Love

Love means a lot of different things. To children love is expressed in numerous ways. I know my children love me by more than their words. Their actions speak louder than anything they vocalize. However, lately I’m beginning to wonder if they are trying to send me a not so subtle hint! A few weeks ago I asked Cullen if he loved me and he said “I love football”. Then last night we were asking him if he loved Granddaddy (my dad, who Cullen adores!), me, Daddy, or Emerson and to each question his response was “I love Nena”. Well, I guess that shows me where I stand! Then today this happened:
We were in a restaurant with my parents and my brother’s family. Emerson was trying to convince my Mom to let her go home with her, partly because she wanted to play with my niece who she thought was also going to my parents and the other reason is just because her favorite person in the whole wide world is my mom. Just to demonstrate exactly, here’s the conversation from this afternoon.
My niece talking to me: “I want to go home with you.”
Me: jokingly “You want to move in with me?”
Niece: “Yes.”
Emerson: “I want to go to Nena’s house.”
Me: “You do? Are you just going to move in with her?” (She had been there almost the entire weekend)
Emerson: “Yes.”
Me: “But what would I do, I want a little girl?”
Emerson: pointing to my niece “Here’s a little girl for you!”
So as you can see my children have made it clear that I rate under football and grandparents. I thought that kids were still supposed to love their parents at this age. Apparently I’m losing ground with them already. I’m going to have to start doing like the grandparents and bribing them with candy, ice cream and prizes!!!