Changes

I'm writing this tonight in hopes that I will be able to look back on this period of time and understand it someday.  The past two weeks have been rough... really rough.  For some reason, Emma has become extremely clingy and fearful.  The only change we can think of is that she started preschool, but she absolutely loves it and is excited to go.  We've talked to lots of other parents that have said that their children have gone through the same kinds of things after starting school, so we're hopeful that with time she will adjust and relax a bit.

To give you an idea of what we've been dealing with, two weeks ago Monday, she woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream.  She was completely convinced that a bad man was coming to take her away.  It took us at least an hour to get her calmed down and then we were back and forth numerous times after that.  Since that time, she has always gone to sleep in her own room but has only slept one night the entire night there.  Almost every single night she ends up in our room.  We won't let her sleep with us (I know some of you think that is horrible), but she brings her blanket and pillow and sleeps on the floor. At least that way we are all getting to sleep most of the night.  Before we let her sleep on our floor, she was up multiple times and would cry and freak out if we even attempted to leave the room.

Even getting her to bed sometimes is a chore.  Most of the time she does okay as long as she's assured that we are in the next room, but tonight she has gone on and on with questions like:  "Is the door locked?  Don't go downstairs.  Are you up here?  What are we doing tomorrow?  No one can get in?  Are you still there?"  It's exhausting!  I can't even go tidy up downstairs because she will freak out.

Not only is her sleep way off, she won't leave my side!  She's is completely fine going to preschool and hardly glances at me when I drop her off and is her normal happy, outgoing self.  She goes to Primary without any issues.  We go to Stay and Play and she will play and interact with others and have no issues leaving my side, but if we are home... watch out.  I can't leave a room without her asking me where I'm going or having her follow me.  If we are in the van and I even step outside the van without her, she completely melts down - screaming, flopping around, etc.  It's not pretty!

I am really, REALLY hoping that she will return to being her happy, secure self soon.  I hope that we can figure out a way to make her feel safe and and secure.  I feel so lost as to what to do for her.  I can only hold her on my lap for so many hours a day, especially when Ben demands a turn!  So there you go... if you have any suggestions for us, we're open to them!