In case you were wondering

Where to start? Let's see...

It has come to my attention that children (most children anyway) act better with strangers than they do with their family.

I remember sending Em off to spend the night elsewhere when she was younger, and hoping that she would not have one of "Those Moments" while she was there.

Invariably, i would hear from the elsewhere parents that "She was great. A real pleasure to have around."

We will be at a restaurant and Em will be hissing angrily at me about some injustice done to her person. The waitron will come by and fill up her water glass or some such. "Thank you," she will say very sweetly, and then go back to hissing at me.

WTF?

I suppose it's all because she feels comfortable with my love or something, but i wouldn't mind a whole weekend of her "company behavior."

I was talking about this with her yesterday and i asked her why she thought this happened. She thought about it for a few moments and said, "Those other people never yell at me for anything, and i don't really care if they like me, so it's easy to be polite. I care what you think of me and i get all emo if i think you are disappointed in me."

There you have it.