Meghan went to India

[mightymulhern]

Meghan went to India last week so I took the week off from work, had my parents come up, and worked on the basement. Meanwhile we attempted to keep Sydney in her normal routine and sent her to school each day. We weren’t really sure how it would go, but let’s just say that it didn’t go well.

Sydney and I dropped Meghan off at the airport on Sunday afternoon. On the way home, Sydney talked constantly saying “Mom” “Plane” “All Gone” “Plane” “Away” “Up Sky” “Mom” “All Gone” “Plane”. That stream of words lasted a good 20 minutes and started again each time Sydney heard a plane going by.

After that we headed to “Mrs. P and Me” which is a bar with a beer garden directly across from the Mount Prospect train station. That’s the perfect place to take Sydney because she can run around outside and watch trains (which she loves).

When leaving Mrs. P’s, Meghan called and Sydney and I attempted to talk to her on speaker. Sydney clammed up and minutes after the call started bawling and saying “Mom” over and over. The tears continued after we got home and eventually she got past it.


Tantrums
The week in general was very tantrum filled. I would describe Sydney as clingy with me, irritable, and generally disagreeable.

Monday through Thursday mornings when I dropped Sydney off at school, she screamed and clung to me requiring a teacher to peel her off. I continued hearing the screams as I walked down the hall and left the building. One of her teachers attempted to give her a talking to on Wednesday after I left, but we didn’t actually make progress until Friday morning.

On Monday and Wednesday (or maybe it was Tuesday and Thursday), I attempted to pick Sydney up with my parents in the car. In both cases Sydney REFUSED to get in her car seat and eventually screamed and fought us as we strapped her in. That killed two attempts to eat out. On the second day we attempted to go out to eat anyway but after about 10 minutes of driving, the screaming hadn’t slowed at all so we opted to just go home. We had at least 2-3 more tantrums at home that night.


Nana and Papaw
Sydney didn’t make up with my parents this time around. All I can figure is that she just couldn’t bring herself to do it without her mom there. She did show sparks of interest in playing with my mom and did give my dad a very brief hug goodbye. Really though, she gave them a cold reception and nothing we did seemed to bring her out of it.


Web Cams
We talked to Meghan via Skype using web cams on Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, Sydney wasn’t very nice to Meghan. She told her to “go away” and then told her to “MOVE” (along with a waiving of the hand gesture). I felt really bad for Meghan. Sydney was being her beastly self and wasn’t willing to be cheered up. On Thursday, things went much better and Sydney seemed happier talking to Meghan. She actually played peek-a-boo via web cam which was priceless.


Home at Last
I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when Meghan got home. In some cases, Sydney will ignore us if she’s mad. In this case though, she warmed up immediately and was very happy to have Meghan home. I retained preferred parent status with respect to baths and bedtime for one night but lost it after that.

“Preferred Parent Status” is a status bestowed upon the parent who has spent the most time with Sydney that day or the prior day. Sydney seems to gravitate and cling more to whichever parent has been more active with her that day and insists on that parent for baths and bedtime. Sometimes she won’t even let the non-preferred parent get her a glass of juice. It’s kind of odd.


Parents & Basement
One good thing that came out of the week was that my parents and I got a lot done on our basement. We got the vast majority of the baseboards and trim in place. We also tackled some closet doorframe issues and adding some registers to what were previously open vents blowing into the room. The end result was very sharp.

I’ll admit that with our Beastie being so beastly, my patience was at a minimum. Many thanks to mom and dad for tolerating me and for doing so much to help.

[Meghan]

That was a really, really long trip. And based on how Sydney did while I was gone, I hope I don't have to do it again any time soon. Although I admit it was kind of nice to get back into the international travel I was doing before Sydney was born. I racked up plenty of frequent flyer miles. And I will get my just desserts. Mike is going to be gone for 2 weeks on a business trip in September.

Thanks again to Mom and Dad for staying here and putting up with the Beastly Beastie and for working on the basement. It looks great!

This weekend we are going to Litchfield and I hope Sydney will do better with Nana and Papaw if we are all together. We have told her about the trip and we have been emphasizing that we are all going together so that she doesn't get upset and think we're leaving her like we did the weekend we went to Vegas. I guess she is paying attention, because at least twice today she randomly said, "Sydney, Mom, Dad, Nana, Papaw, Jenny, Abe, Cassie, boat!" That is quite a mouthful. She clearly understands that we are all going together.