Eamon's World

Well, folks, we have finally gotten to that stage: the attachment stage. The stage where Eamon wants everything to stay exactly as it is right now and doesn't want anything to ever change. Of course, his right now changes constantly, so what he wants changes, too.

What I mean is this: if you are the person holding/cuddling/playing with Eamon, he wants you to be the person holding/cuddling/playing with him forever. The longer that you hold/cuddle/play with him, the more attached he grows and the stronger his sentiments when he is expected to go to someone else.

I get up every morning with Eamon, and after having breakfast and getting him dressed, we hang out. This involves watching sign language videos, cleaning the kitchen, exploring the house, etc.. And some mornings, it involves me holding him almost non-stop while I wander around the house doing things (his decision; sometimes he's just more clingy than others). He is perfectly happy, because he has his Mommy, and he never wants that to change.

Then my mother comes to pick him up around 7:15. He is happy to see her, but no, he does not want her to hold him. No, Grandma, Mommy is holding me. He is Mommy's boy and would be content to just stay that way all day long.

Of course, we manage to detach him from me and get him in the car anyway. Once in the car, he sort of accepts his fate and happily goes back to Grandma's house, where he plays with her all day long. They run errands together and have a grand ole time. And to Eamon, that is perfect. He never wants that to change. He loves Grandma, and Grandma is the only person he could ever need in his entire life.

Until Grandpa shows up. He loves Grandpa because Grandpa is awesome. They pry him off my mother and off he goes with Grandpa, and he's very happy with that, and nothing ever needs to change...

And then Mommy comes to pick him up from work. He has no interest in going home with me, because he is with his grandparents and that's fine with him. He clings to my mother or my father and sometimes pretends to cry when I insist on holding him. But once I whisk him out the door and buckle him in the carseat, he's fine. We go home, and hang out, and I am once again the center of his universe until Daddy gets home. Because I usually haven't seen him very long at this point, Eamon is happy to go to Daddy, and as long as we are both around, he will easily go back and forth between the two of us.

Don't worry--the bottle was sealed shut. I would never give my baby Diet Coke to drink (he prefers Mountain Dew).

But on the weekends when Daddy gets up with him so that Mommy can sleep, he is Daddy's boy, and only Daddy's boy. When I finally get up, he has little interest in Mommy until we finally convince him that I am okay, too, and then he is happy to be part of a 3-person family unit again.

And the same thing happens when his Oma and Opa come to visit. They pick him up, he warms up and gets attached, and then gets very confused when he is expected to go back to Mommy and Daddy after they leave on Saturday. Mommy who? Daddy what?

So even though it might break my heart just a bit when I go to pick him up in the evening and he cries and lunges to get back in the arms of his Grandma, I just remind myself that soon enough we will get home, we will start playing and hugging and cuddling, and I will once again be the center of his universe.