A while back I was having a bad day and Johnny, my perceptive one, walked over to me and gave me a big hug. He didn't say or explain anything, he simply wrapped those lanky arms around me and smiled that irresistible, dimpled smile of his.
No worries Mr. Bad Day - that smile is making my whole world better! I leaned down, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then watched as he promptly wiped it off. That made me smile too.
I started teasing him a little about wiping off my kiss and he immediately stopped with a slightly panicked look on his face. "No! I wasn't wiping off your kiss, Mom! I was....
smooshing it in more! That way it'll stay forever."
Sweet boy! It was written all over his face as plain as day! He really was wiping it off, but he wasn't sure if that would make me feel even worse on my bad day. So he quickly thought up a better reason for what he was doing. (And come on! That was some impressive creativity on the fly!) Then he emphasized it by patting the side of his cheek and grinning at me.
I think I may have melted on the spot. Luckiest. Mom. Ever.
That one night has developed into a tradition of goodnight kisses followed by a series of pats to forever seal those kisses on the face. Try it sometime. Those few extra pats make those kisses seep down to the soul.
