The Breeders: Separation Anxiety...for Mama

The Kid is going through what all the websites and books say is a developmentally appropriate period of separation anxiety right now.

The down side, is that while I am home it is an absolute travesty if I need to go to the bathroom or eat, you know, those things that sustain life. The good side is that The Kid is very cuddly. The child who used to never rest his head on our shoulder for fear that he miss out on anything is giving honest-to-goodness hugs, you know, those other things that sustain life.

Luckily, he is getting ever closer to walking (I know I've been saying he is "this close," for a while, but it a pretty complicated set of skills when you think about it) so he can be distracted by practicing being bipedal - usually. Unfortunately, I've been walking for quite some time and so I'm not as easily distracted from my own case of parental separation anxiety.

Next week I have to travel for work. I'll be gone for three nights - four of The Kid's bedtimes - and I'm not looking forward to it. I've known this trip was coming up since I went back to work, and back then it seemed like it was really far in the future. I'd be travelling the week after The Kid's first birthday - eons away!

Not so much. The Kid turns one on Saturday.

Back then I was kind of looking forward to it. It's evidence of my new responsibilities at work, I'm travelling to a city I've never been to during a lovely time of year, the conference I'm attending should be pretty interesting, and (to be quite honest) I may actually get a full night's sleep. But now, that sleep doesn't seem quite as important.

Thankfully, I'm travelling with our organization's president. While that might not sound like barrels of fun for most folks, I'm taking solace in the fact that she too is a mom and will have pointers for making it through the trip. First question: is it better to look at pictures on my phone to get a fix or are they just going to be little emotional booby traps?