I love your smell

The day after I returned from Padang, a two week assignment, Nate came running to me in the airport. This is just one of the ways children (or at least my child) reacts to me when I leave for any extended period of time. Nate would either Hug me real tight and rest his chin on my shoulder for more than 10 minutes and hug me really tight when I try to let him go, or he would stare at me with some anger towards me for "abandoning" him.

The reaction at the airport where he ran towards me was quite novel for me. And later that night, he just sat up in bed, staring at me, and poking me with his finger as if to see if I was real. Too tired to keep me awake and I think he dozed off after a while anyways. That reaction may sound quite normal to many already with kids (it was new for me), but I got the real unexpected reaction the next morning when I was dressing up for work.

As I was half dressed, nate came and started hugging me with his cheeks on my belly and smelling me, not saying a word. He also started sucking on his lower lip ( a sign of distress ). He wouldn't let go. For a whole 15 minutes and he even tried to wiggle his was into my "womb" area. I take it as a very primate reaction... trying to settle into your mother's womb, the comfort zone. How bizzare.