Momma's Girl

I don't think it's any secret that Kaitlin is a Momma's girl. It seems it's been this way for a while. I remember at 8 months blaming it on stranger anxiety, and now at 15 months we're still going strong. I know that 15-18 months is the peak for separation anxiety, so I'm really hoping that she outgrows it in the next couple of months.

For those that don't know, it came to a head in the past few weeks, after being "kicked out" of MDO, and then my repeated early departures from MOPS to go rescue her from the childcare room. I honestly don't know why she has such a hard time when I'm not around. When we're at a group function, like Kindermusik or playgroup, she is off on her own, sitting on other people's lap, chasing around the other kids, and doesn't look back once to see where I am. But if I'm not around, watch out! For MDO, I blame it on the infrequent nature - she only went 1 day a week so she didn't have a chance to really adjust. According to the teacher, after dropping her off in the morning, she would start crying and calling for me and never really stop for the entire 6 hour day. And this was after 8 weeks of school. She didn't really get kicked out, the director just suggested that it might be better if we gave her a break and tried again in January, when she's a bit older and when there aren't breaks for holidays, which would probably put us back at square one if we did make any progress. At MOPS, I've tried going in and playing with her in the room and letting her get comfortable, and that seemed to work a couple weeks ago, but this last week was a disaster. They said she was hysterical the whole time and had to be walked around until she fell asleep. It's just really hard for me to deal with, both because I feel terrible for her being so sad about it, but also because it seems like it's getting worse and not better and I don't know how to fix it. I'm not going to lie, I do LOVE how she is so attached to me, mostly because that means lots of hugs and kisses for me throughout the day. She is such a sweet girl and often seeks me out in the house just to give me a kiss. But I wish she could be as comfortable and loving with others when I have to be away. I'm sure part of this is just guilt on my part for ever leaving her, but Mom has to get stuff done!

I think we are going to try a Montessori school in January, as it's time for her to get a little more interaction and Elizabeth (our nanny) is looking to start taking some classes and won't have time to watch K anymore. I met with the director on Thursday and she seemed very confident that K will get comfortable with and enjoy coming to school. They are very flexible and said that we can start out taking her everyday, for as little as an hour a day, just to get her acclimated, and is willing to do that for up to 3 weeks. I'm hoping by that point she will have matured a little bit as well, and will understand that even though Momma leaves, she will always come back. Anyone with any experience with this, please leave a comment and let me know what worked for you. Or maybe it's just another phase that we have to go through, and I will look back and miss the times that she couldn't live without me.