Out of Trauma, Bliss

You’ve heard of Stockholm Syndrome. Lately Julianna’s been making me wonder if the same mental process applies to other kinds of trauma.

Remember that my little wildebeest is not a mommy’s girl. Every so often, she condescends to throw Mommy some crumbs of affection, but she, like her daddy, is not a natural cuddler.

You would think that after

• eye surgery, followed by
• Mommy taking her to have blood drawn and holding her ramrod still so they could do the stick, followed by
• Mommy holding her down to have the torment of an EKG, followed by
• Mommy holding her down while the ophthamologists do a post-op exam…

all within the span of two weeks, that Julianna would want nothing to do with me. But you would be wrong.

On the contrary, in the last three weeks Julianna has become quite uncommonly attached to me. She comes visiting while I’m cooking and holds her arms up. I pick her up, heedless of the part of my brain that says I’m already carrying 15 extra pounds on my front, and this is a bad idea. How can I

resist? She wraps her legs and arms around me and molds to my shoulder, her slim frame shaking with giggles—because she knows I love it.

We sit on the couch, and she snuggles up under my arm, lays her cheek against my side. She comes over to the computer and bends over to lie across my lap, asking to have her back rubbed. At naptime she giggles at having her cheek chewed; when I finally call the game on peekaboo, she reaches out for a hug and won’t let go.

Don’t get me wrong, as cuddlers go, her brothers still grab the prize, hands down. But now she’s lovey about 50-60% of the time, instead of…well, never.

All this causes me to wonder: is there some freakish psychological phenomenon that causes her to shower affection on her tormenter? More importantly…if so, how long will it last before the trauma fades and she returns to her usual spitfire, prickly self?

(Maybe I need to schedule some more doctor visits. 🙂 )