Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Another phase: favoring one parent

My daughter has started the favor one parent over the other phase.
It's ok until she says she loves me and doesn't love Daddy. Daddy feels bad. He knows it's a phase but it's rough to hear your daughter say that.
Thankfully, 6 hours later, she'll say she loves him and that's he funny and he is a lot of fun but it still stings.
I know this phase will go back and forth for awhile. Thanks to reading like a bookworm, this is developmentally good and that she is developing independence and freedom and sense of self.
I try to tell her when she goes through these phases that Daddy and Mommy loves her very very much and just because she doesn't want to spend time with one of us now doesn't mean she doesn't love us.
We also started telling her that when she says things like that, it makes us sad. She seems to understand this very much. This morning, she ran to the bathroom door, knocked on it and immediately said, good morning to her Dad and said she was going to make breakfast with me. I think that's her way of saying she wants to spend time with me now.
I'm writing this now because I know one day she'll tell me that she doesn't want me and I need this as a reminder this is a phase.
For now, I shall be the hair comber, potty wiper, food feeder, boogie wiper and bather and cherish the sometimes smelly but special times together.