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Diary Of A New Mum -
Week 28
Where’s My Mommy Gone?
This week we saw the first signs of ‘Separation Anxiety’ in
Jessica-Ann. It was not a pretty sight. Or should I say ‘sound’. Because the
first signs were an assault on my ears in the form of a temper
tantrum-stroke-wailing fit the minute I walked out of the room.
In every other way it was a normal Tuesday morning. Paul had left for work after
making breakfast and lunch (mine and Jess’s as well as his own), and I popped
Jess into her Plastic Fantastic (regular readers will know what I’m talking
about) while I went to do the clearing up. I do this every day. But this day –
cue screwed up face and loud screaming. Which stopped the minute I rushed back
in. ‘Jess,’ I said, ‘what happened?’ I thought she must have hurt herself really
badly to have cried so hard.
She smiled at me angelically. I shook my head, puzzled, and went back to the
washing up. I’d only got one foot out the door before the crying started again.
As soon as I turned around, it stopped. It didn’t take me long to figure it out
– I have read all the books on baby development. Twice. I sat down next to my
little angel and gave her a kiss. So this is where we are now, is it? Glued
together – just like when she was in my tummy.
Later that day, I got out the sling we bought when she was first born (and which
she hated with a vengeance as a tiny baby), and used it to carry her around on
my hip. It took me a day or so to realize that I wasn’t actually helping the
situation much by carrying her around all day with me. Logic says that if she
doesn’t see me go away and come back – even if it’s only to the toilet – she
will never learn that she is safe and secure. Also, she is bloody heavy!
By the end of the week, we have arrived at a kind of compromise – the first of
many, I’m sure. Jessica-Ann will stay on her own in the lounge while Mommy goes
to the toilet, or pops out of the room for a minute or two, but only if she has
the TV on and is in her bouncing chair. Otherwise, she cries. Fair enough, I
guess. When I leave her for any reason, I talk real loudly about whatever I’m
doing – ‘Mommy is going to the kitchen to get your food now, Jessica-Ann. Do you
fancy chicken today? That’s good, sweetie – chicken’s all we’ve got!’
One thing I have noticed, though. It isn’t just me she is attached to. Jess is
fine if she’s left with her dad, or her Godmother, or nana. It’s just being on
her own she doesn’t like. Which, in a six-and-a-half month old baby, isn’t that
hard to understand. She’ll grow out of it. In the meantime, we are attached at
the hip. Literally…
Diary of a New Mum Week 29
Latest!
Non-Bouncing Baby
In which we begin to suspect that Jessica-Ann is a lazy baby
Diary of a New Mum Week 33
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