Guess who is playing together!?

I keep finding these two together in the playroom "playing" (if you could call it that). Sophie is starting to get more interested in playing with Brent and doing what he is doing. Scott and I keep finding them side by side, kneeling next to each other at the kitchen. The scary part is, is that they look like they are the same size! Someone asked us at church on Sunday if they were twins... Sophie is big, but I didn't think she was the size of a TWO year old! I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Having kids 15 months apart has made me C-R-A-Z-Y but the benefits are starting to manifest themselves. It is crazy to think I'll always have a 1st grader and a 2nd grader, a 15 yr old and a 16 yr old, a junior and a senior in high school, BUT I think they are gonna love each other. :)

Today I attempted to take them to the daycare at the gym. It did not end up going too well. Brent screamed the ENTIRE time (no one came to get me which doesn't make me happy), and I'm sure Sophie fed off of his hysterics. That good old mothers intuition kept bugging me to go check on them, so finally 20 minutes into my workout I went in the kids club area. Sophie's shirt was SOAKED with tears and Brent's eyes were swollen, he had been crying so long. I was ticked off that they didn't come get me (they promised if they cried more than 5 minutes they would come get me) but it was also hard to see that ALL the other kids were happy campers. There were kids EVERYWHERE and they were all laughing and playing. The only two kids crying in the entire place? Yeah. Those would be mine.

All you seasoned mothers- I need help! I don't know what to do! Brent still won't go to nursery. His separation anxiety is OUT OF CONTROL. His teacher that comes once a week for speech therapy is surprised that he freaks out still with her. All I have to do is say "Miss Sella is here" on Friday mornings, and it sends him into a tail spin. His lip starts quivering, his face shrivels up, and he starts the most pitiful cry you've ever seen. He knows that when Miss Sella comes, I have to leave. (I just leave the room, but I'm still in the house). So now, he equates her coming with me leaving. She is WONDERFUL with him and he ends up having fun- but those first 10 minutes are insane. She works through his crying because she is getting PAID to do it, she is a professional, and it is her JOB. But people in the nursery at church? I don't blame them. He cries for 5 minutes, and they come and get me. Same with a babysitter- I can't leave him with someone KNOWING good and well he will scream the entire time. So we are at a loss as to what to do. I know the solution to his separation anxiety is for me to LEAVE him and for him to learn that I will come back. He is fine being left with family that he knows and loves, but that is not helping out the separation anxiety. Should I just not worry about it and not force him to go places that scare him? Will he just grow out of it? Or do I force him to stay in a strange place (like the kids club at the gym) even though the ladies there can't stand him?! (When I picked him up from the gym they were so rude. They said, in the most arrogant tone, "Do your kids act like this ALL the time? Do they cry like this at home?" Ticked me off!)

Fun times. I guess I should enjoy that he wants me with him 24/7 because in a few years he will probably think I'm a loser! I'm sure when he is 10, he'll be saying "Mom, go away!!" OR AT LEAST I HOPE! Right now, everywhere I go, he comes up next to me, lifts up his little hand, and goes "HAND! HAND!" We're hand holding buddies. It's pretty cute. Except he doesn't like to hold hands when we are anywhere close to a busy street. Go figure.