Bapa? Marc?

Micah's been really busy lately. Like REALLLLY busy. Gone 70+ hours a week, getting up before 4am just to keep working on all that he has to do. He is going to a conference (for which they are grossly unprepared) on the second week of October, so maybe after that things will slow down a bit for him. Like maybe he'll be able to sleep in until 6 like a normal person. It's hard because I know he is exhausted and stressed, but my sympathy is outweighed by my own self-pity, as it's been tough for Natalie and I with him gone so much.

It's been pretty taxing on Natalie, who seems to be developing some separation anxiety. Last time Natalie stayed at the YMCA nursery, they said she cried "dada" the whole time. When I picked her up, they were confused at why she was calling for daddy since she came with me. I told them that her dad works a lot and they all nodded with understanding and gushed about how she must miss him. Often when she can't fall asleep and is screaming in her crib, she cries "dada, dada" over and over again. Yesterday, she was saying, "Dada, go home. Dada, go home." It's so sad. I always just tell her that he's at work and we'll see him later. This afternoon as she was screaming, I went up to offer her some water and calm her down and she was asking, "Dada?" and so I told her that he was at work and that we would see him later. Then came the question that surprised me. "Bapa? Marc?" Bapa is what she calls Micah's dad who lives north of us. Her Uncle Marc lives in WA and she hasn't seen him since January, so she mostly knows him from a family picture. I told her that Grandpa was at his home and Marc was at his home and that we would see them later. She settled down for a while and I left, then got worked up again, so I went back up and she was crying for me to rock her, so I sat with her on the rocking chair and she said, "Dada work. Bapa work. Marc work." Then she mournfully slipped off to sleep. It was so sad :( It's like she misses Micah so much she's transferring it onto other men, too. I mean, she knows Grandma and Chere and Shelly from the same picture and in person, but she didn't ask about them. Pobrecita.