First Night Away

My husband and I are relocating, moving to a new city and state, and so we've had to go there to find a place to live. The first time we went we took the little man with us, of course. And he spent 4+ hours in the car, then another 8 hours driving around with us, going in and out of apartments and duplexes, and then stayed in a strange hotel room, spent a few hours the next day driving around looking at places, and then 4+ hours in the car on the way home. Needless to say, although he was an excellent boy and handled the days really REALLY well, by the time we got home he was a mess. Stressed, cranky, overtired, and bored out of his mind. We really didn't want to do that to him again, but we needed to go back since our first trip didn't land us a living situation. Sooo...we left him home with his nanny during the day and his Papa and big sister for the night.

I need to say I did much better than I thought I would. I only texted the nanny a few times during the day Friday, and then we only called Papa twice that night. I had to wake up in the middle of the night to pump, and so I was worrying a little bit then, but in general I did great! I think I deserve a mommy gold star for being able to leave him in what I know are capable (although not as capable as mine, haha) hands for a night.

They said he did great. He ate well, didn't have any weepy freak-outs, went to sleep at his normal time, and when he woke up at night he went right back to sleep. Everything I worried about was fine, nothing happened (except the smoke alarms went off at 4am, of course, but that didn't seem to bother Monkey!) and he survived unscathed.

It's a learning experience. I know parents who would regularly let grandparents or other family watch their child overnight from a very young age, and I know parents with kids in elementary school who haven't spent a single night away from mom and dad. Before I had a kid of my own, I always wondered at both sides of the fence. Why leave the baby? Why not leave the baby? I am sure they all have reasons.

My fear at leaving him was mostly based on a.) he's going to miss me a whole lot and have bad separation anxiety and cry a lot and be generally sad and b.) he's going to be going through all this and whoever is with him won't know how to handle it. I guess that's pretty normal, especially since I think the world revolves around me! :)

It was nice to know my fear was unjustified. I want a well rounded kid. I want to raise a kid who can be away from mom and dad and feel safe, feel cared for by whoever is caring for him, and feel confident that mom and dad are coming back. I want a kid who can go with the flow. And so far, I think I have him.