The Yin and Yang of Mr. Z

At 7 years old, Mr. Z is either sappy sweet or incredibly insensitive.

With me - he is usually the first. What can I say? The kid loves me - in a crazy way. He can't get enough of the hand holding, snuggling, hugging, etc. He is a bit territorial with my affection - when The Hub and I demonstrate a public display of affection, Mr. Z comes running and forcefully inserts himself in the middle of the parental embrace.

In fact, last night Mr. Z was around the corner from where we were snuggling on the sectional. Yelling "I hear hugging!" he ran around the corner and joined us as a third spoon.

Sometimes it is a bit over the top but 99% of the time it melts my heart. Tonight while I was tucking him into bed he gave me a big smooch on the lips and I asked:

"Are you ever going to be too old to kiss me goodnight?"

He gave me a tight squeeze while he answered.

"Well - maybe when I am 12...no 15...no 16, 17, 18 or 19 or 20.... Okay - how about 25??? But I am not going to worry about that now because it is a REALLY long time away."

But remember - the boy can also be incredibly insensitive.

Yesterday was Father's Day. As we sat down to dinner I asked the kids to go around the table and tell The Hub their favorite thing about him.

Mr. Z took the lead:

"Ok - me first. The very best thing about Dad is that he is really good at grilling meat. And NOW I will tell you the worst thing about him...."

So there it is, the Yin and Yang of a complicated boy.

And in case anyone is wondering - the worst thing about The Hub - (according to Mr. Z) is that he sometimes yells.

And thank goodness for that because Heaven knows that I can not be the only one doing the yelling around here.