Jake Gyllenhaal explains "separate"

Thanks for the illustration, Sesame Street. I found this video amusing and quite topical for me as a stay-at-home mom who sometimes finds it difficult to separate from Levi.

The first time I ever felt separate from him was a few weeks after he was born. Andy, Levi and I went to Target to pick up some who-knows-what. Right when we got in the store, Levi decided it was snack time and daddy offered to take him back to the car and feed him a bottle of pumped milk. I'd take care of the shopping. When they walked away and left me by the shopping carts, I just stood there. I didn't know what I was doing, where I was going, what I was looking for. I realized it was the first time in almost a year that I was in a public place without my baby either inside me or next to me.

Fast-forward another year, I'm still learning to separate from him more easily. Yesterday was one of the few times Levi has left the house without me or his daddy. My mother-in-law whisked him off for lunch and some play while I caught up on work and finished some house-selling business. It was wonderful to see him excited to see her, have him go get buckled in the car without me and go to a new place without me. And yet, when they left, I stood at the door and didn't know what to do. What's he doing right now? Is he fussing? Is he having fun? Is he walking or crawling? Is he getting into things he shouldn't be doing?

I know there will come a day when he'll be separate from me more often than not. He'll go play with his friend across the street or he'll get on a school bus without me. He'll go to high school and college without me, and I won't know what he's doing every minute. This must be another one of those things that other mothers don't warn you about! Or maybe they figure it'll make sense once you get there. In the meantime, I'll enjoy the time I have my boy all to myself.