Ethan doesn’t do cuddles!
Well not ‘normal’ cuddles anyway but he is a very affectionate little boy and I treasure all the moments we have.
Why have I decided to blog about this today? Well to be honest it’s something that I have wanted to blog about for a while because I really struggled with at first when the realisation hit me that Ethan doesn’t give me massive bear hugs and it did hit me hard but its part of Ethan’s personality and that’s what makes him our special little boy.
What brought these feelings to the surface again today is that I received a cuddle from a little girl that I really wasn’t expecting. It was our first time attending a drop in morning organised by the hospital for children under four with additional needs. I had never met this little girl before so I was very taken aback when she walked right up to me flung her harms around my neck and gave me a massive cuddle. I cuddled her back and her mum apologised to me but I told her not to be silly as it was a pleasant unexpected surprise.
It did upset me a little as it reminded me how much I would love this to be how Ethan greeted me when I come home from work but I know that I have to be grateful for how affectionate Ethan can be when its on his terms as some parents can’t even touch their children let alone dream of any type of cuddle.
Ethan’s cuddles
For Ethan its all about touching our heads, if he touches your head you know he likes you. Whilst we were on holiday I actually captured it in a photo as when I try to explain it to people they just don’t understand. This is Ethan showing his daddy how much he loves him…
Ethan does also back into us for cuddles and when Ethan is happy to I can ask for a cuddle and Ethan will lay onto my chest whilst I wrap my arms around him.
I love my Ethan cuddles and hopefully he loves them too…
that is so sweet. seeing that photo has reminded me of when J was little (about aged 1-2) he used to hug with his head. He would make an ‘ahhh’ noise (like a sweet ahh hug noise i mean not a horrified aarrggh noise) and that was what he thought a hug was. I wonder if Ethan will move onto ‘proper’ hugs as he gets older? I just assumed with J it had been an age thing but seeing this makes me wonder if it was because of his ASD but we never knew then. xxx
Ethan was two in this photo so that is really interesting. He also kisses like this, sometimes with a kiss sound. I thought he just did it like this because when I used to feed him in the high chair I used to say give me a cuddle and put our heads together. Would love to know if other ASD children cuddle like this x