dandan wants people...

the poor love... he's been saying this a lot recently, sadly asking for people.

recently it was our o/s guests that he became so attached to (even from when we were in singapore, and saw them daily). while they were still here, on nights where they had to go out without us, he would sob and say to me pleadingly "i want uncle ronald..".

thankfully, since they've left (and we keep reenacting our farewells and the fact of their plane ride and now being in singapore), he's not sadly asked for them.. just mentioned them daily at various random moments, named them one by one.

and today, while we were trampolining in the front garden, he saw a little boy alight from a car along the street. he urgently asked me to help him get down, then he ran to the pavement calling "boy! boy!". but he was too late.. the boy and his grandma had walked into their house, and were gone. i can still see dandan standing there holding the stem of our standard rose, peering out sadly, then pleading with me almost crying "i want boy, mummy, i want boy!...."

THEN, tonight we go to a family dinner at my mum's, and have a great time; lots of older cousins playing great games with him, lots of aunts looking longingly at him and hoping for kisses (at several moments, he randomly appoints one person from the group to be the beneficiary of a hug/kiss... often not the person most wanting it, interestingly).
we leave happily and normally, but on the drive home he cries out again sadly "people! mummy, i want people!..."

i guess it's about dealing with endings and leavings... but my heart breaks for his little one.
i even consider whether i should have another baby just to give him a sibling..

instead, i resolve to bring him to many more regular playgroups..
(there're just so many dodgy ones to avoid, though, in terms of how the adults treat/approach the children; or in the effects that even brief companionship of some children can have on him, perhaps having been parented a certain way)

off to look at our weekly calendar..