Shaking Off a Hug?

There was a period of time where I was doing bedtime for my 2 year old son L and then going over to my 7 year old daughter E afterwards to continue the routine. Even though it was easily an hour or longer to put both of them to bed, it was really enjoyable. I was surprised at how awake I was since many times in the past, I have to fight back sleep to get through that much reading. Plus it’s so cozy with them and everything seems so settled that I just want to sleep right there.

During that period, I was reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I had started reading part of it with E when we were on vacation a few months ago. It was her second time through at that point, but we had never finished the book together (plus I wanted to find out what happened at the end!). In the book, there is a boy named Auggie that is going to school for the first time and he looks different from everyone else. There were lots of challenges with his adjustment to school and not everyone was so nice. There was a period where he was crying so much, but he didn’t shake off his mom’s hug because he needed the comfort.

Although that part was sad, I turned to E and told her that my hope is she never shakes off my hugs. I know as kids grow up, they can get embarrassed by things like that. Kids get embarrassed by all kinds of silly things and I can attest because I used to be one! E told me so quickly that she would never shake off my hugs. She wanted to put all my hugs into a souvenir pile!

It was such a clever way to reply that I gave her a big hug right there. Made me smile that she cherishes the hugs and small moments just like I do. Reading for over an hour each night is definitely worth it for moments like that and it doesn’t hurt to read a good book I’m interested in as well!