"He must be a handful!"

Will the real MJ please stand up? Apparently he likes to switch personalities...at say, the church nursery. Our little guy is one seriously happy dude in my opinion. He is usually all smiles around the house, is great with his babysitter, is wonderful running errands with us, etc. But both our pediatrician and now the nursery workers at church have given us that "He must be a handful!" comment. He makes it perfectly clear that he does not like going to the doctors office. He even cries if he goes into any doctor's office, when it doesn't even involve him. I don't know if he's just associated it with procedures, shots, etc. or what but he hates it. He typically cries from the moment the nurse walks in the room until his clothes are put back on and he's headed to the car. Well, this past weekend we took him to the church nursery. This was the 2nd time for him. The first time actually went well, so we were feeling pretty optimistic. This time though he started crying as soon as I set him down. We were tough though and walked away, and I dried my few tears on the way to our seats. However, about 20 minutes into the church service, our number flashed upon the screen. The nursery workers give you a number so that if they need you to come to the nursery, this is how they "page" you. So, off Mat went and sure enough MJ hadn't stopped screaming. Three other little babies were crawling around on the floor all independently and our little guy was just beside himself...all splotchy and snotty! Mat ended up just staying with him in the nursery rocking him and trying to get him to play, but each time he sat him down he just cried and cried. I don't really know how to handle it. I don't want to give up. It's certainly not realistic to think that we can never leave him in the nursery again. But, it sure is hard leaving him like that and if you have to spend the church service with him in the nursery, then really what's the point after all? I definitely find the humor in it all, but I must admit it's frustrating that others don't always see what I see in my happy, playful little boy. :( Is this just normal separation anxiety and doctor fear?

In happier news, today MJ got to spend a few hours with his babysitter. She took him to the park and then they were having a dance party in the living room when I walked in. It was so cute and he was all hot and sweaty from having so much fun! Then, he took a nice long nap so mama could get lots of school work done. :)

See, he's not REALLY a handful!