I find myself saying “I Love You” to The Texan and The Boy regularly. Several times a day in fact. The Texan will argue that I tell The Boy I love him more often. He may be right.
As a mother, I want The Boy to know that I love him unconditionally. I reinforce this by letting him know several times a day. As he gets older, he’ll probably be embarrassed and not tell me the same in return. But as of today,, we’re BFFs and I love that.
This morning, I woke to the whispering sound of The Boy’s voice “I love you Mommy.” [pause] “Mommy? I love you.” And then he pried my eyelids open with his tiny fingers. I replied that I loved him, too, and that the sun woke up too early today so we needed to go back to sleep. He didn’t believe me.
And so we climbed out of bed shortly after Punxsutawney Phil failed to see his shadow. Early spring? We’ll see.
I mentioned earlier this week that my one little word for this year is present. And I realize that I may not be as present in my marriage as I could be. It’s 11:30 am, and I honestly can’t recall if I’ve told The Texan that I love him today or not. I have so much to work on for 2013.
Who do you tell that you love them more often – your spouse or your children?
This post was written as part of BlogHer’s NaBloPoMo February 2013 challenge. Today’s prompt was “When was the last time you said, “I love you.”?” Sign ups to participate in this month’s Blog Roll are open until February 5. You can still check out the participating bloggers and the daily prompts. Daily writing prompts can often become a great source of inspiration and encourage you to write about things you haven’t previously explored.
My toddler hears it the most since she also says it randomly throughout the day. Baby hears it but hell hear it more as he grows. Hubby … Eesh about every other day?
The poor husbands out there! It seems that generally they hear it the least. I’m working on telling The Texan more often, I know that he’d appreciate hearing it!
I can’t say, it depends on the day, who is here, and what I’m doing. I do try to tell my kids several times a day, and always feel awful if I’m “too busy” and forget. Thanks for the reminder to make this a priority!
It’s funny how the little things that mean so much often get pushed to the side. Here’s to slowing down and participating in the parts of life that really matter!
Have a great day!
I think being present can be hard, especially when we have those little ones around our feet all the time. But I agree that it’s important to take a moment at least once each day to connect. Usually when my husband comes home, in the middle of him handing me stuff or me reporting what’s going on around the house, one of us will pause and say “Hi”. We try to remember to take that moment to let the other know we see them and not just get lost in the busyness of the day. So I may say it to my children more often because they are in my presence more hours of the day, but I make sure my husband knows every day how much he means to me.
This year, as I focus on my one little word (present), I’m making more time for myself and for my husband. We both need our “alone” time, but being together is important too. I’m also working on remembering to tell him that I love him, rather than showing it through actions.
Have a great day!
I am sure I tell my daughter that I love her more than my husband- partly because I am home with her all day so I do see her for more hours in a day. But I try to make sure I tell him at least once a day! My daughter tells me all day that she loves me, it’s a very cute stage that I hope she never grows out of!
Isn’t it wonderful when your little one says “I Love You”. Every time I hear it, my heart melts!
Have a wonderful day!
My daughter liked to pry my eyes open, too. It generally got me a jab in the eyeball, too, lol.
Dawn
So happy that I’m not the only one who nearly loses an eye on a fairly consistent basis!
I love it when kids do that…just snuggle up and whisper “I love you” . I agree little ones need to have our love reinforced in diff ways.
My son has been saying it so much lately. He’s 3.5 and quite cuddly. I don’t want this stage to ever end!
It’s funny – I too tell the Daughter that I love her probably more than I tell the Husband. I don’t know. I guess it’s because she’s a child and I fear that since the Husband and I are adults we don’t need the constant affirmation where as she is still young, still building up her self-esteem and those three words are probably the most important words for a child to do that and be confident that when they fail in life (which they will for how else will they ever grow and succeed?) that they will always have the love of their parents.
You are in my head Cathy! I think that is the same reason that I’m constantly telling The Boy, and The Texan misses out. Still, I am going to work on telling The Texan more often as I know that it is nice to hear.
Happy Monday – hope your week is a great one!
This reminds me of my earlier years, when my daughter was young and so was my marriage.
I can give you a couple of things to keep in mind that I hope will serve you:
-as embarrased as the Boy will be in a few years, watch for micro expressions, they are there and he loves it
– men are odd that way, they are not jealous of the devotion we have for our kids and still, they will bring it up all the time. I think it is more fascination than anything else. Some men even like it because they did not have open “I love you” back home. Just smile and give him a big hug, that ought of surprise the heck out of him.
Thanks for the tips Roxana! And you may be right about the fascination part.
Enjoy your day and thanks so much for stopping by!
I’m guilty of telling my daughter I love her so much more often than my husband. I can’t wait to have her learn to say it back.
Oh the first time they say it is the sweetest! Your heart will melt!
Probably my son, because I’m home with him all day and it’s hard not to say it a lot!
HA! I agree, it’s so hard not to say it to the little ones. I’m working on saying it to the bigger people in my life, too!
My husband and I just had this conversation the other day! We used to say, “I love you” all the time. Now we don’t seem to say it as often. We still show it, but we need to say it more. We also talked about telling our son more often. he’s a teen now, but he still needs to hear it!
As I was writing this post, I was thinking about how much our lives change and how busy we are. Sadly, that makes us over look many of the little things.
Hopefully this post will serve as a reminder to all of us to take the three seconds to say I Love You!
Have a wonderful day!
I totally feel you! I tell my kids I love you much more then my husband. I’m working on that though. In the last year, I’ve realized that the closer my relationship is with my husband and the better my marriage the easier and better my parenting is. I’m doing OLW this year too and this month my focus is loving on my husband.
That’s awesome! My word for this year is present. I really want to be more present in my life – and experience it, instead of tweeting/facebooking everything. Since starting on January 1, I’ve really enjoyed my life more – and we’ve been hit with some not-so-fun things.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your Project Life album, and hope to share mine here (once I figure it all out! I just started the digital version a few days ago!).
Have a great week.
i tell my husband each day that i love him even after 38 years of marriage…i also tell our 4 year grandson when i see him or talk to him on the phone…he is our heart!
WOW, Polly! 38 years of marriage. That is beautiful. Unfortunately, that is so rare these days. You and your husband are very lucky to have each other!
Enjoy your weekend – and 38 more years together!
I think I say it to both my husband and my kids equally. My sister teases my because we say it so much inour house. Everytime I talk to one of them on the phone I always say I love you before I hang up. I just don’t think you can say it too much.
That’s great, Tammy. I’m really working on telling my husband more frequently. I know he loves to hear it.
I am not ashamed to admit that I tell my kids that I love them more than I tell the hubby, he gets the I cooked your favorite meal that no one else likes, because I love you. I’m big on actions speak louder than words and the kids are picking that up too
It’s important to show through actions, too. I know that my husband really likes to hear it, that’s why I’m working on saying it to him more.
My dh and I tell each other “I love you” several times a day! He gets picked on at work sometimes because he will tell me he loves me over the phone, while I’m there for my lunch break, etc. LOL He doesn’t care! With dd, we have a game where dh and I will “fight” over who loves her more and she LOVES it! I always whisper in her ear when I go to bed that I love her (we co-sleep) so that’s the last thing she hears from me every day!
That’s great! I really need to be more conscious about telling my husband that I love him.