I've been browsing and I have a story to share.

When my daughter turned 1, we invited family out for a fun party. She is the first grandchild and we lived on the opposite coast of family so it was a good excuse to get people together. For what it's worth, we broke our rule of not having my mom and my MIL at the same event for this, and deeply regretted it. I was hoping the grandchild would be a good preventative measure. How wrong I was.

My mom flew in first and was staying with us. My MIL flew in later with her BF and my SIL.

The day before the party my daughter had her 1 year well visit and we learned she had croup. It was relatively mild, but between the vaccinations and the shot she got to help ease the croup, she was grumpy and tired.

That night we were invited out to dinner with MIL, mil's BF and SIL at a nicer restaurant near the water. Per MIL's usual disregard for normal mealtimes, we were meeting them at 7pm. My mom was invited as well. We get there and start dinner and my daughter is fussy. She's cranky, tired and sick and only wants Mom (me), Dad or Nana (my mom).

Grandma (MIL), on the other hand, hasn't seen her in months except by pictures but absolutely wants to hold her the whole time. My MIL also doesn't bother to skype, while my Mom skyped at least once a week, if not more, so there was a signficant difference in familiarity. My daughter was very familiar with my mom, Grandma was like a stranger.

She cried. A lot. I ended up taking her out to the waiting area of the restaurant to nurse and comfort her while we waited for food and even during dinner itself.

The next day at the party she was feeling a little better and since she'd gotten an awesome nap in, was more willing to hang with Grandma.

But once everyone had left, we heard through SIL that MIL was complaining that my daughter obviously hated her and she was so upset that we'd turned her granddaughter against her and were obviousy favoring my mother. Husband promptly called his mother and set her straight (he doesn't tolerate this kind of stuff) and told her if she maybe skyped a little more often, this wouldn't have been such a big issue.

Now that my daughter is 3.5, things are much better, mainly because she can talk and is more interactive.