Mommy's boy

Jack has always had phases where he seems to prefer either Tom or me. In his Daddy phases, he would cry when Daddy would go to work and be happy as a clam just hanging out with his main man. Right now, however, he is definitely a Mommy's boy. More than he's ever been, which is really surprising. He cries when I leave; he'll cling to me if I try to give him to Tom; he'll take my hand and lead me to wherever he wants to go, even if it's activities he used to only do with Daddy. Our morning routine used to be: Jack wakes, Daddy gets him out of his crib and brings him to Mommy for a morning cuddle (*ahem*nurse*ahem*), then Jack and Daddy go downstairs for some male bonding before Daddy goes to work while Mommy catches a couple more minutes of sleep.

That last bit was my favorite part of the morning routine.

Now, however, Jack doesn't want his one-on-one time with Daddy. He wants Mommy to come downstairs with them. But Mommy's tired. Mommy needs more sleep.

Of course, it's not all hardship on my side. Jack has turned into such a cuddlebug with me, and it's pretty sweet. He holds me tight around my neck when I carry him. He gives me kisses when I ask for them at least 25 percent of the time, which is a vast improvement from the usual "NO!!" and swipe that I usually get. He tells me he loves me. He constantly calls for "Mommy!", which at this point is novel enough to me to still be endearing.

And tonight, the unprecedented happened: Jack actually initiated his bedtime routine. Usually, I'll start the ball rolling by reciting Sandra Boyton's "Going To Bed Book," to which Jack's typical response is "No!!" Tonight, however, we were just nuzzling, and he said to me, out of the blue, "Night-night. Night-night, Mommy." This has NEVER happened. So, seizing the moment, I started reciting those familiar lines, "The sun has set not long ago..." and he said them along with me. He gave me a kiss and said "Yuh-yoo!" back to me when I told him I loved him. Then Tom took him up to his room and put him to bed. Tom reported that, while he was singing Jack his lullabies, our darling baby sang along.

Aww, that's Mommy's boy.