A Hug and a Bump

Back in the day when P was about eighteen months old, he got a huge kick out of ramming his forehead into his daddy's as a sign of affection--what we came to call a "bump." Now they've continued with S, who is still learning how to do these (though, I must say, both boys learned pretty fast. I mean, they're naturally brutal naturally aggressive boys. :)) I try to avoid these, not because I'm not affectionate, but because little boys don't always know how to gauge how hard they're ramming their little foreheads into...well, whatever they tend to ram them into. We're probably awful parents because we allow this to continue, but we figure the, erm, hard lesson in learning how to be gentle offsets any lost brain cells by the lesson itself.

Anyway, it struck me this morning (harhh, harhh, no pun intended) that one of our little daily rituals is very special, mainly because it won't last forever. When Papa heads out for the day and the boys are in the immediate vicinity (which is almost always), they always cry out to him, "Give us a hug and a bump!" So he comes over and gives each of them big hugs and a little head-to-head bump. Only Papa does this with the kids. And they love it. They get upset if he happens to forget; they'll even watch out for each other--"Daddy, now give S a hug and a bump." Who knew affection between parent and child could be so tender and so potentially painful at the same time? And yes, take that as many ways as you want.

Daddy with kiddos back in March. How time flies.