Saying "I love you"

Nick had slipped out of his bed, yet again, but he was being so cute that I didn't have the heart to say "night night, sweet Nick"--the words that always make him run to either his bed or mine and throw himself under the covers.

I was sitting at the dining table working . . . okay, I was harvesting some trees on Farmville, but I was going to start doing some work soon, really . . . and Nick climbed behind me in my chair as he loves to do. He leaned around and put his lips on my cheek, the trademark Nicholas pucker-free kiss, and then decided to climb up on my shoulders. I was struck by how funny a sight it must have been, Nick perched on my shoulders as I "worked" at the computer, and I momentarily thought about how I might capture the sight on my camera phone without letting Nick slip from my shoulders.

That's when he said, "Tee-cle!" My phonetic spelling *so* does not do justice to the the cuteness that is Nick saying "tickle."

"Hey, how am I supposed to tickle you when you're up there?" I jokingly asked. And then, with my right arm carefully wrapped around his leg in case he lost his balance, I reached my left arm behind me to tickle Nick's ribs.

He laughed and then said, "I wuf you."

(Okay, my eyes filled with tears again just typing that.)

Maybe he was saying 'I love you' because I say it to him all the time when I'm tickling and cuddling with him. Maybe he was repeating the words he'd heard so many times before without understanding what they stood for.

But one thing I do know: Nicholas knows what it means to love. My little boy loves me.

And tonight he said the words. They are the most beautiful three words I have ever, ever heard.