Say Hey, I Love You.

Sitting at dinner tonight, Oliver reached out and smoothed my hair. In that moment, it dawned on me, we are teaching our children not only how to live, but how to love. The way we love our children is the way they will love others, the way they will love their children. I've noticed recently, Oliver, little copy-cat that he is, copying the way I comfort him. If I mention that I don't feel well, he will come over with the sweetest look on his face and start scratching my back, smoothing my hair, patting my face and saying, "Everything will be alright, Mommy. I always make you feel better." And it's true, he always does.
What is so profound is that this child, who is only 41 months old, can register my love and reciprocate. And it makes my heart burst to know that the little things I do for him, like absentmindedly scratching his back as we watch Alvin and the Chipmunks for the umpteenth time, is expressing my love in a way he understands. I make him feel better. And one day he will grow up (sniff) and love his children and partner in the same way. It's just another little way that the love we have for our children makes us immortal. The love we teach will live on, will comfort children of future generations, will make my great-grand-children know that everything, will indeed, be alright.