Today is my husband's birthday and all day yesterday our DD and i talked about how tomorrow will be Daddy's birthday and that we'll have cake and give him pressies and cards. She made him a card and seemed so excited.
But this morning when she came into our room my DH asked her if she knew what today was and she said "kim the cleaner is coming", so I prompted her and said, "well it's also someone special's birthday". She replied "Oscar" who i think is a new classmate at nursery. My poor husband looked heart broken.
She then helped to open his cards and gift, but when my DH asked for a kiss and cuddle she said "no" and eventually offered him her cheek for him to kiss. It just broke my, and my husband's, heart. She then threw herself into my arms and said "i love you soooooo much mummy", all the while looking at him for his reaction.
I suspect a good deal of it is done to get a reaction out of both of us. After DH had left for work i told her she had been very unkind and hurt her daddy's feelings. it wasn't until i asked her how she would feel if i stopped giving her kisses and cuddles, then told her that was how daddy felt.
The frustrating part is that my husband is a very hands on dad. Despite having a pretty consuming career, he is home for bath and story time practically everynight (even tho it means having to log back into work after the kids are alseep) and he takes her to ballet and does so many lovely things with her (and our DS).
we don't want to make too big an issue of it, we suspect we might have been too harsh on her, but we want the behaviour to stop. When she's not paying attention and is playing with her dad (having a tea party or running around the garden) she will be very affectionate with him and give lots of cuddles and kisses, but when she has an audience she will be quiet cruel to him.
Any suggestions on how to get her past this phase?