he started crying!
Yay!
Most parents hate to hear their babies cry, so you might wonder what's wrong with me that I was excited by this. The fact is that this was the first time Asher ever cried when I took something away. Normally he just looks for the next thing and couldn't care less.
You're probably still wondering what's wrong with me.
Let me be more specific. Once babies cry when an object is taken away it proves that they have achieved the concept of object permanence. Do you know object permanence? O.P. is a major neurological development that most babies achieve between 8 and 10 months old.
Simply put, it means that these tiny humans finally understand that when things disappear from their line of sight those things don't cease to exist.
Until object permanence kicks in babies believe that if they can't see it, it doesn't exist. They won't look for a hidden or dropped toy. The crying happens because they finally, finally realize that what was taken away still exists somewhere, just not with them. And that makes them mad!
This is huge! The fact that Asher has reached this milestone means his brain is on track developmentally.
Thus, the happiness over his crying!
However.
You know what else comes with object permanence? That's right. Separation anxiety.
That crying we are not so thrilled about.
Asher is having major separation issues these days. Last night he woke up for some reason at 11:30 and started crying. And crying. And crying.
He never wakes up at night anymore, so this was really strange. I went in to comfort him and see if there was some obvious problem. There wasn't. As soon as I picked him up he stopped crying. We rocked for awhile and he snuggled into my neck and instantly fell asleep. Once he was out I laid him down in his crib and his eyes popped open, he gave me the saddest look and burst into tears with his arms reaching up.
BREAK. MY. HEART.
As sad as it made me, I couldn't rock him all night, so I said good-night {over the wails} and headed back to bed.
Of course, I watched him over the monitor and when he didn't settle down after 10 minutes I sent Drew in to see what he could do. Seeing me tends to make situations like this exponentially worse, so I was trying to stay out of it.
Asher's cries lessened when the door opened, then got way louder when he saw that it was Drew. Daddy was not going to do last night! I had to go back over and do our rocking thing again. It was wonderful to be wanted, but I'm really hoping that tonight goes better - I'm not used to this interrupted sleep anymore! ha!
Then this morning at church we had to be called out of service to retrieve Asher from the nursery. He normally does great, but today he realized that the people working there are strangers and he wanted his mommy. I was happy to oblige. Poor little guy, he can't help it.
Extra hugs and kisses for Asher!
Asher is going through exactly what Parker went through and still kinda does. It's so hard to hear and see them cry but I continue to take him to the nursery at church and to the one at the gym and he keeps getting better at staying in them longer. It's a phase and will pass, just know that he will always need his Mommy. Such a nice feeling no matter how much sleep we lose, right?!? :)
ReplyDeleteOh girl, I'll I can say is I feel ya! Hope you have a better night tonight.
ReplyDeleteWe have seperation anxiety and stranger anxiety right now...needless, to say we're attached at the hip these days! The "please, don't go, momma" cries are the worst! Here's hoping that you both have a better night!
ReplyDeleteOh Man! Totally what's going on with Ethan the last week too! He wakes up randomly at aboiut 11:30 or 12 and cries and cries until I go in...I rock him and as soon as I lay him down he's up and upset :( During the day too! I cant walk more than 10 feet away or he freaks!
ReplyDeleteYay Asher on the OP and crying...lol. Ethan has been doing the hunt for the remote. We figured it would get him to scoot a couple weeks ago...so now he thinks its the best toy ever! If I hide it between the cushions he goes a hunting! lol. So cool! Our babies are developing :)
Jarrett is going through this exact same thing! I'm trying to teach him what "NO, NO" means. No luck. He keeps going up to my curtains & pulling them while in his walker. And, he is in this phase of spitting his food out when I feed him. He thinks its funny! He also woke up the other night just wailing crying. He doesn't have any teeth yet & I think that is causing a lot of problems. I wish he would get those teefers in!
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