Charlie's Obsession with "I Love You"

Both Charlie and Lynnae came to us as very loving children. They love to give hugs and kisses all the time. This may seem like a normal thing, and kind of a weird thing for me to point out, except that our kids don't have a normal background... and often children that have been in the foster care system are not affectionate as an effect of attachment disorder. So we consider ourselves very lucky!

In the last few months Charlie has been progressively building his routine. It started with a "big hug". This is where he squeezes your neck so hard that you actually question if a 2 year old could be strong enough to suppress your breath. Then he started his kissing routine. It is really cute. He will give you a kiss on each cheek, one on the chin, one on the forehead, and one on the top of the head. And then he'll do it again. And again. And again. And if I say that mommy is done, he will kiss his finger and then point to each of the places he wants to kiss. Lynnae explains that this is because they believe that you can move a kiss if you want... all you have to do is touch it and then touch the person where you want the kiss to go. So cute!

Then, a couple of months ago he started with the "I love you" sign. He will wave two I love you's around... and if I tell him I love him, he will hold up "I love you" with one hand and the number "2" with the other hand. Then he'll start saying, "I love you.... too.... I love you... too... etc," while he pushes the appropriate hand forward. Again, so cute.

Speaking of I love you's, the newest thing that he does is suddenly blurt out who he loves. It usually starts out with someone in the family... usually either me or Lynnae... and then it will move on to everything, including his green sippy cup. But this week was different.

We were sitting at lunch a couple of days ago and Charlie just blurted out. "I love Carleigh!" And I said, "You do?" And then he screamed at the top of this lungs, "I LOVE CARLEIGH!!!" So I had to tell him to use his inside voice, so he started whispering, "I love Carleigh. I love JakeJake. I love Joe." This was the first time he had put someone in front of us... it was super cute.

Last weekend we went down to the Stutzmans (Carleigh and Joe's last name) for dinner and games... so they were fresh in his mind. Apparently he had a really good time! We are headed back this weekend for Jacob's first birthday... so let's hope he still loves JakeJake when JakeJake is getting all of the attention. :)