so, all these transitions have apparently overwhelmed miss p afterall. friday evening she broke down crying and asked me if we could just cuddle for a while. i asked her if she was liking school and she assured me that everything on that front is fine. when i pressed her a bit about what was bothering her she burst out that she misses ina (her play therapist) and why does daddy say he's going to do something and then not do it? she alternated between saying things like he shouldn't make promises he can't keep. friends don't do that, do they? and he probably just had to work, that's probably why he didn't come (to the first day of school), right mama?
i don't want to lie and make excuses for him but how do you tell a five year old the truth about this situation? i'm very happy to see that she's working these things out in her own head, that she's questioning things and setting boundaries. i don't know if she should broach these subjects with her dad or if there'll be time for that later. in any case, at the moment she's bent on punishing him the only way she knows how, by choosing to stay with me when he comes to pick her up.