I'm not sure if it's because we're "late start" parents, or something else, but I'm extremely aware of the fact that Simon's cute and cuddly phase will not last that long. And for that reason, I'm grateful that he seems to be turning it up a notch right now.
Other than when he's sick, Simon hasn't been known to just chill out in your lap while watching TV or playing with something in his lap, but lately he seems to be willing to make more physical contact with us. Don't get me wrong, he still flails too much, causing us injury. Just yesterday he nailed me in balls, and today he snagged Diana's nosering. But he also is coming up to us, hugging us and telling us, "I love you too." It doesn't matter if he's a holy terror for the other six days of the week when he's that sweet on the seventh day.
I often wonder if growing up a hugger is a nature or nurture thing. I think it may very well start out as nature. I think we all crave physical contact, and our expectation for it changes with experience. I was never really a hugger outside of close friends, and of course romantic relationships. I'm a PDA kind of guy.
The thing that always sticks with me from my post-divorce therapy is that notion that you first learn about relationships from your parents, and to that end, I hope that we're teaching Simon that it's OK to show your affection for people to the extent that it's appropriate. That's where the nurture angle comes in. So far he's a serious hugger, and you don't have to know him long before he finds it OK to hug you. I think that's why his teachers liked him so much!
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