Flying Tackles And Other Nonstandard Affection Expressions

With strong doses of his dad's counterculturalism and his mom's whimsicalness, it should be no surprise that Quinn comes up with his own ways of doing things. And we don't discourage it much either, letting him mostly express himself in whatever fashion he desires so long as it's not offending anybody. Sometimes though, the things we bear and grin don't fall into the grinning and bearing category for all.

One way Quinn likes to express affection is The Flying Tackle. It even has verbal accompaniment now, with a spirited "Tack!" uttered as he flops onto you. Unfortunately some of his playmates don't quite understand this behaviour, and, lacking the requisite size that we have to muster as defence, especially don't appreciate the involuntary physical relocation.

Another affection manifestion is bossiness. "Up up up", he says, tugging a sleeve, or pushing/pulling, or thrusting a toy into someone's hand to play with. Bec and I giggle, accept our Assigned Toy and dutifully play. It happens less so with playmates.

Quinn's also a big hugger. Not with just anyone, but with some playmates that he sees regularly and has come to recognize and know. Perhaps a little oddly, it never seems to go well. Kids are either busy doing something or they don't want some drooly kid draping themselves into their personal space. Of course he's not so much into hugging those that thirst for it, like parents, grandparents, etc.

Showing all his toys to the object of his affection is one of his more effective tactics with playmates. However, it was less effective with Caitlin's dog (although he stands in for it bravely) and our cat (she just flees in terror at any sighting of him...).

Smiles and laughing at everything they do is also a good one.

It seems a shame to train some of them out of him, but I suppose imbuing him with the whens and wheres of things is a part of growing up. It just goes to show you, though, that unappreciated behaviours in those around you might have a different meaning than you think. The trick is to do the imbuing without becoming an 'unbuing' as the ability to feel and show affection is the most important thing of all.