Why do I want to kiss you so much?

I remember having conversations with my wife about how affectionate I’d be with our son. I think the conversation started after I saw a father kiss his 10 year old son on the lips. I very vehemently promised I would never be that kind of dad. My wife protested, “You’re not going to kiss our son?” My response was, “Well certainly not on the lips! I’m more of a hugger anyway.”

My wife was pretty bothered by this anti-kiss stance I had taken. It’s just how I was raised. Where I come from kissing is not a father/son activity. Playing catch is. Fixin’ cars is. Heck, they even went so far as to have picnics for fathers and sons. But there was never any kissing at these picnics. 

So I put my foot down. No kissing. 

Then Chandler was born. 

Now whenever I’m holding Chandler, you might as well cue the Barry White music because I can’t keep my lips off of him. Don’t worry. It’s all closed mouth. I’m not getting all French on him. But I don’t know what it is. I just can’t seem to stop kissing this kid! 

I think it might have started with the Baby Bjorn. We always put Chandler in the Bjorn facing forward and the back of his head was right within kissing range. But I think originally I didn’t kiss him on purpose. I think he leaned his head back real fast and smacked me in the mouth and then I tried to take credit for that being a kiss. As my upper lip started to swell up I said, “See honey, I kiss him!”

But somewhere between that first accidental kiss and now, I have turned into a smooching machine. It’s like his head has a tractor beam that is firmly locked on my lips. 

It’s mostly back/side of the head and cheek kisses. I rarely kiss him on the mouth. But I won’t lie. I have experimented with that too. I wasn’t into it. Especially because he opens his mouth anytime anything comes near it and then an innocent kiss becomes a slightly more sultry and extremely more awkward situation. 

I don’t know how long this will last. Right now it is totally acceptable for me to kiss my baby. In fact, I even get some bonus points for it as I carry him around in public. But at some point it’s going to become a little weird. Right? Of course that timing will be partially dictated by Chandler’s acceptance level of my affection. I’m sure I will at some point here the words, “Dad! Get off me!” 

I hope that time comes. I hope there’s a day when he no longer wants me to kiss him. I don’t want him to be one of those kids who likes it when their Dad kisses them and says things like, “Daddy, give me a kiss won’t you?” in a weird British accent.

Maybe I should start weening Chandler off the kisses before it is too late. I think I’ll start by limiting him to 1,000 kisses per day.