Playmate of the Year - NOT!!!

I get lots of emails from assorted sources who are eager to share with me all the things going on inside the brain of my {13 MONTH – WEEK TWO} toddler.

This week's email begins with this little sentence: “At this point you're still your child's favorite playmate.”

Excuse me? Playmate?

Wrong!

I am his favorite plaything.

I am his jungle gym, his snack dispenser, his entertainment center. One stop shopping, that’s me. Want a snack? Want a cuddle? Want to enjoy a thrill ride (I make a great roller coaster, complete with ‘whoosh!’ noises)? Want to snuggle down and be sung to sleep?

Gotcha covered.

They also informed me that {gasp, shock!} he is a touch on the self-absorbed side at this stage in his development.

No, really?!

I never would have guessed.

He does not share toys well. He does not permit interlopers to take over his mommy, either – if a sister attempts to sit on my lap he will yell, scream, shove, attempt to bite, and otherwise make it extremely clear that this mommy has one (1) owner. So bug off, squatter!

It’s all about me, myself, and I. And I own this woman.

We, the Denizens, are gentle but firm on this point. Sisters have equal rights to mommy-time. Sisters are permitted to sit on mommy’s lap, have their owies kissed by mommy’s lips, and definitely may tell mommy their stories, woeful and otherwise. They may show off their incredible talents as artists, they may hug, kiss, and rest against me whenever they feel the need.

They too are my babies, and incredibly, I love them all equally. I never really believed my own mother when she said this (I always suspected her of loving my brother, you know, more…mostly because he was a) cuter and b) easier to be around than yours truly), but I’m finding it true with my own. I love each and every one of them just the same, and like to take advantage of the fact that they are still young enough to enjoy a cuddle on the sofa with dear old Mom.

Captain Adventure does not agree with this. As Supreme Commander of the Entire Universe, he is perplexed and angered by our disobedience.

But he is learning. Every day, in little tiny baby steps, he is learning. He’s learning that sisters can be allies as well as rivals; that mommy doesn’t stop loving him just because she loves sisters, too; that the world has a lot of other people in it, the Not Mommies and Not Daddies and Not Sisters that flit and float through his world.

He’s still trying to control it all, trying to be the Center. But someday all too soon he’ll decide that it’s all too much, pass off the reins of Supreme Commander to Mommy and Daddy (who darned straight had better be in charge because otherwise this thing is just WAY too big to be safe!) and settle into the more comfortable preschooler role of Vital Member of the Posse.

I just hope he’ll forgive me if I scream and cry for my mommy sometimes, when it all becomes too much for me…