I love that in the middle of the night, my son wants to snuggle with me. I love that in the morning, he comes in bed with me to chat about our upcoming day. I love our evening chats, our walks around the neighborhood and the games we play with words. But my son also has a special relationship with his dad. It's incredibly amazing, because his dad was deployed for most of last year. He wasn't there when our little boy learned to walk, talk, and swim. But looking at the two of them together, you'd never know it.
When my son wears his sunglasses, they have to go high on his head, just like his dad wears them.
When my husband gets up to refill his plate at dinner, my son has to follow him.
When my husband kicks a soccer ball to him, my son responds with, "Nice kick!" because that's what my husband says.
What's truly amazing, is that even at this young age of two, my son wants to emulate his dad. Yes, he emulates me too, but there is something special and unique about his relationship with my husband. It's one of admiration, of "I want to be just like you!" When the garage door goes up at night, my son jumps up and down and says, "Papi! Home!" He goes right over to his toy bin and gets his soccer ball, a game he doesn't want to play with me; only his dad.
Their relationship is the definition of quality v. quantity time. We are often so obsessed with spending every minute we can with our children, and because of my husband's line of work, he just can't do that. He's lucky if he sees our son an hour a day. But it doesn't matter; he takes that hour and makes it all count. I love that even though my husband is active duty military and is gone for months at a time, he and my son have a very special bond that transcends all of these trips away from home. I admire my husband so much for taking such an active role in my son's life, for taking the time to have "boy time" as he calls it, for creating a bond and relationship that will hopefully, last a lifetime.
Sarahlynne loves writing for Shine as a Parenting Guru. She also writes for merelymothers, a website that discusses controversial issues that parents face.
