It has finally happened - my sweet little daughter, Ellie, is experiencing separation withdrawal. We escaped this dreaded situation for the first 17 months + of her life, but now it cannot be denied she truly gets distressed when I or her father leave her side. I can't believe it. She was SOOOO good. I could take her anywhere, drop her off with anyone and she would be totally fine. It didn't even seem that she noticed that I was gone. And I was fine with it because it meant that I could get a break from her and know that she was happy in others' capable hands.
It started a few weeks ago when I left her at the nursery at the gym. Apparently she cried and cried after I left. One of the poor ladies that watch the kids actually had to hold her the entire time I worked out. That happened twice. But the worse was when she apparently cried for FOUR hours at my friend, Andrea's, house for our babysitting swap. Reportedly she only stopped crying at dinnertime and when Andrea - probably driven to desperation at this point - gave her a small bowl of Skittles*.
Anyway, we've been having mixed results since that day. Last Saturday at the babysitting swap, we successfully snuck out unnoticed. But once Ellie realized we were gone, she freaked out. But they were able to calm her down after 5 or 10 minutes. So I thought the worse was over. However, it was not to be because I took her to the gym for the first time in a long time and she again cried the entire time I was doing cardio (I didn't even bother to lift weights).
This does not bode well for nursery (at church) which begins in just over a week, where Ellie will be left with some 10-15 kids her age while Matt attempts to enjoy the last two hours of church. Hopefully she'll snap out of this soon. I've heard tales of parents remaining with their children in nursery for as long as a year - I'm not prepared to make that kind of sacrifice!
* that would make me stop crying too. They're my favorite.
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