Spoke too soon...

The crying at playgroup drop-off has begun *sob*

Yesterday morning, we told Jamie about going to his special playgroup, and he seemed happy about it, talking about playing on the slide with the boys and girls. In the car on the way there, he was still fine, but as we pulled up, his little face fell into a huge pout and he said, "want to go home". We went into the foyer to wait for them to open the doors, and he was clearly not happy about being there, asking to go back in the green van. I took him in and kissed him goodbye, and he started crying, really sobbing :( His key person gave him a cuddle and I left as quickly as possible. When I picked him up, they said he'd been fine - although still not sitting still for stories, and still going into the bathroom to play with the taps whenever they turned their backs.

So I was very apprehensive about dropping him off today, although I did try and be really positive about it to him. He started wailing as soon as we got inside, and once again I had to leave him crying, which was really hard. Another mum, who I know fairly well, came out and said he'd settled down fine and was playing with her daughter, which was nice to hear. When I went to pick him up at lunchtime, they said he'd been really good today, had settled fine, no more crying and had followed all the rules about sitting down, etc. I was really happy to hear that he'd been good, as I was starting to worry a bit that he was causing them trouble - running around when he should have been sitting down, etc.

I've decided that it's best if I walk him to playgroup each day - that way I can time it so that I arrive bang on 9am and we can go straight in - instead of getting there early when we drive and having to wait around (necessary in order to get a parking space). I think I also need to accept that he'll probably cry most of the time when I drop him off for a good while. It's not as though he's going every day - it's only Thurs and Fri, so there's a long gap in between the days he attends. As long as he's fine once I've gone, then I think it's pretty normal and probably happens with most kids.

I still feel that starting playgroup now is a good thing for him, in order to ease him in gradually to being away from me. It's just so hard leaving him crying and walking away.