An Early Development

Madison seems to be developing and reaching milestones earlier than what the books call normal (says the completely biased and proud momma).  I've been thrilled at every one...holding her head straight, rolling over, reaching for and grasping her rattles (and my hair), etc.  That is, I was thrilled at every one until yesterday.  Babies aren't "supposed" to experience separation anxiety until 6-9 months.  Madison is 16 weeks old, and I am certain that she got her first taste of it yesterday.

I was really excited to bring her to the credit union where I worked up until I was eight months pregnant with her.  I just knew that she would enjoy all the attention showered on her by my old coworkers.  Well, I didn't plan it out very well. 

It takes about twenty minutes to get to the credit union from our house.  Of course, she fell asleep on the way, and I had to wake her up when we got there.  At first (like always when she's woken up) she was docile and snuggly.  She stared curiously at all the ladies talking to her.  While I was getting some money orders, my old manager (Jayania- I don't want to hear it; you know I'm not calling you old!) asked if she could bring Madison to see another lady whose office was just down the hall.  I didn't see a problem with it; she was in good hands, they were only going about twenty feet away (albeit out of sight), and Madison has never seemed to care who holds her as long as she's being held.

Well, after less than a minute, I heard my baby's scream through two closed doors.  I raced down the hallway to her (in the process leaving behind my diaper bag, cash, money orders, wallet, etc), just sure that she had bumped her head, been poked by a name tag, bitten by an ant...you get the picture.  This was her "I'm in a lot of pain right now" scream.  We don't hear it often, but I remember it well from the thumbnail incident.  When I got to her, her chubby little face was bright red, her eyes were squeezed shut, and her chin was quaking in the middle of a sob.

It was all I could do not to sit down right there in the hallway and bare all to nurse her.

I managed to calm her down for a little while, long enough to say goodbye to all my old coworkers.  But before we got out the door, she had started a new kind of crying.  It sounded very mournful, like this time she was telling me how badly her feelings were hurt.  I thought she would fall asleep on the ride home, but instead she talked to me the whole way.  She wasn't crying, but just "oh,whoa,whoa"-ing. 

I've never felt more guilty in my life.  I never would have let her go if I thought she would notice!  My poor baby.  We had to use the swing to get her to sleep last night.  We normally leave her in her crib alone and she quietly goes to sleep, but last night, every time we left the room, she would start screaming again. 

Phew!  For those of you with kids, how early (if ever) did they start showing separation anxiety?  And what in the world did you do about it?

-Kelli