Mine.

Lately, my son reminds me of this cat.

photo courtesy of reddit

Let me explain.

My sixteen-month-old little booger has recently become very possessive, NOT possessed, please note the difference in suffix and level of terror.  And what is he most possessive of? 

ME.

Yes, my physical being. My attention.  My love.  My food.  My bathroom time.  My laundry.  My utensils. 

Everything that is mom's must also be baby's.  Or so he believes.

We went to visit family for the holidays, and that is precisely the moment that my kid decided that he owned me and no one else should even interact with me, let alone look at me for too long.  And how dare I give someone other than him attention?

This developmental change is equal parts adorable and exhausting. I love seeing him light up for me, hug me, and try to tickle me to make me laugh.  He could be in a room of the friendliest grandma-type women and kids his own age, and he would always pick me.  Unless there were puppies.  Then he would definitely pick puppies.

It is sweet to be the object of your child's adoration.

What makes it hard is when I am trying to cook him something to eat and he is standing next to me, pulling my pant legs, screaming, and banging his head on the cupboards, because I am paying attention to the food and not to him.  A few days ago, he bit my husband's hand because it was resting on my shoulder.  If I get a hug from anyone, it sets him off in a fit of hollering. Just yesterday, I was loving on a friend's sweet daughter, while my child was smacking his head with his open hands and whining from afar.

His displeasure with my apparent free-flowing love has become almost debilitating at points.  It causes him great distress to see me sharing close physical proximity to other people, so I often abandon those positions in an effort to assure him that things are fine, but I don't really know if that is the right move.  He will eventually figure out that people can love more than one person at time, but am I supposed to teach him that now?  I am to ride this out and hope he comes out of it ok?  Or should I just take lots of video of his undying love for old Mom and embarrass him with it at age sixteen?

Suggestions?