Really…they both come from the same parents.  I gave birth to both of them and it amazes me how different the two of them are.

For example:  Lara’s always been clingy.  She’s a Momma’s girl. But, I thought we had turned the corner and she was at least getting comfortable in the hourly care setting. She’s been going for months on a regular basis.  Then, we go out of town, and now we’re back to square one.  Today, they had to PRY her off of me. Her little fists wrapped around my shirt so tight that I had to have a teacher pull her as I made her release her fingers off of my shirt.  The entire time, she’s screaming, and I’m fighting tears because it really does break my heart.  What does Ethan do?  He runs to his class, says hi to his teachers (which are different than the normal evening teachers), washes his hands, and goes to find a friend to play with.  

He’s the mellow, easy-going child, and she’s my slow-to-warm up, and terrified of me leaving her.  Tonight, even at bed time, she kept crying and screaming.  So, I had to sit with her until she fell asleep. I don’t think it helped that she refused to nap today.  She’s had some rough days since we’ve been home.  All of this just proves that I really need to continue taking her to hourly care so she remembers that I’m not going to be gone forever.  It’s just exhausting!  But, even with all of this, she even refused to go to Bible class on Wednesday night, and she had to come to class with me while I taught the Cradle Roll.  That was an adventure!

What do you do with an almost 2 1/2 yr old with separation anxiety!?  I’m sure it’s all deployment related, especially since she was ABSOLUTELY FINE before we went out of town for those 4 weeks.  But, during that time, I was with my kids 24/7.  No break at all.  So, she got used to me always being around again.  But, during that time, I just about lost my mind.  This mommy needs an occasional break from her precious angels!  

When people ask if we want more kids, I look at Lara and just laugh.  She’s my girl, but WOW!  If I had another with separation anxiety like this, I wouldn’t have any hair left by the time they moved past the stage, and I’d be as big as a house!  I’m a stress-eater, by the way, and when she does stuff like this, my stress level goes through the roof.  I just feel bad that she’s having a hard time and I don’t know how to make it better, which then leads to me getting stressed out.  

Have I mentioned how much I love deployments!?