parent advice: playing favorites

[metaphortunate]

Alas. I fear it can no longer be denied. After two blessed years of the Junebug being equally fond of both parents, dammit, he has decided to pick a favorite.

I am personally convinced that this is sheer fuckery motivated by the desire to demand that the 7.5-month pregnant woman be the one to haul his nearly 30-lb butt up the stairs several times a day, despite the presence nearby of a perfectly good daddy, plus obviously my enormous and fragile belly is the one he needs to jump on during weekend mornings when we get to laze about in bed for a few minutes. But it's no fun for Mr. E either; as he says, how come you get the cuddles and I get to unclog the toilet?

Have y'all dealt with this? Has it been temporary? Has it switched back and forth? Any advice?

Comments

[jrtom]

It totally changes, and often for no readily apparent reason. Mostly there isn't a particularly obvious preference, though. When there is, it can depend on what they want at a given time (e.g., Mommy is more about art--which they really enjoy--and Papa is more about playing computer games with them--which they also enjoy, but differently).

[metaphortunate]

Yeah, I think it's easing up - this evening when the Junebug heard the front door open, he yelled "Dada!" and ran out of the kitchen to go hug Mr. E. That made us all very happy. :)