Cuddles, crying and the cushion assault course

When Ethan was brand new, our days would be full of cuddles. Needing a feed every two hours meant that he was never far from my arms and we'd while away the days this way. I knew at the time that those days would be precious and that all too soon, my baby boy would grow, become more independent, needing those cuddles less.

Fast forward and Ethan is almost 14 months old. His personality is blooming. His inquisitiveness fascinating. His independence increasing by the day. He can pull himself to standing now, and does so at every opportunity. Six weeks of crawling has seen us transform our lounge into a kind of cushion assault course and we are always on high alert, should a head full of sandy blonde waves come into contact with any hard edges or tiny chubby fingers get trapped in anything just within his eager reach.

Ethan is such a happy boy and the main things that keep his attention right now include reading books (or rather asking us to read his books to him 10 times in a row), playing with his wooden toy ark that Gramps bought him or playing with his ball or musical instruments. Frequently, one of the animals from the ark will find its way behind the wall of cushions, so we now have eyes in the back of our heads.

Despite his intrigue in the everyday, we've still been quite lucky that we can leave Ethan for short periods of time in the lounge, with a safety gate in place at the door, to make a cuppa or pop to the loo. But now, he can pull himself up on his keen but ever so slightly wobbly legs, which means whole new areas pose problems. This is particularly worrying with his changing mat situation, above his cot, as he now spins over and sits up quite easily.

His new found confidence has opened up a world of possibilities to him and when I leave the room, he follows me to the gate to see where I'm going.

And now, it seems, he cries. Even if he can see where I have gone, even if I sing or talk to him, even if it's only for half a minute - his usually cheeky expression turns into a wobbly lip, scrunched up eyes and big fat tears making tracks down his face.

Yesterday was particularly bad. It was my day at home with Ethan and we had a lovely day - shopping, a walk in the sun, playing with his new wooden toy farm - except for the fact he would cry as soon as I started to leave the room.

It's sure to be a phase but he's always been quite independent and happy with his own company for a few minutes here and there so it's quite a change to have him be so clingy.

I can't really complain though; it does melt my heart when I feel him hug me back and it's nice to know that he needs his Mama. Just like he did back then. As I hope he will in the future.

Have you been through or are you going through something similar? I'd love to hear from you and let me know if you have any tips!