Seperation Anxiety

Two out of three weekday mornings were successful no tears daycare drop off days! Monday was tough. I was running late and could not stay with Buckner for long. As I handed him to the teacher, he screamed reaching for me and the last thing I saw as I left the room was my red faced baby wailing for his mama. Needless to say Monday I watched the clock all day as I waited for five o'clock to rush back and pick him up. I wondered all day if he thought I wanted to leave him. I wondered all day if he wondered if mommy did not care that he wanted to stay with me. I wondered all day if not responding to his tears would make him toughen up in a way that I don't him to and ultimately affect his bond with me. Talk about working mama guilt!

He was just fine Monday afternoon. He was happy to see me after a long day of playing. But I could not go through that again so I had a strategy for Tuesday. I would get to daycare earlier so I could stay longer. On Tuesday I held him while I signed him in and put away his bottles and backpack. I didn't force him to go to a teacher but instead sat down with him on the floor. His teacher put several toys in front of him. He sat on my lap and sleepily stare at the toys. He finally tentatively crawled off my lap grabbed a toy and immediately sat back on me as if he was going to hold me there. He repeated that process several times grabbing more toys. I love how he loves me so much and wants to stay right with me. The doctor says it is a healthy time of his development so I am going to just love on him and not force him to go to others when he does not want to, however, I do have to go to work. So we played a little longer and he began to relax and smile. Then his teacher came over to put him in the high chair. He looked at me with a questioning look on his face wondering if he should cry but breakfast was a good distraction. I smiled big and waved bye with a happy and excited wave telling him I would be back soon to get him. No tears. Success!  We had the same morning routine today as well so for two mornings we have had a no tear morning....at least Buckner did not cry. Never can say the same for mama! Ha!