Kiss Army

Ben has started a new thing which at once is both cute and painful. I'll pick him up and then he'll kiss me. But he doesn't know how to properly kiss yet, so basically he just licks my cheek or chin. When I realized he wasn't just doing it because he was hungry and had become a zombie baby who was trying to eat my face off, I was very touched. "My baby boy wants to kiss me!!!" Cue the warming of my heart.

However (isn't there always a "however"?), to get leverage for this "kiss," and to bring his face close to mine, he has to grab something. And the only things within grabbing distance are things on my body. I never realized how much loose skin I have on my neck or how very much it can hurt when tiny fingers dig into my scalp and pull my hair.

And now that he has teeth, there's a whole new dimension to the kiss. Not only do I get a face full of slobber, but I also get very tiny, but very sharp points in my chin. Still, baby kiss!