Post date: Jun 9, 2016 4:48:09 AM
“Didi, DIDI, DIDI! Gimme DIDI! Pease gimme didi”. She can't speak any more. Heart wrenching sobs echo through the car. Slowly the sobbing reduces to sniffles interspersed with weaker cries of “Pease gimme didi” till she falls asleep, if I am lucky, or till we reach home. This is how it has been for the last few days in the car, on the way home from dropping my 4 year old daughter to school.
The younger one is only 19 months old and not going to school yet. Her didi is her best friend and partner in crime. All through the summer, they played together making noise, jumping up and down, inventing ridiculous games. It was the best time, I have seen them have. Squeals of joy and laughter rang through the house, as the girls played together. You see the younger one is finally old enough for the two to really play together.
It was a magical and tiring summer, watching them pretend to sing on a stage that was really a suitcase and pouring bits of paper on each other like confetti and cleaning up messes almost every hour. But this week the older one returned to school. Before the holidays, the younger one did not make much of didi going to school, though she did give her didi a heart warming welcome when she returned. Now she understands a lot more.
We drop the older one off at her school. Usually we are early, so the two play together in the play area for sometime. Then we say a quick goodbye and the older one trots off to class. I had been worried about how the older one would feel, about school resuming after such a long break. But she was fine. From day one she trotted off with a spring in her step.
Of course I had to be blind-sided. The sobs and sniffles came from a completely unexpected direction. On the first day the younger one wasn't quite sure what happened when didi disappeared in to her class. “Where didi?”, she asked. As I left the school gates, it suddenly dawned on her, that we were leaving didi behind, and that is when the screams and sobs started.
“Didi has gone to school. We will pick her up in 4 hours.” I explained.
“No cool (school), no cool.” She protested. After a few minutes she tried “Me go cool. Me go cool, Peease cool.”
“You can go next year.” I told her and she nodded her head vigorously. But of course she has no idea what next year means. She assumed she could go right away. Once she realised that was not happening she started crying again “DIDI! Gimme DIDI! Please gimme didi. Didi no bubbye (bye-bye)”
Once we get home she asks for didi a few more times. Eventually I distract her with toys or Busy Beavers videos, but 4 hours later she wants didi again on the car ride back. Fortunately this time she falls asleep quickly. As we wait at the school gate, she looks sadly at the gatekeeper and asks “Didi? Didi where?” and finally when she does see didi come out, she joyfully and gives her a hug. And then the same cycle repeats the next day.
This morning she even waved a cheery good bye to her older sister. So I thought we were out of the woods. But as soon as we got out of the school gate, she was upset shouting and pleading for didi.
It has only been a few days so far. Hopefully she will get used to the routine soon and feel less upset knowing that didi does indeed return soon.