Daddy's boy

Some days I seem to be flavour of the month with Oliver. But that's not all good news. Unfortunately, sometimes after I have been carrying him or holding him, when I pass him over to Hayley he will start to whinge and reach out to come back to me. It's terribly upsetting and unfair on Hayley who dotes on him, plays with him, feeds him, takes him out & about and generally sees to his every need all day!

A couple of possible reasons spring to mind. First of all, being out all day gives Daddy novelty value when he comes home. We are also wondering whether it is because Daddy doesn't tend to be around so much for those nasty jobs like getting changed, having a wash in the morning or persuading him to try new food, but often has the luxury of spending the fun hour before bedtime with him instead.

He's very happy with Hayley all the time I'm not around. And on the few occasions he becomes clingy with me he is fine with her once he realises I am not going to pick him up again. And make no mistake, he gets just as grizzly with me as he ever does with Hayley. Hayley can also make him laugh much more than I can. Nevertheless, I can see this undeserved rejection understandably hurts her.

I personally suspect that this is just a phase. I have a colleague at work whose daughter is exactly the same but in his case it's Mummy who is flavour of the month, not Daddy.

And I certainly don't have everything my way either. Oliver cuddles and kisses his Mummy but consistently just shakes his head when I ask for a kiss! Maybe he thinks he's too big a boy to kiss his Daddy already!