snortykiss

for some reason, my son roque, now four years old, would prefer to be kissed instead of kiss relatives and friends as a greeting. he would offer his head, and very occasionally his cheek. i don't know why. i could only guess that maybe it's because he used to get overwhelmed when he was kissed so "brutally", with gusto, with much "gigil"...

i feel so embarrassed when our family is in a gathering and all the other children readily greet the adults with a kiss whereas roque has to be prodded to do so. when we're lucky, he would offer his head willingly. but when someone sneakily steals a kiss on him, he would wipe it off immediately. sometimes with a grunt and a frown from him, or worse, he would mutter, "gross!" aaargh! i feel like being swallowed up by the earth those times. i psych myself up, it must be a stage, part of exerting his individuality and control... but still.

lately though, i accidentally discovered a technique to turn this around. we were rough playing one time and i suddenly snorted on his cheek. he laughed his usual belly laugh and snorted back at my cheek. then he goes, "can i kiss you on your nose?" then he snorted on my nose. more belly laughs. "can i kiss you on your chin?" snort-snort. more belly laughs. and we kept on snorting each other to my delight and his.

so now my usual sniffykiss is reserved for arianna. and my new snortykiss is for roque.