great-grandmothers, hospitals, and personality

My grandmother-in-law is in the hospital now-pneumonia and a UTI. We've been spending way too much time in hospitals lately. (My Mom's heart attack, Timothy's birth, my grandmother's burn, her mini-stroke,now this!) It's led to some interesting conversations about death with Leanna. She's scared of both great-grandmothers(but not Sue's mother, she's always seemed to have a bond with her. And she doesn't see her all that often, she's just always got along with her)and I'm not sure why. Before Christmas we talked about how important it was to be nice to Nanny J. and Leanna seemed to understand and was all set for it-until she actually saw her. Then she just gets all funny and doesn't want to have anything to do with her. With my grandmother it's relatively recent. She used to be fine with her, but the past year, she's started to not want to say hello or goodbye and sometimes won't talk to her. I've also noticed that Leanna's started to reject people who try to force a relationship.

This has begun to happen with several of my Aunts in the past year and a half or so. My one Aunt in particular who Leanna was really close with when she was younger has really had her feelings hurt over this. And it's nothing she did-Leanna's just not willing to jump into things as though they saw each other every day. That used to be alright, but not anymore. I think she just needs time to adjust-time in her presence without things being forced-and then she'd be fine. But my Aunt doesn't get that, and as a result, Leanna pushes her away. Then she's hurt, and I feel bad and embarrassed that Leanna's acting that way. And you can't force it-the harder you try the worse it gets.

Leanna is an interesting mix of shy and outgoing. I don't know if this is a struggle between nature/nurture (her personality vs. being raised by two quiet, shy people) or if that's just how she naturally is? She is definitely a natural leader-I've seen her assume the leader role whenever she's around other kids. Sometimes she's afraid to initially approach them, but once it's started-she's off and running. Being home with me certainly hasn't hurt her in that respect. I assume some of that initial shyness will dissapear after she starts school and is around kids on a regular basis. It should be interesting to see.