HAK

Everyone loves to hug and kiss babies.

They’re soft and cuddly and when they snuggle fuzzy little heads into your neck and shoulder, you can’t resist leaning over and kissing them.

When you blow raspberry kisses on their bellies and they giggle, you do it again. And again.

When they reach for your face, you catch their hands and nibble at their fingers.

Twelve-year-olds? Not so much. We’re long past getting kisses in the schoolyard; now I don’t always get a kiss before school at all. Kid One is more likely to friend me on a social networking site than to hug me when she gets out of school, or text me “HAK.”

Even Kid Two doesn’t want to be too close to mom when his friends are around.

But Kid One and Kid Two both love to hug and kiss Baby Three just as much as I do. Seems that babies offer an acceptable outlet for the urge to be affectionate even for big kids. Of course, one of Kid Two’s favorite ways to interact with Baby Three is to let her pull his hair … guess it takes all kinds.

The thing that I have learned watching the three of them is that the bigger kids still want and need affection … even if they won’t admit it and sometimes don’t even know it. As important as the hugs and kisses for babies are a quick backrub, high five or a quick kiss on the top of the head.

Kid Two has picked up a habit of making it a joke. “Mom,” he’ll say, all seriousness, “there’s something I have to tell you …” sounding like he broke the computer or let the dog out of the yard. Then he breaks into a grin and says, “I really love you.”

HAK indeed.