The hug Nazi

It looks like I have a hug Nazi on my hands. My son has become strangely reminiscent of Seinfeld's Soup Nazi with his famous line "No soup for you".

At bed time we do a last call for hugs and everyone serves up a final round. The three of us even do a group hug just before his head hits the pillow. This has been a great ritual in our family. It has gotten so good that many times he now calls out "group hug" and says great stuff like "I love you guys" as he tries to get his arms around both our necks.

Recently on a night like any other, it was that time again. When I went in for my hug I was stopped dead in my tracks with a scowl and "No hugs for daddy!". That was a killer. Doesn't he understand that those hugs are the best part of my day? Like all the New Yorkers on Seinfeld, I would stand in line for those hugs and never get tired of them. Then just to throw some salt on the wound, he finished me off with "Hugs for mama" and a mischievous laugh.

So now we have a new game: he barks "No hugs for daddy!", I pretend to cry, from which he derives a big laugh as he runs to mama to say "I made daddy cry." He knows I can't get enough and he relishes the power!