Seizing the Hug

Last night, long after Luis's bedtime, and after his one-more-hug-and-kiss, and actually, long after I assumed he was really asleep, I hear the thump thump thump of him coming down the stairs. He paused on the landing and peeked around the corner to find me on the couch, nursing Alejo.

Mooooooom, can I give you one more hug and kiss?

No Noodle, I'll come up in a minute.

Luis dutifully (surprisingly) scampers back up the stairs to his bed. After getting Alejo settled in his bed, I head up to Luis.

Momma, Can you snuggle me?

I start to say know, that it's late, that it's WAY past his bed time, that he already had his "one last" hug and kiss. But then I remembered something I'd read recently about how fast kids grow up, how small the window is where they WANT to be hugged and kissed and snuggled. Somehow having Alejo - so small and tiny - has reinforced this notion of how quickly the time goes.

So instead, I crawled in to bed with Luis. He snuggled in close to me, I wrapped my arms around him and we talked about our day. He squeezed me and I squeezed him. He told me that he loved me. I gave him one last "last hug and kiss". And then one more after that for good measure.

I hope that in 10, 20 or 40 years that I can conjure back up the events of last night, to remember how sweetly Luis asked for some love and generously he gave some to me, too. And in the mean time, I hope that I take Luis up on his offers more often.