The Tuckback

Brenna is doing a new thing the past few days that completely warms my heart. Jamie and I play a game with her where one of us holds her and the other reaches out for her. My parents do it when they babysit for her, as well. She gets a huge smile on her face and puts her arms out and leans towards the person who is not holding her. It is our way of encouraging her to reach up for us, which she is starting to do when she knows we are about to pick her up.

Well, sometimes when Jamie reaches out for her, she tucks her head down and turns back to me, grabbing around my neck. It's like a semi-hug.

Jamie is a great Dad. He does a lot of the work in caring for her, and she obviously adores him.

So, it's not that I want her to prefer me - not exactly ;) I'm competitive about a lot, but not about that. It's just that this little move I named the tuckback (and Jamie called stupid), well, I finally feel like it's her way of thanking me for carrying her. The nausea, tailbone pain, heartburn, c-section healing, sleepless nights... it was all worth it because she knows I'm her mom! It's finally some recognition of that, some justification.

I want to go wake her up just so she can do the tuckback again!

Jamie said she can like me better now because she'll like him better for the rest of her life.