I Wuv Nursery! (says Chayse)

Well Chayse finally did it! He went to nursery the whole time without me there! Though I had to tell a little lie to get him to stay. Is that okay to lie in church so you can get to your classes? I guess thats something that will be discussed at the pearly gates at a much later time. For now..it works! :)

I think that since we started going back to church when Chayse was 2 1/2...he was a year behind all the others who had started when they were 18 months. The first couple times he went okay, but we only stayed for half the time because we had to leave early for various reasons. Then all the sudden he started freaking out. We wondered what had happened and all he could explain was that it was dark in there. It just seemed to get worse..as soon as the closing prayer ended and the music started..he automatically started to shake and cry and say, " Cant want to go to nursery Mommy..Cant want to go!". It was so sad and sometimes hard to handle as he was screaming bloody murder. It got to the point that we wondered if we should even mess with going to anymore than sacrament. I just felt it was important to keep trying though..and I guess it paid off!

Over the course of this last month it went from him needing me the whole time, to him letting me leave a little bit, to letting me leave halfway through..to today..where he went the whole time and didn't need me one bit. When the music started after the prayer..he got a scared look and started to sniffle but just said he wanted me to take him. I took him in and he started to play and I told him I had to go get a drink, and he said ok and I left. I guess he only asked for me once! Im so proud of him because it really was a huge step for him to be able to do that!

I need to give a huge thanks to Jenny and Jacque who helped him out in nursery so much! Jacque, our neighbor and good friend, offered to come to nursery because he felt comfortable with her and she stayed the whole time for a few weeks. She wanted so bad for Chayse to be able to stay the whole time and for me to be able to go to class. She totally didn't have to stay and miss her own class, but she did. I know it really helped for him to feel more comfy there! Thank you Jacque..he obviously adores you..specially when he tells me at 11pm when he WONT go to sleep, that he wants you to come lay by him!

Jenny is Chayse's nursery teacher and another friend of mine. She started coming to our playgroup a few weeks ago and Chayse has gotten to know her and feels very comfortable with her as well. She told him yesterday she didn't want him to cry when he came to nursery today, because it would make her sad. When we were almost to nursery Chayse stopped whimpering and said, " I not be sad for Jenny." Thank you Jenny for helping to encourage him to come. He really likes you a lot and loves to see you!

To some this may not seem like such a huge thing, but for him it was. I think he has a little bit of social anxiety at times, and when he hasn't ever been watched by family except once or twice...it's a huge step for him to put his comfort in someone else's hands. Good job Chaysers!