1 Mother 2 Another

Cora’s always been firmly attached
to me – head buried in my hair, hands locked around my neck,
hiney nestled into my crossed legs, whatever – and it’s
been a difficult trait for me to live with sometimes. Her
separation anxiety seemed to last an incredibly long time, even
past her third birthday, and I’d despaired of ever cracking
it.


Then I went and did a show, and Daddy got extra time at night with
the girls.

It’s not that I’ve been that
much more absent from Cora’s day-to-day life: most rehearsals
were at night after bedtime, or on Saturday. But with the show up
and running, Daddy started putting the girls to bed by himself a
lot more, and Saturday became Daddy Day while I did two shows
back-to-back. Add to this the fact that since we now get up at the
same time in the morning, Brian and I split nighttime
“emergency” duty and so he goes in a lot more at night,
and Cora has moved into Daddy’s orbit.


The end of last week, Cora woke up and had a hard time getting out
of bed. I finally dragged her to the bathroom where she did her
business, then sat down naked on the floor and refused to move back
to her room until Daddy came and carried her the twenty steps. And
then got her dressed. And then carried her downstairs. And then
poured her cereal.


It’s wearying to Brian, as you can imagine, and it takes all
my energy not to smile smugly and say, “See what I had to put
up with all these years? Ain’t easy, is it???” But I
hold back, because he was nothing if not sympathetic when I was the
object of her affection.


Am I jealous of the switch? Nope. Not at all.


I can honestly say that I think it’s great, and it’s
probably because when she does turn her attention towards me,
she’s just as affectionate as ever. She doesn’t spend
her days pining for Daddy – we have great Mommy and Me time
during the week. But when Daddy’s around, her preferences are
known, and I’m ok with that.


It feels a little more balanced, is all. And seeing the look on
Brian’s face as she nestles into his neck more firmly lets me
know it’s a good deal for everyone.