I used to go to the bathroom alone.

I love my kids so much, but sometimes as a stay at home dad, I need a break.  However, I can't just leave my son Jon, (who is currently 1) alone, so I let him follow me to the bathroom.  He loves to play peek a boo with me while I am trying to concentrate on the job at hand and he often makes my job even tougher when he gets into the cabinets and drawers while emptying their contents onto the floor.  He is always so proud to bring me treasures that he finds such as deodorant or my wife's hairbrush.

Sometimes it drives me crazy that I can't seem to get anything done without my little shadow following me around the house begging for me to pick him up.  However, I often catch myself reminiscing about how his big brother was when he was little and it makes me feel sad to know that he doesn't need me as much.  My older boy Ben is 5 and will be starting Kindergarten in the fall.  He doesn't care about when I go to the bathroom and doesn't ask me to pick him up anymore.

Whenever I leave the room, Jon immediately follows me to see what I am doing.  He usually wants me to hold him at all times.  I found myself getting frustrated and even angry with him the other night because I was trying to make supper and he wanted me to pick him up and hold him.

Because I was cooking multiple things on the stove at once, I picked him up and put him in his highchair.   That wasn't what he wanted, so he screamed even louder. He is very persistent and will scream forever if he doesn't get his way.  (I have been told that he will be very successful someday because of this trait, so I hope that's true.)  I finally finished making supper, but at that point, I was so frustrated with him because he had been screaming constantly while I was trying to get something done.  As I picked he immediately stopped crying and snuggled into me as hard into me as he could.  Even though I needed to make supper, I felt terrible that he was so upset and even worse, that I was angry with him for it.  All he wanted was for his daddy to hold him, but I was busy and he didn't understand.  

I know we all have responsibilities and tasks on our to-do lists, but since we are not going to be having any more kids, my days of being able to hold Jon are numbered.  The days of him wanting me to hold him are even less.  Because of this, I take advantage of as many opportunities as I can to hold my boys, even if it means that supper will be a little late.