Baby steps

"Mommy, I love you," is probably the sweetest thing a 2-year old can say. Of course, if it is then followed by a rotten blond boy wiping snot on your sweater, you are probably at the Pind house. Normally Cooper is daddy's boy through and through, but lately, he has been a snuggly momma's boy, and I don't mind -- snot and all!

"I love you, Mommy," at my house is usually followed by, "but I'm Daddy's boy," but lately Cooper has been all mommy, all the time. If I go to do laundry, he has to be right there helping me by telling the clothes night-night and flipping the little button on the dryer off and on. If I have to (God forbid) go the bathroom, he is right there with me. Even if I'm quick and get the door shut on him, he stands in the hallway and yells, "Mommy, where are you?" until I answer, and then he sticks his little chubby hands under the doors and waves.

If I'm cooking dinner, he has taken the dog's spot right between my legs while I stand at the stove. He sits there with a truck until I move to the sink, and then he sits between my legs there. We snuggle up at night and watch television together, read stories and play dinosaurs and cars.

The only time he is not mommy-obsessed is when he is playing Batman. I'm told that I don't play Batman right and only Daddy is allowed to play.

The only downside to this new, snuggly momma's boy is that now if he wakes up in the middle of the night, Daddy no longer suffices. If Max tries to calm him down and get him back to sleep, he screams, "NO, MY MOMMY!" until I come into his room. He is then almost immediately back to sleep, his cute little fingers curled into my hair, little snores coming out of his mouth.

I am assuming this is a toddler thing, because before he was 2, he really didn't need or want me. Daddy or Papa were the only people he cared about. He used to only want me if he was sick or if Daddy made him angry by making him behave. Now Daddy is the second-rate citizen and Mommy is queen! I'm not enjoying this at all, Scout's honor. Not sure if it will last, but I'm loving mommy time all the same!

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Kristen Pind, a native of small-town Gower, Mo., came to Southeast Missouri State University with big dreams of being the next Katie Couric or Diane Sawyer. She never thought that by age 25, she'd be married with a baby and living in Cape Girardeau. Keep up with Kristen's adventures as a first-time mom -- one who's still a girl trying to figure out how her own life fits together. Turns out, she's living a dream she never knew she had, and loving every minute of it. Kristen invites moms of all types to find her "Baby Steps" page on Facebook.