Seperation Anxiety

Ok, I knew it was coming, but I had been hoping it would skip us. No such luck and it has hit Mr. Jack pretty hard. I guess it's not as bad as it could be - he'll still happily go to Nacho and to my parents and as long as he's safely in his stroller, he'll happily "chat" it up with strangers (after a quick glance to make sure I'm there). But he has to know I'm right there and if I sit next to him, he'll move so he climb into my lap. What's strange though is if I'm across the room, he'll happily play with his toys. Again, you know, as long as he can see me.

The worst has to be naptime/bedtime though. He's always gone down so easily, but these days he wants somebody to sit with him while he falls asleep. Thankfully, not requiring to be held, but to sit next to his crib. It started with just bedtime and Nacho was happy to oblige him. As it was their time and their routine I didn't say anything. But when Little Man started requiring it at naptime too, I had to draw the line. And so now we are letting him cry it out. See, this is where it's helpful to have few readers - less judgment. I know CIO isn't for everybody, but it works for us. And before you start totally judging us, he rarely cries for longer than 30 sec-1 min. And yes, that 1 minute is still competely heartbreaking for us. Justification done.

We had to do CIO with Samantha too, but then we were newbies, so we dragged it out much longer than needed. We'd rock her, sit with her, all those things. One night, I even found Sam in her swing happily playing at 2am, while Nacho dozed on her bedroom floor. Not really effective. Nacho finally decided it was time for true CIO and after 2 nights, it was done. We're hoping to get the same results this time around.

I guess we lucked out with Lexi, who starting sleeping through the night very early (although so did Jack) and once she started doing that, nothing woke her up. I don't remember her going through seperation anxiety either, but maybe she did. I guess I feel should feel flattered that Jack wants to be with me so much, but sometimes I need to go change the laundry or go to the bathroom. And I do have two other kids to care for.

Seperation anxiety comes at an interesting time developmently. Jack is now starting to move around his own. Not quite crawling yet, although he's mastered going backwards (see, he does take after me!). But he does like to roll everywhere he wants to go and I guess it's getting him there so who am I to judge. Yet, he has yet to realize he can get himself to me. So those times he'd rather just sit and fuss, knowing I'll come to him. Wait...guess that's not such a bad plan for him, lol. And I really shouldn't rush the crawling or I'll have mini-me attached to me all the time.

If there is a silver lining to this problem, it's that this will likely help us get rid of the pacifier. Both girls gave it up on their own at about 5 months, so we're walking new territory here. But at night we put him to bed, give him his paci, say goodnight and walk away. He starts crying and out the paci goes - and he has yet to figure out how to get back into his mouth, properly anyways. And since in his crib is really the only time he truly uses it, maybe we can ditch it soon? One can hope, right?