Affection

One day when I woke up, I could hear Leni patter down the tiled hallway and enter the toilet. Once he was done washing his hands, he made his way towards our room just as I was about to open the door. There he was much calmer than normal with his bed hair looking up at me with a little smile on his face. I reached out to touch his hair and he turned to walk away but as he did, he said, your beautiful.

Did my heart explode? Yes. Did I want to pick him up and hold him tight? Yes. The only problem with that is that Leni prefers to be the one that makes first contact. If he is ready to cuddle or needs some TLC, he will come to you. If we reach out and attempt to cuddle him when he isn’t ready or in the mood it will do one of two things. If not medicated it will flip his hyper switch and if he is medicated and he isn’t in the mood he won’t reciprocate your hug, kiss or touch and will likely get very annoyed.

When Leni was a toddler, he was super affectionate. He always wanted to kiss you on the lips so much so that he would grab your face in both hands and plant a big wet smooth right on your smacker and it was sweet. He loved climbing onto you and nestling in for cuddles and he loved holding your hand. He would often walk around saying I love you to everyone in the house and he would always climb into our bed in the mornings for a cuddle before we got up.

Aside from being super sweet at times he can be so darn funny and very entertaining. He has these little idiosyncrasies that really set him apart from other 8-year-olds and will sometimes say things that you least expect to hear from someone his age. He will pick things up off YouTube and say them over and over or try and reenact something he saw in a video that might raise a few eyebrows because you have no idea where it came from. For example, a few weeks ago, he was bending over and waving his bum in the air. It was silly and harmless and if you didn’t know he was trying to copy an airplane that he had seen in a video dancing you would honestly think he was twerking or being rude.

Some of his mannerisms and the way he does things have often made me question whether he sits somewhere on the spectrum. He doesn’t like crowds and he dislike’s loud noises unless he’s the one making them but more on that in another post.

A child with ADHD can be so unpredictable but if your around them all the time they really do give off certain vibes that with some thought can help make life for you as the care giver or parent much easier. This morning when Leni came to our room, and he said I was beautiful I knew we were going to have a good morning. When he finishes school and runs to me, and stands close whilst we wait for Jack, I know we are going to have a good afternoon.

Despite all the tough times and the mood swings we still have plenty of moments that are pure joy and I really try hard to hold onto those moments when they do come along. When Leni is laughing so hard that he cries, or he grabs you for a cuddle or he sits close to you on the lounge you grab that bull by the horns and cherish every second.