Separation Anxiety

Okay, not only do my kids have separation anxiety, but I have to admit that, yes, I have separation anxiety too. I mean these three kids and I have been practically conjoined since they were born. Aside from grocery shopping and doctor/dentist appointments, I spend practically every waking minute with them. So naturally, it feels pretty weird when they are away from me and vice versa.

We tried out our first M.O.P.S. (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting on Friday...
It's a fabulous organization designed for mothers of yougins' to get together and have fellowship and discuss topics about being a mother. And there's daycare!!!

So I dropped the kids off in the room with all of the other 'crawlers'. They assign a number to each child and if/when your child becomes inconsolable, your number pops up on a screen in the church sanctuary where the meeting is held, which means you need to come get your child. The kids seemed fine at first, but that didn't last for long. As soon as I waved bye-bye, Chase started to scream. Dagger to my heart as I walked down the hall, leaving my VERY upset child behind.

I was super excited to listen to the speaker. The topic was child nutrition, which I am always interested in, but it wasn't even 5 minutes before Chase's number popped up on the screen.
As I walked back down the hall, I could hear my poor little guy sobbing hysterically. Scratch that. I heard BOTH of my little guys sobbing hysterically. Oh, my heart broke into a million little pieces!
After attempting several different strategies, it became apparent that the boys were not going to be okay with me out of the room (Kate was fine, by the way. She could have cared less that I wasn't there. What an independent little girlie!). So I packed them all up and home we went. What a bummer.

Apparently we need to get out more often and they need more opportunities to be away from Mommy. Hopefully the more we try it, the easier it will be on all of us (me included!).