Our cuddle bug

Raina has an assortment of nicknames, and she loves them all. But, if you ask her, her favorite is "Cuddle Bug." And she is a little cuddle bug. Our fiercely strong and independent little miss loves being loved, and her day is never right unless she gets an appropriate amount of cuddling in. She begins each day cuddling with Eric on the couch while watching the news. (She comments on Barack Obama daily, and immediately closes her eyes when the Maury Povitch TV show ads come on.) Driving home from daycare, about five minutes from home, she'll state, "I miss Momma Cow" and then her first priority at home is to cuddle and reconnect with Momma Cow for a while. She spends a goodly amount of time cuddled up in an adult lap, reading books and telling stories about her day, and she is never happier then when she's all tucked up with a parent under a blanket.

Yesterday, Raina was sitting in my lap and we were talking. She told me that she preferred "stay at home" days versus "go to school" days because she got to spend more time cuddling. I thought that was sweet, and merited a little more hugging. Then she turned to me and asked to do quiet time together. By that, she meant "can I fall asleep here in your lap with your hugging me?" She happily went to sleep and napped in my lap for the next two hours.

All the Whompton adults agree: cuddling with Raina during the winter is a wonderful thing, as she is quite a furnace in our cold, cold house. We'll see if she still wants to cuddle this much when July rolls around again!