Separation Anxiety

I was going through my drafts (I had 16 unfinished blog posts in there!) and here is one I wrote back in August:

I love this image. It makes me happy and also reminds me of me and Stan Bear. He has arrived at the separation anxiety stage. I noticed it beginning sometime before his first birthday but it became much stronger when we were in Idaho. When we got back from our trip he would cry when I'd drop him off at day care and he cries everyday now when I drop him off, although I don't think it lasts very long. I wonder if this elephant mom is thinking, "Give me some space! Go play with your father for awhile!" While the baby is like, "I want to be wherever you are Mama! Even if it means crossing the deepest river!"

Leaving him crying at daycare is not so hard for me - which is surprising. I know he is in good hands and is loved there. One day I dropped him off and as I got to the exit the co-director was there and could hear him crying and she said,"I can't let my little man cry, I got to go to him." and she headed off to the infant room. I could hear her when she got to the room and she said, "Well that didn't last, did it?" So he had stopped crying under a minute. So that was comforting and definitely has a lot to do with my ease of leaving him there.

Thankfully the Bear is no longer crying when I leave him at daycare. I think it's because he is officially in the Two's room now and he loves it in there. I drop him off and he stands there looking at EVERYTHING. I say, "See you later!" and sometimes he doesn't even look at me...he rarely acknowledges my leaving. They spend a lot more time outdoors in that class and they make art too! So he is usually pretty messy when I pick him up. He is quite the observer. I wish I could be a fly on the wall there to see what happens when he is done just standing there...what does he do!? His mood is always "happy" on his daily daycare report slips so I know he has got to be his active self...I just wish I could see it for myself. I wonder if he'll get separation anxiety again come preschool or kindergarten?


That picture is one of my favorite's too. It reminds me of when I cook dinner lately and the Bear is still awake I will stick him in the backpack and he LOVES to watch me cook. I will explain to him what I'm doing and even let him stir the pot. He really enjoys it.

Although his separation anxiety is done with (at least this stage) he is still pretty clingy to Mama. He wants his Mama more often than his Papa...not to say that he doesn't love his Papa, because man, oh, man does he love Papa Bear. "PaPApaPApaPaaaa!!!"

I just read this great post at Janet Lansbury's blog about how to calm your clingy child. It's a good read, as are most of her posts! You can read it here.

Images from: www.funnycutestuff.com and www.dailymail.co.uk