Or @GnocchiB , when they come home sick and haven’t gotten medical attention because their roommates and teammates have all been sick for 2 months, thereby making it normal! None of these brilliant kids stopped to think that they’re all just passing this bug around, and around, and around. Sigh. …
That I would now have a much deeper appreciation of how “left behind” my parents must have felt when I went off as a first gen college student. I feel a bit left behind by DS and I can relate to and am in complete support of his college experience.
Why doesn’t anybody tell you that your kid is still going to be the same person they are when they left? My D told me to leave her room yesterday morning, about one minute after I walked in to say good morning. I refused to leave until she said please:-)
Why doesn’t anybody tell you that your child will achieve the amazing ability to sleep way past noon and be totally out of synch with her parents’ sleep/wake schedule when she’s home on breaks?
Struggling to decide if I should go in and rattle her cage. It’s 12:15pm … she went out last night but and was home by 10:30pm but apparently staying up very late is the new normal for her.
On the one hand, she needs to make up her sleep deficit, but on the other, I think the better way to do that would be for her to go to bed early. Her dad is annoyed because of all the summer internship applications she had said she’d be getting done over break. I’m annoyed because I’d like to interact with her and maybe go on a bike ride together. She flies out tomorrow morning, so today is our last day.
It’s sort of like when she was an infant and her sleep/wake schedule was opposite of mine but back then I didn’t question my parenting in deciding to house-train her!
@GnocchiB , my D stayed at a friend’s house last night with “only” 6 of her closest friends. Got no sleep, so will sleep now, and later be dragged to a movie with visiting relatives. Poor poor baby, haha!
DH and I cleaned up our D’s room as best we could before she returned. I had her bed made up and D even vacuumed. Before she came home, I told her we needed to spend about an hour going through her clothes and stuff, because we need to have the room ready for family at Christmas. She leaves to go back early tomorrow morning. I asked if we could get together at 2 pm today to work on it together, and she grumpily said, “I guess…” I can see we’ll need to have a talk about her stay over Christmas break. She’ll have to pitch in around the house a little more if she’s going to be here for five weeks!
That I’d be choked up and easily moved to tears for hours or even days every time we say goodbye even though we keep in contact with each other almost daily, we see each other every month or two, and I’m thrilled she is doing so well at what she loves in a place she loves.
That it’d be so wonderful to see how my kids react to seeing each other every time she comes home or we go there–many hugs, college D waking up S after arriving early in the morning, much laughter, enjoying hanging out together…
Why did it feel so sad saying goodbye this time? It’s only a few weeks until we see each other again! I wish somehow that our time together had been more meaningful, which is simply ridiculous, but it feels like I squandered the last few days doing mundane stuff, letting the kiddo sleep, etc. Anyone else experience this?
100% @gardenstategal . And I feel sad that she left today. She has now been home twice, and each time I have felt more like my baby girl is slipping away into adulthood a little bit more. This is the worst.
Yeah yeah, I know, I am happy for her too, she’s growing up etc…but I am just gonna wallow in self-pity for a little while longer. :((
@gardenstategal again…DEAL, re post#189. Lol!
@Lindagaf , I’ll pity for you if you’ll pity for me! So much less unattractive than self-pity!
@Lindagaf is your daughter feeling more settled at school? How did she feel about returning?
Well @lr4550 , I am very happy to announce that she is going to stick it out for the year. Applause please! There was a time I wasn’t at all sure that would be happening. Things are not ideal, but they are at least bearable now.
@doschicos @NEPatsGirl @twogirls @porcupine98 @wisteria100 , you will be happy to hear this news:-) I have to say, CC must be one of the most supportive online communities in existence. Just knowing that so many kids and so many parents find the transition hard is comforting in itself.
You are reading my mind @gardenstategal - or maybe you saw me surreptitiously wiping my eyes and blowing my nose during the first two hymns at church today? [Husband took our D to the airport (to fly back to the Garden State) while I took our S to church].
I thought I’d be fine since she comes back in ~3 weeks for winter break but … not so much.
That’s great news, @Lindagaf, and I can imagine the relief you feel after hearing that. Kudos to your daughter for continuing to work towards finding her fit on campus and a huge pat on your back for all your support to her these past few months!
Another emotional Mom here! Confession time… I actually sat in his room today and read Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree.
Responding to the title of the thread. Why doesn’t anyone tell you that just because you have gone through it with an older child doesn’t mean the pattern is the same for kid number 2. With this one on her first visit home since leaving it was total as if she had never left, there was none of that prickly I’m an adult now stuff. It was wonderful but made her departure yesterday all that much harder to take.
Why doesn’t anyone tell you that if your kid wants to go to grad school, every second (almost literally) of Thanksgiving break senior year will be given over to grad school apps? In LA with her, but she barely left the hotel. @Lindagaf, glad your D is settling in. 
Hooray for @Lindagaf’s DD!
@intparent
Or your daughter is home from grad school for the Thanksgiving Weekend and spends almost every minute working on thesis. No one to help me with holiday decorating this year.
@Lindagaf so happy for you (and her)! With any luck, the second semester will bring a turnaround as it did with my D and the whole thing will become a distant memory. If you remember, it wasn’t until winter break in March that my D finally felt comfortable and decided to even stay for the summer for research. She just told me over the weekend that the friends she made over the summer have become her strongest bonds.