Separation Anxiety From Everyone

Sorry to all for dropping the ball on posting. I decided I was going to have to cut back in order to make all ends meet at Christmas time. I'll have to work on getting some holiday pictures posted soon.

I thought I'd post this quickly as I've just returned from retrieving Lucas from his first overnight at a friends' house. Ok, I know the kid is almost 11 but this is a big first for all of us. The first time he has spent a night away from Eli. The first time he went to a non relatives' home without any of us. The first time he was totally on his own to communicate with people who had not been around him much. The first time he had to mind his manners and remember the lessons he's learned. Guess what? The kid did amazing! His friends' mom was very impressed with his manners and how he knew that he wasn't allowed to watch certain videos. Yeah!

Unfortunately the rest of us didn't survive his foray into independence as well. I nearly had a panic attack after I dropped him off, I had to call Lynn and have her tell me it would be ok. Eli was even less thrilled when he finally got it through his head that Lucas would not be coming home at bedtime. He kept asking if I was sure. At 9:00 he asked if he could sleep with us....again a big step as he had never slept anywhere without Lucas. Alison called later in the evening and found out that Lucas was at his friends. She totally forgot to talk about what she called for because she was stressing also asking if I was sure. Our friend, Chris, called and she too did several checks to see if we'd heard anything.....she called this morning too. What can I say these boys have a whole lot of people stressing on their behalf and a few of us need to loosen the strings. Luckily, Lucas and Eli are very good at stretching into new territory.

I think we are all taking a nap this afternoon. Lucas informs me that he didn't sleep last night....he kind of looks like it, I didn't sleep well....Eli spins like a top in his sleep when he wasn't patting my arm to wake me up and check to see if I was OK!

Mike was talking this morning. He said, "Did you ever think a year ago that either one of the boys would reach this point where Lucas was brave enough to voluntarily handle new situations for an extended time and Eli would be able to handle his world on his own without Lucas?" Now if their family and friends can handle it....that is the question!