Separation anxiety - age 4

I'm not sure what's going on and I really thought this would end sooner than this, but Nathan has a very hard time seeing Justin and I leave him. We always thought we were very lucky because Nathan didn't have much separation anxiety when he was 'supposed to'. When all the books said watch out for it - we just kept watching because it never came.

Then came the night we had to go to Aberdeen for Justin's nose surgery and Nathan and Claire stayed home with Justin's mom, Sharelle. We told him how fun it was going to be and tried to prep him as well as we could for us leaving. Well, he bawled his head off. It took us forever to get out of the door. It wasn't much fun. It wasn't long and Sharelle called to let me know that Nathan was fine and back to his normal self. I knew he'd be fine, but it was really hard to leave him for the first time and for him to have such a hard time with it.

When we got home from Aberdeen, he wasn't exactly the most behaved child. I think it was his way of 'showing us'. In June we left the kids again with Justin's parents so that we could attend a friends wedding in Rapid City. He didn't cry like he did the time before, but he wanted us to leave on his terms, not ours. When we got home it was the same way it was when we left him the first time. We had to remind him a few times that he wasn't the boss and such.

Now he's having a hard time with us leaving for a few hours at a time. Just this past Tuesday when we took him to daycare, he cried and cried because he didn't want us to leave. He's done this to Justin in the past when he drops the kids off at daycare for work. It doesn't have a thing to do with daycare - he just doesn't want us to leave him. When I ask why he does it he said "Because I miss you so much". Yeah - deal with that one!

I was leaving to come to work on Thursday and he was bawling his head off again because I was leaving him. Justin said he woke up to Nathan crying on the couch because I'd left to come to work. WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?

Last night he and I were sitting on the couch and I said "Why do you cry when I leave you?" He said "It's just because I miss you so much, mommy. I can't help it. I think I might cry tomorrow when you leave for work." I told him there was no need to because he gets to hang out with Justin all day and then I'd be home to hang out after that. He just gave me a look as to say that he wasn't sure he would be able not to cry. Thankfully he was still sleeping when I left today.

So you must be asking - is he just doing this to get a reaction? I really don't think he is. It's not that kind of a cry or emotion. It seems genuine, but who knows I guess? Anything's possible. Have any of you had this happen to children this age? Go a head and post your comments. I welcome anything.

Claire is doing so much better. The medication she was given cost $93.66 for 10 doses. Do the math people! That's just under $10 a dose. $10 A DOSE! As it should, the liquid gold seems to really be helping her. She's sleeping much better and is more herself - which is appreciated. On Wednesday when we put her to bed, she had a 103 underarm temperature which scared me to death. She woke up cool on Friday and hasn't had a fever since. Thank Goodness!!!

That's about all for today!