As I sit here, Boog is currently playing in his room - alone...I might be only 10 feet away in my room, but he is in his room playing without me. He's not asking if he can bring his toys in my room to play, he's not asking if I can come play with him or sit in his room with him...
I know this is independence we both need - he needs it to grow and become his own person. He cannot be an attached at the hip momma's boy forever...I need this independence for my sanity and to remind myself that I am not ONLY Boog's mommy...
I also took him to a "Parents Survival Night" at The Little Gym this week. For $25 (member price, membership is $40 a year), they spend 2 and a half hours playing with a break for a pizza dinner in the middle. For the last thirty minutes, they color to calm down and cool down. For three hours I can drop him off and know he is being fed, taken care of, having fun and exercising in a way I still can't really manage yet. He's interacting with adults and children he doesn't know. He's learning how to play well with new people and personalities. And I can go some where and have dinner and a drink alone, or I could actually have a date (OMG WTF is that lol).
This week, I watched the session for the first 15 minutes. I say it was because he's never been left with strangers before. That's true, but it should really be said that I've never left him with strangers before. Because he didn't seem to care. I, on the other hand, didn't want to leave. I stayed in the shopping center and made my way over to Subway for dinner and then hung out in my car for a bit. I went back to the gym for the last hour (my phone battery was dying and I was getting bored lol). He didn't even notice I was back at first, but when he did he came out to say hi and then went back in to play. He came over to the window and threw the ball at me a few times and then ignored me till the end.
