Separation Anxiety?

Most of the time, Colin is a very happy go lucky little guy. He's such a good eater and sleeper, and he hardly ever "complains" about anything. He doesn't even fuss about tummy time like he used to when he was just a little squirt. In fact, he loves to roll around now and has gotten very playful. He's so much fun!

However, my little dude is definitely developing some personality. See his "I'm going to lose it in about one minute" look? Still adorable though, right?

Well. This morning, we dropped him off at the church nursery as we always do before service. The worship band did its thing, and then Pastor Matt started to preach a sermon on Ecclesiastes. Suddenly, I noticed that there was a peculiar set of letters and numbers at the the bottom left corner of the projector screen up front, where the scriptures were displayed. "OP6045," I think it said. "Huh," I thought. "Wonder what that means." A couple minutes later, text scrolled across the bottom of the screen on a red background. "Parent OP6045 needed in the nursery," it read. And then it occurred to me. I looked down at the sticker I'd been given when I checked Colin in at the nursery. It said - you guessed it - OP6045. AHH! "That's me," I whispered to Justin. "They need me in the nursery." So I quietly, but quickly, made my way to the baby room.

My sweet, happy boy was having a code red meltdown. A teenage girl named Hunter (who he usually loves) was sitting in a rocking chair and holding Colin, and he was sobbing into her chest. My heart shattered into a million pieces right then and there. I took him in my arms and hugged him tight, shushing and whispering "it's okays" and "oh, sweetheart" into his little ear. He started to calm down, but there were still big, fat tears on his chubby cheeks and he was making these sad little gasps that made me want to cry.

Even though he had eaten about an hour and a half beforehand, I made a bottle and fed him, cradling him close to me. That did the trick - he was calm and smiling again a few minutes later. It was the weirdest thing. The rest of the day, he was his usual charming self. Justin's theory is that he's developing separation anxiety and just wanted his mommy. Since I work a full time job, I really hope this isn't the case because it is going to be HARD to say goodbye to him in the mornings if he's about to start realizing that I'm actually leaving! Then again... I won't lie, it feels pretty good to be needed and loved by my baby. He loves his mommy and daddy so much, and boy do we love him too, unconditionally and immeasurably.

You still there, Dad?

We had some great snuggle time before he went down for bed tonight. I cherish these moments with my little guy, because he's still small enough that he enjoys the snuggling (almost) as much as I do. Gosh, I love that boy.