And I thought I had it rough. . .

As much as I complain about Daniel bolting from me whenever we leave the confines of the house, this might be worse.

I have a friend in playgroup who just had her 3rd child. Her second is about 2 1/2 years old and has always been very attached to her momma. But she's taking it to an extreme. She won't leave her side and insists that her mother go with her everywhere. They can be alone in the house watching TV and Caroline has to be touching her mom. She won't play on her own even at home. I wouldn't really say that she's timid, because it's not like she ever warms up. She's totally not interested in interacting with anyone else. We've all tried to distract her away from her mom in the interest of preserving her mom's sanity, but to no avail.

Today, Mary mentioned that at breakfast this morning, Caroline insisted on pulling her chair around their circular table to the other side where Mary was sitting. She pulled her chair right against Mary's and then insisted on holding Mary's hand during breakfast. I don't know about you, but that would make. me. frickin. insane. I would totally lose it and say, STOP TOUCHING ME!!!!!!!!! Heck, I do that now. Heh. Mary's really, really frustrated and is concerned that Caroline's not going to do well at preschool this fall. She didn't last at a mother's morning out because rather than getting better about her mom leaving her, it got worse and Caroline would cry for longer and longer periods of time.

What would you do? I think I would totally start working on getting her to play or be by herself for small increments of time, even if she protested or cried, and gradually increase the amount of time. But that's just me.