You give the best hugs. There’s really no contest.
There are people who hug well and those who don’t. Some people hug and pat (RIP Gramps). Some people side hug. Some people hug with limp arms (Courtney). Some people go for the neck strangle (Aunt Nina). All hugs are good but few are great. Probably the best person at hugs I know is a guy named Anders that I work with. He gives anyone a hug who wants one, and it’s a measured full body squeeze. It’s a gift.
Most women are huggers, to varying degrees of comfort, as that’s the American norm for women greeting women they know and men greeting women they know. Cheek kisses never made it across the Atlantic. A lot of men aren’t huggers by choice, but this is a mistake. Hugs are an expression of affection and respect. Everyone needs more of that.
You sir, put all 32 lbs of your weight into every hug you give. Even when I lift you in the air for a hug you seem to summon twice your weight to slam into my chest. When you hug you get your arms out wide and around. You squint your eyes and grin big. You smash your face into your recipient. Most important: You hold your squeeze and try to see just how much more you can try to crush. It’s a masculine hug because it’s about showing affection with your growing strength.
You’ve been the subject of a lot of hugs lately because you’re doing so well at being potty trained and generally listening. When you’re tired, you can go off a cliff into psycho-two-year-old-scream-mode, but aside from that you’re usually doing something deserving a hug or in a cuddly mood and initiate hugs almost as a form of “Hello!”
The real trick to all of this will be keeping the hugs up as you grow into a bigger guy. Hugs tend to fall off for a lot of young boys for a lot of reasons. My recommendation is to keep hugs on the regular with people you love and respect and they’ll always appreciate it. You’ll never get too big to hug your old man.
Love, Dad