Lucinda's worries

Lucinda is definitely making her feelings known about our move to Tokyo. In her true direct fashion, she told us about a week ago that "I don't want to move to Japan." But - as she is only 5 yrs old and is quite capable of throwing a tantrum when it suits her - she is determined to show us exactly how upset she is.

Which means that nearly every night, after she's had a fine time at dinner, playing afterwards, bath, reading a few chapters of Little House on the Prairie with me, she starts demanding all sorts of things: something to eat, something to drink and, this week, a "fort" with a roof and walls to sleep in on her floor.

This gets pretty tough to handle after 9pm, and if/when I refuse, we are quickly at loggerheads. I've even had to call Blaine in to calm her down for the past two nights after Lucinda gets overwrought and my attempts to reason with her aren't working. (Somehow, fortunately, he quiets her in about 5 minutes after I've been wrangling for a half hour.)

But tonight, after she was in her bed and calm, she called out to me for a last snuggle. I asked her if she was worried about Tokyo, and she started to cry and wiped her tears away with her blanket. Yes, she nodded, she was scared about Tokyo and her new school and moving away from her Seattle friends. And, she added, scared that when she made friends in Tokyo, she would have to move away from them, too, in a few years. And then that her Seattle friends would be "grown up" or "dead" before she would see them again.

Bombaloo or not, Lucinda is nothing if not in touch with her feelings.