This weekend my niece came to visit. As part of her nightly ritual, she embarks on a stall technique where she has to use the potty, ask for water, be read to, be tucked in, be sung to, be rocked, and so forth and so on. The biggest winner she’s discovered is the ritual of “hugs and kisses” where, dressed in her pajamas, she gets to visit one last time with each person in the house and give them a hug and a kiss.
It’s eight o’clock, I’m working on the computer, and in comes this little girl who surprises me by wrapping her arms around me and gives my side a big kiss.
Just as she’s about to wander off, I say, “hold on there, don’t *I* get to give you a hug and kiss too?”
She looks at me, says yes and takes a step forward. Apparently I wasn’t fast enough, because she doubles over in exaggerated desperation palms up stating, “We have to hurry!!! My mom’s counting!”
Sure enough, I later learned that mommy had imposed a 60 second limit on her dishing out of affections, but none the less the comment made me feel kinda cheap. Funny. Usually guys dig that.