Snugglebunny

Ways in which Alex is not like Penny at the same age: Alex is incredibly affectionate.

I never doubted that Penny loved me and Matt, but she was not a snuggly child. She didn't become cuddly until I was pregnant with Alex and she began to understand that someone else was going to be invading our house.

Alex, on the other hand... At least every day or so he'll walk up to me in the kitchen while I'm making dinner or washing dishes and wrap himself around one of my legs in a spontaneous hug. Just 'cause. He hugs, I say thank you, and he wanders off again, mission accomplished.

Penny demands hugs and kisses from him practically every time their paths cross, and he's usually happy to comply. (Though he has recently learned the Power of the No, and so sometimes he refuses, just to prove that he can, I think.)

The last few days, he's been even cozier than usual. He gets annoyed if I don't wrap my arm all the way around him while I'm reading to him (and unlike Penny, Alex wants to be read to more or less constantly). And he's asking for hugs and kisses frequently.

Yesterday, while I was reading to him, he noticed a band-aid on my finger. (I don't know how it happened; I just had a couple of shallow cuts on my knuckle. Wouldn't have bothered with a band-aid at all, except that they're perfectly placed to snag on everything I pick up.) "Isshee?" he wanted to know, which is his version of "(What) is it?"

"It's a band-aid," I told him. "Mommy has a little booboo."

"Awww!" he cooed, then leaned over and planted a kiss right on the band-aid.

I laughed and hugged him. "Thank you, sweetie. That's very nice."

So he did it again. And again. He must have kissed my finger about four times in a row before he let me get back to reading the book. And then he did it again every time he noticed it again, which was every time I turned the page. And when I was done, he picked up my hand and laid his cheek against my finger in a hug. Just to make sure my booboo had enough love, I guess.

How absolutely freaking adorable is that? How could anyone not want to just eat this kid up?

(I have to write this stuff down, because the Sullen Teenage Years are waiting for me, and I'll need to remember why I didn't just drop-kick his little behind back when he was shorter than me and I had the chance.)