A kiss without a hug is like a flower without the fragrance. ~Proverb

We need to take the crib down on Saturday without fail.

For the past several months, E has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor of his room, because he likes to climb out of his crib. We've been meaning to take the crib all the way down, but since the parts of the crib will convert into the frame for his twin bed, and we don't really have anywhere to store the frame pieces except in his room, it seemed safer to just leave the crib up while we figured out if E would routinely fall off the mattress and onto the floor. (Turns out he stays mostly on the mattress most of the time. Sometimes his head hangs over the edge, but I'm not really concerned about him tumbling out of bed.)

Last night, around 3 am, I awoke to crying. This is not unusual. E is not a good sleeper at the best of times. But last night he had turned himself 90 degrees (so he was sleeping across the mattress) and had managed to get his head underneath the crib. Then he whacked his head against the underside and woke himself up.

Well, since we had to get up in about three hours anyhow, I brought him into our bed (as I often do) to sleep for the rest of the night. Slowly the crying subsided as I rubbed his head, and he laid his head down on the pillow with a big sigh. I was sure he was asleep, but then he started wiggling. And wiggling. And the next thing I know he has slipped his little arm into the space between my neck and the pillow and has tucked his head under my chin, and is giving me the biggest, tightest, most snuggly hug I think I've ever gotten from him. (He's usually more of a lean-in hugger.) Then he disengaged and hugged his dad. Then me again. Then daddy again. Then he flipped over, put his feet on my pillow, and fell fast asleep.