Mommy's Lap is MINE!!!!!!

The past 2 weeks have been somewhat of a trial with C. Clearly we are in a testing phase right now and it is obvious C is starting to figure out that having a Mommy and Daddy is great most of the time, but it also means he faces restrictions and consequences he is not used to facing. During these times, he clearly thinks he can just say, "No Mommy and Daddy for me right now, thank you!". When this doesn't work, he becomes quite angry, to say the least, and really wants nothing to do with us. We know this type of behavior is normal for any 2 year-old, After all, there is a reason this year in a child's life is labeled " the terrible two's". The difference in this case is this: we are fairly confident our son could win a tantrum contest if one actually existed. And on top of that, we know he has the right (to some degree) to be throwing the tantrum.

Anyway, the point of all of this is actually positive. All of this bad behavior and tantrum-throwing has made me feel quite deflated. I have missed C wanting to be held. I actually felt like maybe we are regressing. Even worse, I have had moments of panic, fearing maybe C is not really attaching to us (even though I know logically that this is not true and that he IS attaching very well).

Well, yesterday, something wonderful happened. One of my girls was sitting on my lap and C was in the room playing. As soon as he noticed his sister was on my lap, he came right over and pushed her and said "MY lap!", and then proceeded to climb up and sit on my lap. He even waited (and cuddled with me) until she left the room to get down to play again. This behavior from any of my other kids would have frustrated me, as obviously jealously is not a trait we encourage in our kids, but I was thrilled when C did this. He clearly knows his place here now and feels confident that I belong to him.

He WANTS to be the baby- MY baby.