Starting next month, Colin will be going to a Mother's (Father's in our case) Day Out program at Porter Memorial Church. To say I'm a ball of emotions is a huge understatement! While I'm excited to encourage him to play with others and meet new friends, I'm also scared to death that he's going to cry his eyes out and be miserable when we(Wes) leaves. I'm not expecting miracles, I realize on the first day that most kids will cry, but Colin has never stayed with anyone except me, Wes, and/or my mom. If he can't see one of the three of us at all times, you're going to hear about it! I just have to keep reassuring myself that this is for his own good and he needs to learn to be away from us and more importantly, learn to play with others. I also know that the teachers and other care givers at the church are not newbies, they've been down this road more times than I can count and I'm sure they've had many kids to cry when their parents leave. But none of them have been MY Colin! I'm just glad that Wes is the one who is going to drop him off and have to see the waterworks. I'm not sure I could leave him if he was crying. So someone please tell me you've been in my shoes and that it will get better!
In an attempt to begin this whole socialization process and begin to introduce him to playmates, he got to meet 2 new friends this weekend. The first was Silas. Our friends, Cara and Jason recently adopted Silas from China. He is almost 2 but is almost the exact same size as Colin. We took them dinner Saturday night and got to play a bit with him and their 2 girls, Madelyn and Caroline. Although they all played well, they all played separate. Colin was too busy discovering all the new toys and scouring to find the smallest pieces to put in his mouth (yes we have an issue with EVERYTHING going straight to the mouth). He was clingy towards me when we first got there but as soon as he was let loose in the toy room, he was just fine and didn't really even pay attention to Wes or I.
Sunday we went and played with my friend Angie's 2 little girls, Grace and Leah. Leah is about 6 months older than Colin but is very similar in disposition. Like Colin, Leah can't sit still for longer than 2 seconds. She is a daredevil and marches to the beat of a different drummer. I love their individuality though! Colin was more receptive to her, perhaps it's because he's such a flirt, but Leah wasn't so sure about someone else playing with HER toys. At one point she was sitting on the couch and Colin was over at her toy box. She spotted him and immediately started to get down off the couch, running towards him, while calling her big sister for backup! It was as if she was telling Grace, "Hey, we've got to protect our stuff from that intruder!" Colin was intrigued by her though and watched her intently while she was playing with some of her toys. I'm not sure if he thought she was cute or if he was learning from her. Nonetheless, it was refreshing again to see that he played well with others and didn't have to sit in my lap the whole time.
What I've learned is to put him amongst the toys and run like the wind to get out of sight - out of sight, out of mind...right?!! This is not going to be easy!
Colin will be fine. And you're right- he needs to be with other children. Most of the things Carter has learned from the children he's around are great and have helped with his own development. And you could do what I do when Carter cries- at least he LIKES me! Think of it like that because there have been some days that although he cried and didn't want me to leave, he cried when I picked him up because he was having way too much fun! I'll be thinking about you guys.
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