BUT I'M ALL ALONE!!

The King does not like to be alone anymore. Not that he was ever trolling bars solo or out driving the open road searching for meaning – he can plan that excursion for his gap year. For months, as most babies are, he pretty much has not left my side barring the night or hour here or there I give him to complete strangers or leave him on a park bench outside my house. Just kidding, just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

So according to the experts on such matters, he is going through separation anxiety; in short, he has realized he is his own person and not physically attached to me, and when I leave the room he realizes he’s alone in the world…or alone in the living room. He’s eight months, not fully steeped in existentialism yet. Of course when I reenter the room he beams with relief and acts like rainbows shoot out of my eyes. Trust me, as annoying as it is to have him scream the house down at my departure, entering a room to this response is not half bad. Sometimes I leave just to reenter so I can see his face. Oh calm down, it’s not torturing him, the King loves the suspense.

So this phase of course got me thinking about the stages we go through as infants, and how remarkable it is that some of these phases seem to carry on throughout our lives. I mean, let’s be honest, I know some grown adults - ahem, men - still incapable of being on their own. The mere notion of being without company sends them screaming into throngs of people simply so that they are not alone with their thoughts. To be fair, women fall into this category as well, but I happen to know more women needing to seek refuge from those around them. Something tells me that a lifetime of hearing, "MOM where is my-...honey, have you seen-…why why why, but you said I could!!" throughout their lives drives them to hide in a dark deep closet with a box of chocolate in order to shut out the world.

So I suppose it is one of my goals to show the King how spectacular being alone can be. In fact, now at this age, I revel in it. Firstly, for the mere fact that there is no noise unless I create it. Then of course one is free to do pretty much whatever they choose to do. Read a book, take a bath, sit and watch your nails grow. It's alone time and that means anything goes, and the beauty of it is, no one is there to tell you what to do. Ahhh bliss. Okay, so at this point the King isn’t finding his activity triangle as riveting as the book I’m reading, but he'll get there. Baby steps of course.