Love Assault

Athena has grown more affectionate in the last few weeks. She has developed a serious attachment to the people she loves. Sure, there were times when she would come up and plant a big sloppy kiss on your face, but those times were rare, and often required a lot of prompting. I think she's an introvert... gaining her energy from within. She loves people, of course, but just isn't terribly touchy-feely. And that's okay.

But now she is a downright cuddle muffin. When she sees someone she loves, her face lights up like a Christmas tree and then she throws herself at that person full throttle. Kathryn has coined the apt phrase "Love Assault" when she does this, because she literally tackles you with the intent to press you into the ground, thereby making you stick there so you can never leave. It's terribly cute and terribly good news for our chiropractor.

She also remembers people and places really well. And she says very nice things about them. For example, although she has only recently gotten to get to know her grampa Greg, she looked me square in the eye this morning and said, "I wanna see gampa." And for Thanksgiving, everyone made a little Thanksgiving art thing and they had to say what they were thankful for so Ms. Shanika could write it down for them. She said "I am thankful for Aiden." Of course, this does leave me wondering where WE fit in on the ladder of love...

Since Marcus is just learning to crawl, he's all about taking in his environs rather than cuddling, so this comes at a perfect time. Just as one leaves my arms, the other wants to jump in. It's good to be the mommy.