Our 2-year-old calls for me (dad) for almost everything. Nightmare in the night? Dad. Need to put on shoes? Dad? Need to be picked up? Dad. Mom tries to do something? No, dad!
I don’t mind this. And I know the phase will end, and I will miss it.
But it seems to be really hurting my wife. I think she also knows, deep down, that it’s just a phase and that it’s nothing she is doing wrong. But I can see in her eyes that she feels that our daughter loves her less than she loves me.
Any advice? Neither one of us wants to force our daughter to show affection to anyone. But any ideas how to make mom feel more included/wanted?
We had a version of this, but with roles reversed. A friend suggested that we choose some part of the routine that I always do. So, I started doing bedtime each night. It was hard for a while, because our daughter complained that she wanted mom (for everything). But we suffered through the complaining for a while, and eventually it became a great time for the two of us. It’s turned into a good foundation for our relationship.
Thanks! That’s a good idea.