frustration

It's Wednesday. That means we head to the mall for the playplace. Brooklyn talks about it all morning and all through lunch. She chatters about it in the car and asks to go for the two days after the actual event. With all the buildup, you'd think we could play there for hours on end. That used to be the case. Not so much anymore. Now, we talk about it, she asks to go, we go and do our usual routine. Only for her to come to me, just as all her buddies get there, and tell me she's ready to go home. There's no persuasion otherwise, either. For the first few requests I send her back out to play. Each time she comes back sooner asking to leave. I tell her we're going home to rest and that she isn't coming back. "Ok." she says. I tell her we aren't coming to the mall anymore until next week, "ok" she says. She's perfectly content to go home. Until the next day, anyway, when we are getting ready for lunch and she says, "I want to go to the mall for lunch". {GRR}. I've been noticing that she doesn't want to play outside unless there is someone to play with, which I understand. It's more fun for me, too (when there's someone to chat with). But, seriously. Here we are, in the middle of a huge (enclosed, hoorah) playground, with a dozen friends running around....and she wants to go home. Such incredible timing. Sometimes I wonder if she gets overwhelmed. It would make perfect sense, but it's never bothered her before. Today I wondered if she just doesn't like having so many friends around. Maybe she doesn't get to hold so-and-so's hand, or maybe so-and-so is playing with someone else. If that's the case, then it's good she wants to go; it's better than throwing a fit. However, I would think with so many options, she would be perfectly content. Oh well... Someday one of us will have it all figured out. That'll be the day....