My first day of college orientation was the day that my youngest cousin was born; he will turn four years old this upcoming July. I was only able to spend one month with him before move in day. During that one month, I grew very close to him, there was not one day that we did not spend together, and after he was done eating I would always play with him and kept him company until he fell asleep. My cousin could go food shopping or run errands and he was completely fine as long as she was back before he was hungry again. When I moved away for college, everything drastically changed. I clearly was not home as often, perhaps every two months or just on school breaks. During the course of this time, I became a stranger to my baby cousin. When I went back for Thanksgiving break, he was a little over four months; I want to believe that he still recognized me. I remember at first her was a little “stand offish” but then he became comfortable around me again.  The same thing happened around December break, at first he didn’t really know who I was but after a day or two from being home, he finally did not panic. Everything changed when I went back home for spring break, he was then almost eight months.

I remember being so excited to finally be home for an entire week so I could spend some time with my cousin. Unfortunately, it did not turn out as I expected. Using what we have recently learned in class, my little cousin developed stranger anxiety, which makes sense because it starts to arise around eight months. He wanted nothing to do with me, I could not be in a room alone with him, he would instantly freak out and a waterfall would come running down his face. I was completely confused, it seemed so odd that just only two months before when I was home for spring break he was able to recognize me. I didn’t think that the two months I was gone, were going to make such a big impact on who he remembered or not. I simply thought that because he remembered me two months ago, he would remember me then. During our lectures, we have learned that “60% of children display secure detachment.” For example, whenever his mother was in the room, he would have a blast, he would crawl everywhere and playfully interact with me, as soon as my cousin left to check on something, he became hysterical, there was absolutely nothing I could do to soothe him. When we returned, he immediately stopped crying and our play date resumed, it was quite comical.