April 2, 2006 ~ I snuck out of bed earlier than the boys yesterday morning, something which very rarely happens (they have a tendency to wake as soon as I even think about sneaking out). I had a few minutes to sip on coffee, catch up on a few blogs, and check email. I’d just gone to the living room to grab the camera so I could transfer some photos, when Spencer ran out of the bedroom. He stopped in the hall, bent his little body in half, and peered into the office, obviously expecting to see me there. I called to him from the living room. It took him a second to see me (though I was right in front of him at the other end of the hall), but once he did, he gave me a big, happy smile and ran down the hall, arms swinging. As he got to me, the little arms went up in the air for me to pick him up.
His brother came out minutes later, but he didn’t come out running. He came out crawling down the hall… a crocodile. But as he reached us, he declared that he was a “hugging crocodile,” and I was smothered in hugs. They ran down the hall together to do that again. Thus started the “hugging animals” game. They would run back down the hall. Mathew would proclaim what animal they were, and they would come down the hall making appropriate sounds and gestures until they were close enough to jump on top of me and cover me in wonderful little boy hugs. They were monkeys. And then cheetahs. And then eagles (very slow eagles). And then elephants. And then frogs (but they were frogs that hopped in circles and got dizzy and fell down). And then flamingos (which, curiously, say, “floop, floop, floop” as they walk on one leg). And butterflies. It was a charming, beautiful, innocent, happy, and very huggy game!
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