I don't know if you want to try to start to wean him from the 24/7 attention, especially if he might be going to pre-school next year. I've read that there are so many very good reasons a kid needs to go to preschool at that age, for the Mamma, lol. Just kidding.
What I've read that resonated with me was that baby's should have your undivided attention. No judgement here against the cry it out crowd. I read and loved the idea that a helpless baby would never have to worry where all the adults were. Somehow, by the time they're kid's they should be able to go find something to do, i'm busy. I'll be there directly. Then when you do give them your attention it should be a block of undivided attention. Well I'm in an impossible situation where this can not happen naturally. I feel , I wish , I'm not giving DD the quality mothering I gave Ds at her age. It was all about him. It can never be all about her. And at three, he's really still a baby. He needs attention too.
I'm using something from the flylady experiment thread called the 15 minute timer. "I can do anything for 15 minutes.". Well I don't really timer it. But it keeps me from appearing too wrapped up in an activity. Appearances matter a lot at this age when they're super observant. And the rhythm seems to help ds understand that I'm going to do other things. I'm not willing or able to drop what I'm doing everytime to go see what he's doing. I'll stop long enough to look up from what I'm doing to see what he wants and answer, adding that i'm busy and I won't stop what I'm doing. I want everything just to flow naturally, but it wasn't really flowing naturally and without effort once the boy, the baby, and the hubby all started wanting something from me at the same time. And usually while I'm busy trying to accomplish something. It's always a balance between high needs, my needs, the whole family. And then the hubby, the hardworking, involved hubby. He says he's part of the family and he wants my attention too. Lol, I clearly remember telling him a long time ago, "nothing's hard for a person like me. I break any problem down to the simplest elements. I enjoy working hard, although it rarely seems like hard work because I'm fit enough to have a lot of energy.". (st***id, st***id, st***id). He got me.
