Separation Anxiety

How oh how does it happen? Today I went for my workout at the Family Y with only Dawson in tow. We entered the nursery and for the first time ever (he's been going since he was 8 weeks old), he looked at me with fear in his eyes, grabbed my shirt, poked out his lip and raised a whimper that melded into a cry.

"What's wrong?" I asked as he turned into me and held on tight. How does it happen that one day he loves it and the next day he looks around in total fear of separation?

I handed him to the helper, waved goodbye and walked away. I had a tinge of guilt - a brief moment of pondering what a terrible mother I must be to leave my crying baby. That quickly passed into what little bit of wisdom I've managed to gain through my five years of child rearing. I knew that he would stop crying before I even made it down the hall. I knew that if he didn't, someone would come and get me. I knew that he's only one and no permanent damage was done.

When I walked in to pick him up he was happily playing away. "Hi Dawson!" His eyes lit up and those endearing dimples appeared. He dropped everything and crawled as fast as he could into my arms. Oh, how I love those hugs!