Why is my cat acting like this?

My mom had gotten her boyfriend a kitten a couple months ago. He's almost 2 years, and all of a sudden is A LOT less obnoxious. He always wants to sleep on my baby blanket and pillow on the floor in my closet and for the first time jumped up on my lap and laid there...the weird thing is he spent 3 minutes licking the whole effing backside of my hand.....why....why the sudden change?