All You Need is Love

A few weeks ago I sat at a small table filling out forms as my soon-to-be three year old participated in his first ever pre-school interview. He performed with flying colors, and the next week we heard he had been accepted. The whole process was a bit laughable to me, but a necessary evil, I suppose. Afterwards I recounted the experience to my husband. One of the things that made this school so appealing to me was it's truly in-depth interest in my child and his development. It took me longer to fill out the questionnaire than it took my son to complete a battery of tasks.

One particular question hung in my mind. It took me the longest to answer, and though I wrote in tiny letters I still ended up running out of space. The question was 'Which aspect of your child's development are you most pleased with?' What a loaded question, right? I consider myself a lucky woman that I had a bounty of options from which to choose. Aside from some minor speech delays, my boy is otherwise off the charts. He is tall and muscular, quite agile, knows all of his letters, can count frontwards and backwards, and on and on. But to me, the thing that stands out the most is his depth of emotional understanding. He is always quick with a hug and an 'I love you!' He knows what upsets me, and makes as much effort as a three year old can muster to avoid doing so.

For example, he came up to me last night and explained how he wasn't going to run around screaming 'POOPY' at the top of his lungs anymore because it makes me sad. I would argue that it's more annoying than sad, but those finer points are a bit over his head! He won't go to sleep at night unless I give him ten hugs and ten kisses, and while this might be tied into a delay tactic, it's an awful sweet one if I do say so myself. Plus, he sees and encourages affection in others. He often suggests to his friends that they hug each other, and he never misses an opportunity to instruct me to hug people, too. Usually I'm ok with that, as the object of my instructed affections are mainly my husband and daughter.

Occasionally, though, he wants me to hug the employees at the Y and things can get a little awkward! People sometimes ask me if I'm at all worried about his affectionate nature, and so far my answer had always been a resounding no. When he isn't with me, he is always tended by people I know and trust so I have no reason to discourage such sweet behavior. I know that one day he'll realize that hugging your buddies isn't cool, and he'll have to switch to arm punching or some other nonsense. Until then, I'm going to relish every hug he gives, and perhaps the ones he receives even more.

This is an original Philly Moms Blog post. You can also find Amy Jo at her personal blog The Cheese Party and her review blog The Cheese Says....Mmmmm!