Friday, July 6, 2007

Reading, the New Contact Sport

Long before I had children, I anticipated the day when I would snuggle with them and read books together. This was one of the joys of my childhood, and I looked forward to passing that on to my own offspring.

I did not, however, realize how tightly my boys would like to snuggle with me. With me in the middle, and one of them on each side, I often feel like the jelly must feel in Josiah's sandwich when he picks it up and squeezes it in his sticky hand--quite squished! I can't even imagine how I'll feel when my littlest one grows big enough to take up the space currently occupied by my lungs; I'm not at all sure how I'll even manage to breath then!

Recently David has decided that after a while of sitting next to me and looking at the pictures, he likes to recline. Yep, stretch his legs out, put his feet up, the whole nine yards. He takes up quite a bit of room on the couch when he does that, and yesterday I discovered he was using my shoulder for a footrest. "David, my boy, this is not going to work. Your feet on my shoulder is dangerously close to the feet-in-the-face territory which is not a great idea anytime, but especially when I'm trying to listen to Josiah sound out 'rat' and 'see,' etc. Nope, this isn't flying. Something's gotta give. I can't even get my arm free to turn the page!"

As much as I love to cuddle with them, I will admit to having times when I'd like to move them each about 2 feet away from me. Physical touch is not my primary love language, but I sure get blessed with a lot of it from my boys! (Don't get me wrong--I am crazy about them and their wet kisses and fierce bear hugs--and I already dread the day when they're too big to sit on my lap. But once in a while, I'd just like some space. Is that too much to ask???) :)

No comments: