Dependency Issues

Chandler is usually a pretty independent boy. He doesn’t like to be held for too long. He’s always on the move. And you can set him down and he’ll play by himself for quite a while. In fact, Chandler’s favorite song is “Miss Independent” by Kelly Clarkson. 

Recently we’ve been noticing a new development in Chandler’s behavior. The lone wolf is not always so happy being away from the pack anymore. When Mommy has to leave and he’s stuck playing with Daddy, Chandler will start to freak out. He’ll bust into tears and start crawling after her. At first I was a little offended by this. Am I not a fun play mate? What’s she got that I don’t have?

Oh yeah…breaststesses. But so what? We use bottles all the time when Mommy isn’t home and he loves it. Maybe I just need to duct tape the bottles to my chest so he can always be reminded that Mommy isn’t the only one with access to milk. 

I have however noticed that Chandler’s dependency issues don’t only apply to Mommy. The other day when I was taking care of him he was in a jumperoo, jumping to his heart’s delight, when I decided this was a perfect moment for a “quick” bathroom break. As I walked out of his line of sight, he suddenly started crying. I quickly jaunted back to see what was up and he gave me a big smile. Seeing that he was okay I headed back to the bathroom. Again he shrieked in anguish. I came back and he smiled. To resolve this issue I moved his jumperoo over in front of the bathroom door so he could see me while I did my business.

Nothin’ more weird than your 6 month old son smiling at you while you drop a deuce. 

As Chandler develops it has been fun to see how he recognizes the people in his life. Whenever Grandma, Grandpa, and his Uncle come over Chandler gets a huge smile of recognition. He does the same thing when I come home from work. He seems to really like having people around. The other day a friend of mine stopped by for a visit and for the first few minutes Chandler just stared at him almost as if he was studying him. Occasionally he’d look back at us as if to say, “Does this guy check out?” After the vetting process was over Chandler was very playful with our friend. 

It’s nice to see Chandler’s social skills developing, I just don’t want him to get to a point where every time one of us leaves he goes ballistic. So I’ve decided to solve this problem by making life-size robotic replicas of Ashley and I. I don’t have all the details ironed out yet, but I do know you’ll be able to put a cassette tape into the back of the robot and it will read books on tape out loud to your kid. I’ll call it the Daddy Ruxpin.

If you know anyone who’s really good at making robots and is willing to be paid in empty Mt. Dew cans (five cent deposit!) let me know.