By Charlene
I'm a voracious snuggler. I love snuggling. In fact, when my husband and I were dating 16 years ago, I warned him one night, "I have to tell you, I'm very touchy feely... I'm all about snuggling." He, of course, was smiling from ear to ear. But I digress.
After Christine's admission that she's a sniffer (as am I), I feel comfortable sharing that I'm addicted to snuggling with my sons.
Quin, at four months old, has no choice but to snuggle with me. Truth be told, he's a wee snuggler too.
Nolan used to be a snuggler until about two months ago. He'd crawl like a cat into my arms when I'd be sitting on the couch and say, "Momma, hold me." But then I started to notice he didn't want to snuggle anymore. As if overnight, his already-energized self morphed into a further-adrenalized jumping, running, giggling, yelling, stinky-foot BOY. He's still very sweet, but trying to catch a snuggle with him is like trying to catch a flea.
When I was pregnant with Nolan, someone gave me the book "Love you Forever" by Robert Munsch. I have to admit in the most uneloquent terms, it creeped me out. The images of the mom driving with a ladder on top of her car so she can climb in his room and hold him... creepy, even to a snuggler.
The early parts of the book, when the boy is a toddler, and she holds him after he's fallen asleep, now THAT I can handle, because I do it myself. Every so often after Nolan's conked out, I climb into his little loft bed, lie down next to him and hold him. I listen to him breathe, and I just watch him sleep. On occassion, I can see in him the tiny little baby face that I brought home from the hospital.
But I'm a voracious snuggler, and Nolan's growing up. Sometimes, stealth snuggles will just have to do. Note that I do draw the line at climbing up ladders.
Charlene lives in California's Bay Area with her husband and two children.
I'm a bigtime snuggler too. My girls are 4 and 6. They still love to snuggle! Lucky me!!
Posted by: andrea | October 05, 2005 at 08:36 AM
I know, it goes so fast! Once when I was complaining to my older brother (father of six) about Ben's clingyiness, he said enjoy it! Mine won't even let me sit next to them on the couch anymore...
That book creeped the heck out of me too, I really can't stand it. It's a nice message but ...
Posted by: Kris | October 04, 2005 at 01:34 PM
::sigh::
Tiny baby faces and snuggling. I feel your loss! My Little Man just turned 3 and snuggles are the last thing he wants... except before bedtime where we read a story and rock in the rocking chair for our special song ("Baby Mine"). I suppose I should be grateful for that, but we used to snuggle so much more! I wish I could crawl into bed with him for some stealth snuggles but I am almost 8 months pregnant and I would surely collapse his tiny toddler bed... or crush his skinny little body! The up-side however is that we will be purchasing him a twin size bed so we may reclaim his bed and convert back into a crib. You can bet that I have been fantazing about FINALLY being able to craw into bed with him for some extra snuggle time. For now, my only consolation is to kneel (with great difficulty) at his bedside, stare at his beautiful face and, yes, sniff him. :)
Posted by: Cathy | October 04, 2005 at 10:00 AM
Heh. I was just reading that tonight and thinking, "As if I would get in my car and drive across town to snuggle my son." But then I looked at his cutie face and realized that I've done a lot of things I never thought I would do since I had him.
Posted by: Nadine | October 03, 2005 at 09:03 PM