Stealing Kisses

The Pumpkin will give you a hug, kiss and snuggle any time. She is very lovey and sweet, very physically affectionate. I don't think she's ever turned down a kiss or hug.

The Pookie is often affectionate, but sometime he is not. Sometimes, he is not willing to give you a kiss or a hug. Sometimes he pulls away and yells, even when it's a kiss goodbye or goodnight, which are normal parts of his routine.

But I am creative and sneaky! And I LOVE kisses and hugs from my kids! So over the years I've come up with sneaky ways to steal kisses without him screaming about it and wiping it away.

When he was two, he went through a phase when he didn't want to give me a kiss. So I started saying this to him, "If you give me a kiss, I will give it right back." And he did! He would kiss me, and then I'd kiss him right back! Not only did I get him to kiss me willingly, but I got TWO kisses! And it really did work every time!

Now that he is three, he is really into superheros and Star Wars and bad guys. He often wants to defeat the bad guy (or be the bad guy). So the other day, when I wanted a kiss and he was saying I was a bad guy, I told him he could only defeat me by kissing and hugging me.

And it worked! He ran up and started hugging and kissing me, and I leaned back and said, "I am defeated!" Also, the Pookie vanquishes Londo with kisses, and they've been doing that a while.

Yesterday, I took him with me to the grocery store. On the way there, he said he turned into a bad guy. I told him I wanted my good guy back. How could I get him back so the good Pookie could go into the store with me? He said I'd have to give him TWO kisses to turn him good. The minute I opened his door in the parking lot, I gave him four, just to be sure.

This morning, Londo told him to get me. He jumped in my lap and said he was going to defeat me! I told him he could only defeat me with kisses! So he kissed me and I kissed him, and we both leaned over and said, "Uhhh. I am defeated." We did this a few times in a row, with each defeat becoming more of a cuddle into each other.

I never thought I'd like playing bad guy/good guy so much. But this is fun for the whole family, cause within a few minutes, the Pumpkin and Londo joined in with the kisses!