My son Austin is very affectionate.
One of the many reason I stepped back from my career was to spend more time (and there was number 3 for today), with Austin. Due to his birthday and the way the school system works, his birthday in January at the beginning of the year he is not going to start Junior Kindergarten until this coming September. I could not think of a better way to use the profits of the sale of house, and make lemonade out of the lemons that was the end of my second marriage.
So for as long as I can financially afford to I would like stay home with my son and continue to have the awesome adventures we have each and every day.
One of things that I have noticed about Austin is how affectionate he has become. As a man raising a boy I have not been afraid show him my emotions, both good and bad. To hug and kiss him every morning and every night, to massage his back when he asks, we wrestle throughout the day, piggyback rides… I guess the point I am trying to say there is lots of physical contact throughout the day. I am trying to teach him to display and share his emotions as well. This would be far different than the way I was raised, but I have also learned that our world, society changes so much from generation to generation. As a father and dad, I need to change, to evolve, to grow as well.
I want Austin, I want all my children to have the ability to express themselves, to express their emotions in a positive and healthy way. To express these emotions and not to bury them away (and there was number 4 for today) as I have done for so many years.
I have noticed his affections towards me have dramatically increased over the past few months. Several times a day he will run up and hug and kiss me out of the blue. He will be laying on the couch and randomly say, “Daddy, I love you!” He always seems to do this at exactly the right time, when I need it the most.
I decided to keep track how many times for a couple of days just to see how often it was happening. The final tally as indicated above was 15! Fifteen times yesterday Austin ran up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss, just an amazing display of affection between a son and his father.
My absolute favorite was him running up to me at full speed while I sat on the couch looking down and the top of his head collided with my nose at full speed. Ouch. He giggled and laughed and ran away as I did the same thing despite the bonk to my nose. How can one possible get upset when his son is displaying his affection towards me?
The sad truth of the matter is that the Ed Dillon of six months ago I most likely would have gotten upset.
The that to me has been the growth I was hoping for when I began this journey of self discovery. And that to me is the reason I now write this blog, to share what I have learned with whomever is interested in reading about my adventures.
It’s time to sign off as Austin wants to wrestle. Have a great day everyone!
#SixKidChaos 