Sibling worship?

   So as many of you know almost three years ago my life was blessed and given a rare little gift. I thought that at age 41 I was about to be done with parenting as all my children were now over the age of 18 and the hubby and I would have the second have of our lives to ourselves; but that is not what happened. We were given another round of parenting in the form of our first granddaughter. Neither of her biological parents really wanted to raise her. The sperm donor seems to have the idea that fatherhood doesn't mean providing for your child and my daughter(we call her Sar) doesn't want to give up her life of fun and partying either. Little miss could have been adopted but sperm donor refused to give up rights(again a strange concept about fatherhood is residing in his head), so my hubby and I took her in.
   Now this wasn't easy as we had just retired after 25 years of service in the Air Force and the economy tanked out at the same time. So while hubs went to college to get the degree that he needed in the civilian world to do what he had been doing in the AF, we struggled financially. Sperm donor never supported his daughter at all, in fact he has seen her 8 times since she was born. Sar doesn't even live with us anymore and never comes to visit little miss. She told me once that she doesn't love her or want her at all. So up we step to be parents again.
  Now when my kids were born I was in my twenties, had energy and could go with out sleep. Not so much now, those midnight wakies were pure torture. But we pushed on and worked through a lot of things and have mostly made it out ok. Little miss has totally bonded with me and the hubs but more amazing is that she has decided to worship the Boy.
   The Boy is my oldest child, my only son and he is not a outgoing type of personality. He likes little kids ok as long as he doesn't have to deal with diapers, bottles and crying fits. But the funny thing is, is that Little Miss adores him. She will follow him around the house like a puppy. She wants to talk to him on the phone or through the Xbox when we are playing games online. She will eat something simply because the Boy was eating it.
  Now, we find this highly amusing as she will knock on his door in the morning to see if he is awake, yell "Hi" to him as soon as his door opens and let him touch the all important blanket. But last night we had to send him back up to Fairbanks for the last two months of college. She was not happy at all.
   My normally equable little miss had turned into a full on angry badger of a child. Nothing made her happy. She kept crying and being angry and we tried to talk with her but she couldn't articulate what was wrong. This morning however she told me, I went into the Boy's room to make the bed and open the drapes and she sat on the floor and told me that she wanted him back. She pointed at his bed and told me he wasn't there. I told her that no he wasn't but that he had to go back to school. He would be home in 2 months. She pouted at me and told me to turn on the Xbox. I think she was hoping that he would be online and she would hear him.
  I have never encountered this type of sibling relationship before, my kids were close in age and were contemporaries of each other, not a twenty year difference in age. I am not trying to minimize this either as I think its important that Little Miss have a sibling bond of some sort.  We have started a countdown where she can cross off the days until he comes home and we are talking with her about how sometimes people come in and out of our lives. I hope that she will understand but its hard to put in to terms for a 3 year old to comprehend. 
    The Boy is looking at finishing college back here in Anchorage as it will be cheaper then in Fairbanks and I for one am thrilled about that. The Boy and I are very similar in our personalities and I still miss him when he is gone. I am sure that Little Miss will be absolutely enthusiastic about him being home. I know that the Boy has even talked with me about how to get her to go hiking and other things he can teach her. He may be her uncle in reality but really he is her big brother and it has been amazing to see this bond grow.
   Atypical Life in AK