Comforting and Cuddling

I marvel at my children and their funny differences. My last post must have caused me to draw more attention to these little things that differentiate Baby Boy and Baby Girl.

Baby Girl was never a cuddly baby. She would nurse, pull back and demand to be put in her bed. She has been independent from the start. But perseverance on my part has brought her around. I've even told her about how she wouldn't cuddle me when she was a baby. She now, at 4 years old, has true moments of cuddliness. We've determined that first thing in the morning is the best time to cuddle and I can usually count on at least 2-3 minutes of a Baby Girl snuggle when she first gets up. Mostly I think she's just trying to get on my good side for what comes next. "Can I watch Treehouse, Mama". But hey, it gets me a snuggle.

Baby Boy on the other hand, was a cuddlier baby. He wanted to nurse more and was harder to convince that going to sleep was a good thing. He's a mama's boy. Always happy to climb into my lap while we're at playgroups. What baffles me is his reaction to be comforted. Baby Boy finds true comfort in his blanket. It is a beautiful handmade quilt from my Aunt and he carries it everywhere. And when he falls down or Baby Girl upsets him or someone hurts his feelings, the most important thing is his "lankie". I'll try to scoop him up and hold him close, but he will call for his blanket and then push me away. It almost breaks my heart to think that I can't be his true source of comfort. Even harder is his night terrors. It's taken a long time for me to realize that there is nothing I can do when he is having one but touch him, let him know I'm there and then back off to let the terror run its course. It sends needles through my veins to hear him crying and know, again, that there is nothing I can do to comfort him.

What does amaze me is how quickly both of my children have caught on to the golden opportunity of snuggling and how asking for a snuggle can get my attention. There have been lots of times that one or the other has come to me at the computer whining "I wanna snuggle you". It's hard to drag me away from my computer some days, but I am determined to stand by my mantra that there's always time for a snuggle.