Separation Anxiety?
I think Sammy might have just recently developed a strange sort of separation anxiety. Lately, there are just certain times when I try to get Sammy to play by himself in the exersaucer, the playpen, the floor, etc, and he will immediately start crying at the top of his lungs as if he’s on the verge of death. Pick him up and he’s fine. The weird thing, though, is that he doesn’t care who is picking him up as long as he’s being held. He prefers Mommy and Daddy, but he’s fine in the nursery at church if someone is playing with him. But the moment I stick him somewhere to play by himself, he gets ANGRY. Sometimes he’ll be fine playing on the floor, but then he’ll see me and realize that I’m not holding him and begin throwing a major fit. Yesterday I put him in the nursery during Sunday School, and I almost felt bad because as soon as I got him in that exersaucer he was wailing at the top of his lungs. I put him a vibrating rocker chair, and he seemed to calm down, enough so that I took the chance to sneak out of the room. I have a feeling that the peace couldn’t have lasted for long, but I never bothered to ask. He was busy playing on the ground with several other babies when I came to pick him up, and he seemed happy mainly because he was sitting in the lap of one of the nursery attendants! Patrick was always a different story. He loved the nursery, from the time I began putting him in at 3 months. There was a time, for about a month, where he would cry when we first dropped him off, but as soon as he saw all the toys he’d forget about us and have fun. We use to have a hard time getting him to leave… Sammy, I can tell, is going to be different. As much as I love spending time with the little guy, sometimes it’s just not possible to give him the constant attention he wants. I hope this is just a phase that passes soon…