Attached

There are quite a few similarities I have noticed between Wyatt and when Dax was this age. Wyatt loves to be outside, just like Dax did. Thankfully in AZ we can let Wyatt roam the backyard during the “cold” months of January and February where as Dax would just cried at the sliding glass door staring at all the falling Utah snow. Wyatt has an extremely hearty appetite, just like Dax did. You can’t get food to Wyatt fast enough. And forget trying to eat yourself. You’re too busy replenishing the tray for him to get any food in your mouth. They make the same facial expressions, have the same mannerisms, jibber and jabber the same, get oh so frustrated when they can’t do something, are about the same size, sound the same when they cry or giggle, and still, even at well over a year, Wyatt has the same 6 teeth that Dax did.

All this really doesn’t really mean anything. Except that yesterday I realized something about Wyatt that I never ever did with Dax.

And it totally hit me.

Wyatt is attached.

No, not to me. To his Lion. And the funny thing is, it isn’t even Wyatt’s Lion, it’s Dax’s.

My mom gives each of her grand babies a little stuffed animal when they are born. Each grandchild has a different animal. I have no idea where she finds such cute animals, but she does. She is an avid believer that babies need “friends” with them in their crib. Dax got a Lion. Wyatt got a Tiger. Somehow Wyatt has adopted Dax’s Lion. And he is attached.

We had left Wyatt’s Tiger over at his grandma and grandpas when he was a baby, so to make sure he had a “friend” we put Dax’s Lion in Wyatt’s crib. It was weeks before we remembered to get the Tiger back, but it was too late. Wyatt and Lion had already bonded. Now that the Tiger is back, he gets no attention (my mom would be sad about that). When we put Wyatt in his crib, he lunges for his Lion. He turns him around and around until he finds his tail, tickles it under his nose, and lays down. Every night we go in to kiss Wyatt good night his little hand is still clutched around the Lion’s tail.

I knew Wyatt loved this Lion, but I had no idea he was attached. He woke up sad from his nap the other day and when I went in to get him, he was tightly holding onto the Lion’s tail. I unclenched the Lion from Wyatt’s death grip before I picked him up. The Lion has always stayed in his crib. I mean seriously, this Lion doesn’t even have a more clever name than “Lion”. Who would have thought Wyatt was so attached? Well, when I unclenched his little hand it about broke his heart. He completely melted down and cried the biggest tears I had ever seen. I quickly panicked and handed him his Lion. For the next half hour he walked around the house without moving one finger from the Lion’s tail.

Dax loved this Lion, but not as much as Wyatt. He is so well loved by Wyatt. We’ve washed him several times and his cute spiky hair is now one matted down mane. His pink nose is almost no longer, his soft plushy fur is weathered and worn and his eyes are scratched. I had no idea he was so attached. Come to think of it, I have noticed Wyatt trying to reach through the slats into his crib to retrieve the Lion, I just didn’t think anything of it.

Yes, he is attached. And right now I think it is so adorably cute the way he lugs his Lion around. So, today, it is cute.

I just dread the day it stops being cute.