Irony in the End

Nolan's Crown for His Summer Birthday Celebration at School Last Week.

By some miracle, my oldest went to nursery school without a hitch today.  You'd think I wouldn't be worried about clinging-crying-anxious problems on the very last day of school.  That's the type of challenge I was expecting to face in the first week of school, but here I am struggling with separation issues in the last leg of the course.  Coincidentally, the first week and the subsequent three or four months went off without incident.  He was eager to bid his mother farewell at the door.  He would hurry into the action --project making, dress-up, building-- with hardly a glance in my direction.  And that may have been emotion-wrenching for me, but it was also satisfying and easy.  My boy was grown up.  Prepared.  Ready to take on the world. 

And then something happened.  Regression happened.  Halfway through the school year, my boy began to exhibit symptoms of separation anxiety.  At first, he would state before I left that he simply wanted me to stay.  I would calmly explain that school was for kids and I would be back in just a few hours to pick him up.  With that assurance, he would be as merrily on his way as I was on mine.  All would have been fine at that point, but the anxiety amplified.  He would get stomach aches (real or feigned, I could never be sure).  He would stop at the door and refuse to move forward.  He needed another adult to help him (stay) at the window to wave as I (both quickly and cautiously) made my exit.  The climax was just last week when his teacher had to peal him (flailing and crying) from my legs and hold him until I was gone. 

So we prepped him.  We were all determined to at least make it through the very last day in a dignified manner. Even Nolan asked in his prayer last night for help going to school.  He understood that it would be his last chance to play with friends, see his teachers, and have a brother-less morning.  In addition, they had arranged for a school bus to transport them to the local elementary school where they would be taking a tour.  If Nolan didn't think this was an amazing opportunity, Gerret did and perhaps in an effort not to let his brother be more excited than he was, he really truly acted eager for the bus ride.  And it worked.  One day without anxiety.  Like I said before --a small miracle.