First Kiss

My two-year-old isn't the snuggly type. At least not anymore. He's so over snuggling. It was soo last year. It makes me sad.

Gone are the days when he'd lay on my chest and fall asleep with his thumb in his mouth and his legs tucked under him with his butt in the air. Or sit quietly on the couch with his blankie snuggled up in a mommy or a daddy.

He's independent now. He's got people. He's got things to do. A truck to play with. A cat tail to grab and twist. About 26 laps to run around the house. A snack to beg for and devour. You know the type. Busy.

So we've had to take our snuggles when we can get them. And lately, they are few and far between.

When we were on vacation last week, my husband and I reminisced about the "good ol' days". About the constant cuddling and holding and snuggling. And about how one day it all just ended and how much we missed it now that those days have come and gone. And oddly enough, the very next day, the little man woke us up early and since it was still kind of dark out and we were all sleeping in one room, my husband took him out of the pack 'n play and sat him on the bed and agreed to put on Cars for a little bit while everyone was still kind of sleeping. And there he was, my little boy, snuggling up against my husband with his blankie and sleepy eyes, and my husband turned to me and mouthed so proudly, "I got my snuggle."

It was such a sweet moment. But I won't lie. I was jealous.

There is something to those late night cuddles and overnights with a newborn. Despite all that lack of sleep, there's a piece of me that wants to turn back the clock so I can sit in the rocker with him just a few more nights. Where he's content to just close his eyes and breathe softly into my neck while I sing "My Favorite Things" over and over and over again. A time when he wasn't so quick to jump up and run away and find something funner than this old mommy.

Every once in a while, I still try to coax a snuggle out of him, but mostly he just says no -- his new favorite word -- or wriggles away after giving me about 30 seconds of his busy two-year-old schedule.

A few days after we got back from vacation, I was laying on the couch, exhausted from our trip, with the swirls in my eyes and the birdies circling around my head like in the cartoons. A to-do list forming in my mind a mile long. And my little boy started playing on me, climbing all over me, the painful kind of climbing -- a knee in the kidney, a knee in the back -- but the kind you just sit through because he's having the best time climbing all over you and loving you in the way that two-year-old boys do (and remember, I'll take the lovin' any way I can, even if there are charlie horses happening because of it). And he'd stick his big head right in my sleepy face and wait for me to turn and laugh at him because he thinks he's the funniest thing in the world. And of course I would, because, tired as I was, it was so stinkin cute and I am never too tired for that.

But then, there it was. As if out of nowhere.

He just puckered up and planted the biggest two-year-old kiss right on my cheek. A kiss for mommy. Unsolicited. Unplanned.

Just for me.

And I melted all over the couch. I mean, this was unprecedented! Sure, one can hope for the elusive snuggle, but the uninitiated kiss? And his idea? All on his own? Without me having to beg and/or pinch his cheeks or grab his face or run after him or anything?

Wow. This was certainly a first.

I've had a first kiss or two in my life. But I'll take a wet, sloppy, honest, loving kiss on the cheek from my two-year-old over any of those, any day.

ps. I think maybe he likes me after all.

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First Kiss

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2008/08/first-kiss.html