Snuggles

I love snuggling.  Jarett loves snuggling.  Somehow, all of our kids love snuggling too.  Shocking, really.

It came as no surprise when our kids would ask for snuggles every night.  We always had mixed feelings, because, as so many parents know, you love to have those tender moments with your child, BUT you have SO much to do once they go to bed that it still needs to be done
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SOOO.... we came up with a plan.  When it was going to be a busy night, we would always snuggle when asked, but simply say, okay, how long should I snuggle you?  The kids would frequently answer with 5 seconds or 10 seconds.  They would then proceed to count and then almost push us away when they were done.  This way, they felt loved, we were able to snuggle and we didn't take too much time away from preparations for tomorrow.  Perfect plan.  It has worked for YEARS.

Benson, however, has taken snuggling to a new level.  He comes in a 3 in the morning, 4 in the morning or 6 in the morning and wants Mommy snuggles.  At every night time, he wants snuggles.  He comes to our room every morning as we wake up and wants more snuggles  It's getting to the point where we have to limit the snuggles or we wouldn't get anything done during the day.  He takes out blankets to snuggle with, stuffies to snuggle with and still doesn't fill his quota.

On Valentine's morning "snuggling" on the stairs with the blanket I got at a Valentine's White Elephant Exchange

There have even been a few nights when I've given him a few minutes of snuggles at 6 in the morning, where afterwards, he sneaks out of bed and goes to the older girls room (two flights of stairs away) to get more snuggles.

He has crawled into Lanaya's car seat multiple times and put the cover on to get all "snuggly".  Sometimes to the point where he fall asleep - such as this time

The other day, I asked Benson, "Okay, how long do you want to snuggle."  "Oh, forever."  I simply answered, "Me too!!"  Fortunately, the kids didn't have school today, so we did get to snuggle a long time.

That night, I tried a different approach.  "Benson, what number do you want to count to while we snuggle?"  "Um, the one at the very end."

I love my snuggly boy.  Oh, how I'll miss all these amazing, tight, tender snuggles when he grows up.