Separation Anxiety

There seems to be some separation anxiety in the Cabe household.  But apparently I am the one who has it, not Jacob. 

Some of you might know that I am in a cooking group here in Clermont.  I don't think I have ever posted a blog about it, not sure why.  Anyway, it is a small group of international women who all love to cook.  Once a month we meet at someone's house and are introduced to recipes from that woman's country (or husband's country).  We start in the morning and cook together a three course meal, and then eat the food for lunch.  I am the resident American cook, and have shared recipes for pulled pork barbeque, homemade macaroni and cheese, biscuits, fresh corn salad, peach cobbler...  We have another American who is from New Orleans, so she shares a lot of creole cooking.  And her husband is of Cuban descent, so we get some good Cuban food thrown in as well.  I have also learned to cook Indian, Singaporean, Thai, Bolivian, Russian, and French cuisine.  I can honestly say that this cooking group, and the access to so many international women and cuisines, is something I am going to miss the most about living here.

Back to the separation anxiety.  When I hosted l'Atelier Culinaire at my house, it wasn't too hard with Jacob.  He wasn't mobile at that point and was content to either be passed from person to person, play on his Baby Einstein mat, and he also helped me out by taking a really long nap that morning.  Today's group was meeting at a French woman's home.  I had never been there before, so didn't know how newly-crawling-baby-safe it was, and honestly, I just wanted to fully enjoy and participate in the cooking.  Not worry about Jacob. 

I called my good friend Jen and asked her to babysit.  She had tennis, but could start at 10:30.  My next call was to a friend whose daughter is back for the summer after her first year of college.  Daniele agreed to cover from 9-10:30.  No problem.  Right?  Yep.  Until this morning when I started getting all flustered about the whole situation.  What if he starts pitching a fit?  He is normally happy-go-lucky, but when he gets upset, he gets UPSET.  Even Matthew and I have a hard time calming him down if he really gets going.  Would he nap?  He is such a creature of habit, would this change in routine throw him for a loop?  If he didn't nap, would he really be a terror for these two sweet women who are doing me this huge favor?  He is used to being with me everyday, all day.  Would he flip out when I walked out the door and didn't come back?  These and a million other questions/concerns were running through my mind.  As I left my sweet baby in the very capable hands of Daniele, I had to force myself to continue walking to the bus, and not turn around and run back to the apartment. 

About 100 texts later, I was feeling calmer, since apparently Jacob barely noticed I was gone...  I got back home around 2:30pm, and Jacob and Jen were happily playing on the floor.  I know I was super happy to see him, and I was rewarded with smiles and some snuggles.  Based on his 2 hr+ nap this afternoon, I need to find out what Daniele and Jen did to wear him out so much! 

Bottom line.  Mom survived.  And, Mom had an amazing French meal thrown into the deal (that included boeuf bourguignon and tarte tatin, mmmmm!).