Day Two Hundred Forty-One

There really is nothing surprising about the fact that the extrovert has hit the COVID-19 wall.

Oh, Mila.

The child who disappears the second we walk through the door whenever we visit friends or family is super not amused that she will not get to pretend I don't exist on Thanksgiving. It's really one of her favorite traditions. She disappears for hours on end, happily playing with or talking to absolutely anyone who makes eye contact with her. Except me. She has ZERO to do with me the entire day, even going so far as to walk a wide circle around me just in case I'm thinking of making her leave.

Not this year, kid. Nope, she's stuck with me. ALLLLLLL ME. And the rest of the residents of this house.

I'm not above staring at her blankly every time she complains about it, by the way. I feel she should reflect on her words a bit and realize that she's basically saying I'm not enough. I realize I'm not enough for her, BUT STILL. Pick different words, or something.

So this has been going on for a few weeks. We've made it clear that there will be no holiday travel this year, but we will be subbing in some fun activities to hopefully make it a little better. Mila is sad about it. It's very justified, but I do try to remind myself that no matter how many people are around, she's never satisfied. This is the kid who I have drug kicking and screaming from a full day at a friend's house. She's also the kid who often refused to get off the school bus because there were fun people on it and who wants to go home? That's all to say that her sadness about not hanging out with other people is pretty consistent with every day ever, except that she has a few specific days that are notably worse.

So Thanksgiving.

I finally issued the challenge this weekend for Mila to figure out what would make Thanksgiving better. She thought about it for a full day before busting into my office and giving me her list:

1. Unlimited pumpkin pie with whip cream.

2. Those sour berry things. (She meant cranberries, but couldn't think of their name.)

3. Facetiming everyone.

4. More pumpkin pie.

It might be the most reasonable list of all time. I think we'll be able to deliver! Except for the unlimited pumpkin pie thing, of course. It can't be unlimited because I play to eat way too much of it and C'MON, KID. LEARN TO SHARE.