Julia had a fine time at school and welcomed the chance to spend time with Grandma during the late morning. Vivi, too, enjoyed her time with Grandma (someone who doesn’t balk at the fifteenth straight game of Candyland!), even while I ran Shannon to the airport right after breakfast and then while I did some work before Julia got home from school. Later, they both acceded to my request that they have “quiet time,” not naps, in the hope that they’d go to sleep better: Julia made some incredibly detailed drawings for Shannon and Vivi sat in her crib with a stack of books, “reading” to her “fwiends.”

While I attended an afternoon meeting at Carleton, the girls squired Grandma around campus and entertained each other while I made dinner. After bath, though, things started going awry. Weeping in her crib, Vivi started begging, “I want Mama to put me to bed! I want Mama to be hewe when I wake up!” As I tried to comfort her, Julia sweetly called, “Oh, Genevieve, you know, sometimes sisters like to sleep in the same bed. Do you want to try to go to sleep with me?” Genevieve pulled herself up to her knees and moaned, “Yeth, Oolia, I do!”

So I put Vivi in bed with Julia, who tenderly kissed her on the head, whispering, “Don’t worry: Mama will be home tomorrow and we’ll be so excited!” Vivi quieted down and let me leave for a board meeting. A while later, Grandma called to say that Vivi was calling for me, but that she’d try to comfort her. I didn’t get a second call, and it turned out that Vivi let Grandma move her from the bed to the crib, and then went to sleep. She’ll be elated when Mama finally does come home tomorrow…

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