Molly or Mommy?

I remember with fondness the days that *I* was my son's best friend... It was only a few brief months ago when he started declaring my position on his pedastal on a regular basis. Daddy was included, too. We were both deemed his "best friend," and he fully understands we are a family.

Apparently the pedastal is easily rocked. All it takes is Nonni and Bitty spoiling him for a weekend while Mommy and Daddy tag-team a Relay meeting in Austin, TX.

Seriously, our trips only overlapped by about 14 hours, but in those precious few hours, Nonni had purchased a new Molly train that Aunt Bitty presented to him.

This morning, while eating breakfast together (that's me, Sam AND Molly at the table) he started feeding Molly his yogurt and kissing her little yellow face.

Then, I heard the words: Molly... You're my Best Friend.

I know it's typical toddler behavior, but my delicate little mommy feelings were slightly wounded!

On the bright side, he was as kissy, huggy and happy to see me as ever when we were reunited yesterday. He was particularly impressed with the wearable blanket my ever-so-romantic husband won for me during a Relay raffle. That's a story probably best saved for Valentine's Day, though romantic it's not. Sam kept declaring that he loved my "dress." I paired the lovely frock with a headband when I'd washed my face. The whole picture was less than fabulous, but my sweet little boy kept telling me how pretty my dress and hair were. So, I wasn't totally replaced in just one weekend.

Sam's eating habits may have suffered while I was away, too, but at least he's branched out a bit from beige food... My mom made sure to inform me that she'd indulged him with two breakfasts on Saturday. The first was hot chocolate (which he called his coffee) served with a nice bowl of Cheetos in front of the TV! The second was his favorite family speciality... cinnamon bears.

Rob continued the trend on Sunday morning. When Sam pointed to a box of Chex and said "Want those," my husband somehow assumed he wanted Rob to make the Chex party mix recipe on the box for breakfast. I am doubtful that a 2 1/2 year old recognized a photo as a recipe AND that Daddy could instantly produce it, but alas, Daddy could and did. Sam ate a nutritious mixture of corn Chex, pretzels, raisins, M&Ms, kettle corn and marshmallows for his morning meal.

Try to imagine how easy it was for me to give him yogurt and fruit this morning...