From Clingy to Carefree

Some of the changes that have occurred since I stopped blogging for a few months have been big things. One of them is school. Well, sort of. Squiggle attends the same school (a preschool and child care center) that Bobble does, though she is only 2 ½ years old. I guess she’s in pre preschool?

She has been there many times while I pick up or drop off her brother, and when I would volunteer to help with functions or parties with his class. Sometimes I would take her to pick him up 30 minutes before we actually needed to leave, and I’d let her play with the other kids for those 30 minutes (the staff never minded).

Considering how clingy she is, I was still really worried with how she’d take being away from me. The longest she had ever been away from me was 2 hours, and that was once. I was getting a hair cut and running to a store, and she was home with her dad. There would be times I would come home from a brief outing (15min) and she would be hyperventilating or in hysterics because I left. She was with her father. Let me repeat: SHE WAS WITH HER FATHER.

She loves her daddy. It’s not like she doesn’t like being with him. She totally adores him… but he’s not mom. She is really that clingy, and that’s something that has always surprised me considering how strong-willed and independent she acts.

I am still at home with the kids, but as I near the end of my degree program, the work load gets heavier. That makes sense, so we made the decision to send her to school for a couple days a week for just a few hours in the morning. She would throw a tantrum every time her brother left (or we dropped him off and she was in the car) and she couldn’t go. She really, really wanted to go. We just crossed our fingers that this was the right decision for her.

Her first day of school she didn’t care we showed up to pick her up. I’m not joking! We both showed up to collect Squiggle and Bobble, and Squiggle just kept running around and around, playing with the kids in her class. When she saw us, she grinned at us and kept running with her friends. She didn’t care that we were there.

Her teacher mentioned that at about 2.5 hours into her 3.5 hour school day, she teared up a bit and asked for mommy. The teacher told her we would be there after she eats, and invited her to come play. She did. That was the only time she cried for me, though she did ask for me a couple other times that first week.

She has now been at school for about 6 weeks, and still throws a tantrum when we take her brother and not her (he goes 5 days a week for preschool, she goes 3 days). That can only be a good sign, right?

This is all being shared with you not to just keep you updated on my family, but for encouragement. I know there are many, many parents out there with really clingy children. I know they probably had people questioning their parenting style because their child still sleeps with them (in their bed, in their room, whatever), still nurses, etc. Even a super clingy child that was still cosleeping and would cry if you try to leave them with their daddy for a minute can transition to being away from parents quickly and amazingly well. 

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for the content of this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.