Learning to say, "I love you"

Finnegan has been carrying on conversations with us for several weeks now. He tells us stories, most of them we understand and some we don't--all of them entertaining.

Lately, I've been spending as much time with him as possible after he gets home from school. We play, then get dinner ready, eat, go to the potty, take a bath and get ready for bed.

My favorite time is after reading stories because that's when we snuggle and I sing him some songs. He really enjoys this time together and so do I. I have missed Finnegan's nearness to me so much that after Elijah was born I would cry at night knowing that I could not be near him.

Last night as we snuggled and I sang him some songs we whispered in the darkness of his room and I told him that I loved him. I also told him that he was a beautiful boy and that we were so happy to have him in our lives. After singing a few more songs, Finnegan put his hands on my cheeks and looked directly into my eyes and said, "I love your face mommy."

It wasn't a prompted comment and it made me cry for the sheer joy of being loved by my child. In that moment I wanted to protect him from all the ills of the world and hold him close. I also realized that we don't know how much time we'll have together and that each day we have should be our best.

I hope that Finnegan will look back on his childhood and know that he was greatly loved by his parents and that he has the ability to love and to be loved.