Kisses make everything better.

I hate it when I see kids BARELY hurt themselves falling, bumping their heads or whatever and they waaaaaillll like they lost an arm just for the attention it gets them. I roll my eyes and fight the urge to go over and say, "Hey kid, man up! Geez!" So with Emerson, our approach was to not make a big deal about it unless he made a big deal about it. Now that doesn't mean that a legitimate injury doesn't warrant a little extra snuggle. But, kids are sly little suckers and if they find out that some big fat tears and whimpering gets them a, "OH MY POOR BABY," they catch on quick. Before you know it, junior starts wailing any time he merely touches the edge of the table. Nobody wants that kid. So far it seems to have worked because either Emerson has secretly participated in government experiments without my knowledge and is now the next indestructible Wolverine, or he's just become a tough little guy.

It all started when he began to crawl. I can't tell you how many times I watched him knock his noggin pretty hard on the coffee table. Internally I would wince, "Oooo, that one had to hurt." But I never said anything and 9 times out of 10 he would just keep truckin' like nothing happened. That 1 time out of 10 that he did get all scrunched face and let out a wail, I of course immediately went to soothe him with a kiss. Let me tell you, it's a funny thing that kiss. I'm actually beginning to think that my kisses may actually harbor some magical, healing powers. Seriously. I am magic. When Emerson hurts himself enough to produce tears, as soon as I kiss the boo-boo area, count it... 5-4-3-2-1 healed! Crying ceases, tears evaporate and he's off and running with a smile on his face. Every time. It's amazing.

However, it turns out Emerson is not above taking advantage of the kiss. Last night, after Emerson's bath we were all monkeying around on the bed. He loves to jump and throw himself into the fluffy comforter over and over again. One of those time he must've fallen a little to "hard" on his bottom and he started to whimper.

"What's wrong?" JD asks.
"Butt hurt," Emerson replies.
"You hurt your butt," confirms JD.
"Yeah. Kiss it." And he starts laughing at his own joke.

I thought we had a long way to go before he started to telling us to kiss his butt. What a little devil.