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Keegan has been growing at his own pace, and rarely doing things according to baby books and “standards”:  however, there is one thing our baby is doing by the book: he has hit, apparently,  separation anxiety. The description of the phenomenon and the pictures from the book they could have may as well used his name. Discovering this it made mom and dad feel a little bit better: at least we have a name for all the madness.

Keegan has started a couple of weeks ago being very clingy, and whiny, especially when Matt was leaving himat daycare in the morning. He has been also crying suddenly and without reason, especially after waking up from his naps. You may also know that we have been struggling, AGAIN, with his sleeping. For a good two plus months he has been waking up very early, breastfeeding extensively, and mainly for comfort.

In the past few days we reached the apex. After catching a bug last week, everything precipitated. Last night, he woke up at 2.30, crying, and did not want to get back to sleep. Matt stayed with him and got his to snooze off an on, so Tizi could get a couple of hours of sleep. We were surprised the doctor did not mention separation anxiety to us, since we told her about his sleeping issues, but I guess we are glad we found out on our won it is somewhat common. Of course not all babies experience it in the same way, or quite as dramatically, but I guess we still haven’t appease the sleep gods.The ironic part is that most book mention that is it a difficult (duh!) time for both parents and babies, but also and “exhilarating” one. Quoting directly from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

In some ways, this phase of your child’s emotional development will be especially tender for both of you, while in others, it will be painful. After all, his desire to be with you is a sign of his attachment to his first and greatest love – namely you. The intensity of his feeling as she hurtles into your arms is irresistible, especially when you realize that no one – including your child herself – will ever again think you are quite as perfect as he does at this age.

One other article encourages parents to:”enjoy the sweetness of knowing that to your child, you’re number one.” Those writers obviously do not have a child at home that wakes up crying in the middle of the night, and won’t go back to sleep, and that would cling to their legs a lot during the day…Tizi would probably settle for being number 2 or 3 on his favorite persons’ list if that meant getting a good night’s sleep. More realistically, though, they also add that parents may be feeling a variety of emotions, including tenderness, resentment, anger, and of course exhaustion. I can subscribe to that.

The good new is this phase will pass…by the second year. At least the acute phase, as separation anxiety can continue all along preschool and grade school. Something to look forward to, right?

Fortunately, Tizi had some help in the past few days: Tizi’s friend Meggie drove from San Francisco for a visit;  unfortunately for her, she had to bear the brunt of it; this was a great support for Tizi, though, as Matt was out of town for two days, so she was able to keep her sanity. Not to mention that Meggie was the first one to figure out that Keegan may be going through this phase, or excuse me, “emotional milestone”. THANK YOU MEGGIE!

The bad weather we have been having also is not helping, as he seems the happiest when he is playing outside. Tizi is seriously considering busting out the stroller  rain cover and go out anyway. Not sure it will work, as his moods seems to be somewhat affected by the weather, just like mom.

So, is there anything we can do? Apparently not much. Most articles recommends the “crying out” method for night waking, which we could not really do so far as he was sleeping in our room. So, tonight will be the night…we are also a little worried about the Christmas vacation, when Tizi’s sister and her family will be staying with us. While we are happy to see them, we really hope they are prepared  for a whole lot of crying and fussying. (-: