My son has a hair fetish.

(Or maybe I should change that title so I don't get any weird search hits...)

Pretty much since LC was born, he has always reached up to put his hand on the nape of my neck and tangle his hand in my hair. Even when he was a newborn and not coordinated enough to do it on purpose, one hand was always reaching for my hair while nursing.

Honestly? By about six months it was driving me batty by the end of the day. At the beginning of the day it was cute and sweet. By the end of the day, I was usually a leeeetle touched out and felt like screaming "get your hand out of my fireplacing hair!"

As LC grew and got older, many things changed - how often he nursed, the position he nursed in, where he nurse, etc. But one thing stayed constant - his desire - no - unconscious instinct to reach for my hair.

Once he had enough words, he started demanding, "Hair!" at bedtime. Even (especially?) after he'd weaned, he would say, "Hair, please." And I'd move closer, lying next to him and he would tangle his fist in my hair.

He's 3 and some months old now. And he still reaches for my hair at bedtime if I'm there. If it's Mr. Chili doing the bedtime routine, sometimes there will be tears when he wants my hair and it's not there. Mr. Chili has tried offering his hair, but no one else's will do. "It's too short", LC says. And if LC is upset/sad/tired/frustrated, and I pick him up, he'll instinctively reach for the hair.

I remember sitting in the nursing chair when he was about a year old and realizing that I was going to miss the closeness - that my complaints to Mr. Chili about wanting his hand OUT OF MY HAIR were going to change, some day, to missing that hand. Turns out I haven't complained about missing it much. LC has not outgrown his desire to have his hand in my hair. And I love it. It a comfort that only I can provide. And you know what? That feels pretty good.

Sometimes this mommy gig is pretty sweet.

[Will try to find a pic demonstrating the hair grab, but can't find any pics on this computer's HD. It'd help if we could manage to organize our pics...]