Toddler boy only wants dad. How to fix it?

Our circumstances:Toddler boy is 27 months old. He goes to nursery (day care) 3 days a week. His little brother is 8 months old. Mum is about to go back to work after maternity leave. I (dad) work full time. I see the boys for about an hour in the mornings and we all get ready together. 2 days a week I drop him off at nursery and mum or grandma do the evening pick-up. 1 evening a week I pick him up. That night I do the boys’ bath and bedtime but all other work days they’re asleep by the time I get home. Weekends are 100% family time.Our problem is that the toddler only wants me when I’m around, to the extent that he’ll angrily reject his mum and he’ll have tantrums even after I’ve left. Often he’ll have a meltdown refusing to let mum read him his bedtime story or do bath time even when I’m not there.I read about toddlers having phases of parental favouritism in order to experiment with their attachment to both parents and that the fact that our son feels secure enough to push his mum away can be seen as a sign that he’s confident in her love and takes her for granted (in a good way). And it makes sense that he’s desperate for my attention when I’m the one who suddenly disappears all the time to go to work.Also, for the first months of his brother arriving a lot of his mum’s attention was suddenly focused on the new baby (naturally), which meant for a few months there was an implicit “mum looks after the baby, dad looks after me” vibe. But that was ages ago (in toddler terms) and we’ve made a very conscious effort for this not to be the case anymore, with us splitting our time managing either one of the boys equally. However, there may be a hangover from this phase lingering.So I’m pretty certain that I understand why it’s happening but I am looking for advice on what to do about it beyond just waiting for it to pass as “just another phase”. It’s been going on for about 3 months by now, my wife is heartbroken and distraught and she’s tasked me with fixing it. She's got more than enough on her plate already looking after two young boys and imminently going back to a demanding job.But what can I do?tl;dr Toddler only wants dad, mum is heartbroken and dad has to fix it. But how? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/28Zc2VV