Life With Ella – Becoming More Affectionate

I don’t know if all moms feel this way, or if it holds more meaning to adoptive moms, but when my daughter initiates hugging, holding or cuddling it just takes my breath away. Part of me goes “Yes! She’s attaching!” and the rest just melts. It’s been within the last few weeks that Ella has really started to become more affectionate and I’m just eating it up.

It all started with her treasured books. She loves to “read” and we would always sit on the floor or the couch and flip through her books. Then one day she decided on her own to climb into my lap and get all snuggly to read. Now, to Ella, this is the only acceptable way to read a book.

She always gets tons of hugs and kisses when she wakes up, but recently she started hugging back. And I mean arms around the neck, squeezing hugs. She gets a little confused with “Give Mama a kiss” and “Hug Mama”, but she’s always understood “Give Mama some love,” and she nuzzles right in for some lovin’.

Then, to top it all off, we were standing in line at Kohl’s to make a return last week and as I was holding her on my hip, she turned her little head, nuzzled into my neck and squeezed my shoulder tight. She wasn’t being shy or unsure (noone was talking to her but me,) she was showing pure affection and I certainly ate it right up.

She’s always seemed to tolerate our affection in the past. She was happy to have it, but so busy and was always moving. She had little time for snuggling. For the past few months she’s been very loving towards our cats and her stuffed animals. Even pictures of animals in books get some love from Ella (she leans into the picture as if to kiss it and goes “mmmmm” – it’s really too cute!) Who knows what happened; maybe our constant doting on her just made her give in, or maybe she’s really feeling comfortable with us. Whatever it is, there is nothing sweeter than the baby giving Mama some love!

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