BluElephant
One day she’ll be a teenager, she’ll come home and close her door and close me out. She’ll be frighteningly beautiful and condescending, she’ll wear the clothes she sneaks out of the house in her bag, and she’ll think she is smarter than her dad and me. She won’t want to talk to me or hug me or kiss me. I’ll look at her and know though – that underneath my surly teen is my girl who loves her parents and relies on them.
That’s all in the future – today my Bunny can’t possibly get enough of her mama.
Mommy-itis – she’s got it bad.
I’m about to take off on another short business trip and I know she’ll be fine, in fact she’s less susceptable to the mommy-itis when I’m not around.
Bunny’s always been mama’s girl but the past few weeks she’s had a serious case of mommy-itis – whenever I’m in the house she must be with me – if I’m cooking or otherwise busy she must be held by me, if she’s busily playing I must be in eyesight.
Dada’s efforts to pick her up get a ‘No-no-no-no,’ only mommy will do.
Frankly it’s exhausting. She’s still on the small side but lugging around a toddler at any weight is exhausting. The constant demands are draining – not being able to hand her off for a few minutes without ensuing screams and tears is frustrating.
I don’t know if we’re handling it right – about half the time if I’m cooking or something I’ll pick her up and about half the time I’ll let her cry. I explain why I can’t pick her up – ‘momma has to use the knife now – I can’t hold you while I’m working at the stove…’ but I don’t even know if she’s paying attention or just working on the crumpling to the floor maneuver she’s perfected.
When I do pick her up I make her say ‘up please’ first (sounds like ‘uaa-peas!’) and I try to distract her and get her down and playing within a few minutes… not always successfully.
Why might she be feeling this way? I don’t know, there’s a new girl at day care, and we did spend a weekend travelling recently but are either of those enough to spark the cling fest? I’m worried that this trip will send her over the deep end in the mommy-itis category – 3 days with dad only…
Any great ideas for dealing with mommy-itis? Or is my best bet hanging in and hanging on as long as I can knowing that one day she’ll be a teenager?
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You always manage to write about what is troubling me the most… my lil kitten is about the same…i do the same.. if you figure out how best to handle it b4 i do… pls post
hugs
Thanks Fatema! Still working on an answer – but it turns out it’s totally normal and they’ll grow out of it eventually (like in a few years)… Parenting teaches patience, and in the meantime my biceps look great!