The reluctant star

There are those who crave the spotlight and others who shy away. I always thought my daughter was one of those who crave it, but I'm not so sure now.

For the last eight or nine months, my daughter has been greeted at the door of her classroom by a hoard of children yelling her name. It's a low, about knee-height door that is just high enough for the kids already in the classroom to look over. If I lift her over it, the children crowd around her and call her name -- "Bea, Bea." It's very cute, but not unlike the paparazzo, minus the camera flashes and microphones.

At first it was cute and Sophia enjoyed the attention, but now that it's been going on for some time, she can't stand it and will sometimes refuse to go into the classroom unless there is a teacher there for me to pass her off to. It's not that she doesn't want to go into the classroom, it's that she doesn't want to be swarmed by her adoring fans. I can understand.

I'm assuming the kids do this to every child who comes into the classroom, but since we are usually the last ones to get to daycare, the pack of kids is much bigger than one 20-month-old can handle without adult intervention. Sometimes there's up to six toddlers running towards Sophia to greet her and give her hugs. It may not seem like a lot of people, but you try being cornered by five or six overly affectionate toddlers screaming your name.

Hopefully, Sophia won't be a superstar with paparazzo following her every move because I don't think she would enjoy it.