Hi all,
My 2.5 year old daughter is really possessive of me and of my attention and will not allow her dad to talk to me, or play with her, when he comes home from work.
Her and I are together all day, every day. We get out and about a lot, spend most of our time out in fact as she's a very attention-demanding child and wants me to be fully involved in her life almost all the time. There are odd spells when she'll wander off and do something by herself in the flat, but due to her not quite having learnt how to play alone yet we'd rather be out, in the park or meeting friends, the usual mum and tot daily activities. So she's stimulated and active, interacts with other children and mums, no problems in this sense.
But the moment it's her, her dad and me she gets really nervous. He tries playing with her in the flat but it never works for longer than 5 min. Then she comes running through to ask for a feed (she still breastfeeds) or a cuddle or a story. I find it exhausting as it means I never get a break from her unless her dad takes her out (and she always has a tantrum, crying her heart out saying "I want mama!!" when this happens, it's never, ever easy.) Also, my partner and I are never able to talk, even basic "How was your day?" talk, without our daughter interrupting and telling us not to speak, or asking me to do stuff with her.
Does anyone have similar experiences with their toddlers? And how do you get a child that age to understand they're loved and cared for, even if our attention isn't on them 100% of the time?