“Talk to the animals.”
Rex Harrison, Dr. Doolittle
Do you remember Dr. Doolittle’s ‘Push-me Pull-you?’ I think it’s going to be my daughter’s new nick-name. You’d think that when Fig is feeling sick, all she’d want is a good snuggle with Mama. Nope. She wants contact, but not too much contact. She’s very particular about how much of her body is being touched at any given time. For instance, she likes to sit on my lap, but she doesn’t want my arms around her. When I’m nursing her, she doesn’t like my top arm to be resting on her body. Tricky. Sometimes she’ll even squirm to get off of my lap, then cry and hold her arms out to me because she wants me to pick her up. I can’t figure out what it is that she wants at times, and it seems that she doesn’t know what she wants either. Pick me up or put me down? Push-me Pull-you.
I know it’s not helpful to compare my daughters, but it’s amazing to me that two girls who have been raised with the same amount of contact and love can have such different appetites for affection. Pip loves nothing more than to be cuddled; the closer the better, whereas Fig is affectionate, but it has to be on her terms.
On Halloween night Fig went to sleep at 6:oo pm. When she awoke at 5:00 a.m. the next morning, I thought she might be up for the day, so I brought her into my bed. My typically un-snuggly girl turned to me and said, “Hug,” then she wrapped her little arms around me and patted me on the back. It didn’t last long, but I’ll take what I can get.