Yes he loved his mother like no other.
His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother. [ed.for my purposes, ew!]
One thing on which you can depend is,
He sure knew who a boy’s best friend is! –Tom Lehrer, “Oedipus Rex”

Now, Miss M was, and is, rather attached to me. When I step out for the evening to go to book club, she gives Taxman an earful and is.NOT.happy about the turn of events. About one day in every four she announces on the way to preschool, “I’m going to cry because I’m going to miss you, Ema.” Ok, point taken.

But, oh, my baby son. The attachment is so in extremis you just have to laugh.

We spent Shabbat with my in-laws. Friday evening before dinner, my father-in-law was reading to the kids–Curious George Makes Pancakes, I believe, a favorite of both. Taxman was lounging on the couch reading Harry Potter Book 7.  I flopped down next to him for a chaste cuddle. When lo and behold, our boy-child looked up, spotted an encampment on his territory, and hustled down from the armchair.

He vaulted up on the couch, staking out a piece of Taxman’s chest where his head was directly between us, eye-level with me. The body language was, uh, rather clear.

As I said, you just had to laugh.

Or, as I also said, I kept waiting for him to rip off his diaper, expose his little boy bits, and pee all over me to mark his place.

Hmm. Maybe next year.