Thursday night, even as Simon was obviously happy to have me home, he had to draw his three-year-old line in the sand:
“Mommy, you’ve had enough hugs. You don’t need any more.”
Except I did! I had been gone the better part of three days, and I missed him. But he made me laugh, in part because I recognized his honesty. When my brother and sister-in-law told their daughter that she was going to have a second sibling about eight years ago, she looked at them and plainly stated “We don’t need another baby. We’ve got Maddie-cakes.” The family has been laughing about this for ages.
Last night, though, tucking Simon into bed and anticipating Valentine’s Day today, I whispered into his ear before I said goodnight:
Will you be my valentine, Simon?
He paused, obviously tired and needing to think about it. But this time I fared better in his response:
I’ll be your little bunny, Mommy.
I’m still smiling. And if you don’t get the reference, check out The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd.