Boy crazy?

Should I be worried that my two year-old has a thing for older men?

Maria has always been a Daddy's girl, but I think the trouble started when Uncle Nicky-o moved to town in January. She immediately preferred him over anyone who entered the room. We'd be playing happily, then Nick would come in.... Immediately the rest of us were chopped liver. Thankfully Nick has endless patience with her, and goes with flow, even when she's bossing him around. He's the only one she actually talks to on the telephone. Everyone else gets the dial-tone. Nicky-o is 'the man' to our Maria.

Our next clue that she was a little flirt was when she lunged for our friend, Mike Miller, when his child-loving, ever-smiling wife Carolyn was right next to him. She wanted Mike over Carolyn? What's wrong with this picture??? Not to mention their son James. Maria actually picked up my cell phone out of the blue and said, "I call James." Huh?? We hadn't seen them for weeks, but James was still on her mind. Yikes, we're in trouble.

Then it was Uncle John. We spent quite a bit of time around Uncle John recently, and suddenly he was the "Flavor of the Week." Maria would grab one of his fingers and drag him around, and he would follow. I'd say, "Let's call Daddy at work!" and she'd reply, "Nooooo. Call Jooooohn!" It's a good thing she's cute.

Then this past weekend, Maria grabbed the phone again and out of the blue said, "I call Josh." (Josh is my sister Jackie's boyfriend.) Josh??? We hadn't seen Josh for weeks, and she payed little attention to him when we did. In fact, Maria used to be terrified of Josh. Once, he instinctively tried to prevent her from ingesting a handful of dirt, and scared the living daylights out of her. This was a while back, but she remembered that incident. Now she was asking for him?? Interesting. By chance on Sunday we happened to see Josh, and her little world stopped. Her whole day revolved around him! She was literally flirting with him - batting her eyes, teasing him, chasing him. It was pathetic. At one point she even banned the entire family from the basement so that she could have Josh all to herself. "Upstairs, Mommy. All the way!" she pointed! Hmmm.... Thankfully, Josh was a good sport and went along with Maria's pleas and bossiness. "This way, Josh! C'mere! I show you!" She had him jumping through hoops the whole day. My sister Jackie even tried to lure her away from Josh with fingernail polish and candy. But that quick-fix only lasted a few minutes, then it was back to Josh, Josh, Josh! I'm betting Josh slept well on Sunday night.

I'm sure this will be poster-sized and framed in Maria's room before long...

Today it's Josh, but who will be next? What's a mother to do...