Ishu’s been a real hugger lately.

You can ask him for a hug and he’ll let you pick him up and he’ll lay his head on your shoulder and he’ll wrap his arms around you. Sometimes one of his hands will be squeezing your arm chub. And the other hand will be patting your back.

Or sometimes he’ll hold real still, letting you rock him back and forth. Those are usually the sleepy hugs.

Yesterday, Ankur was in the kitchen packing up his lunch to take to work. He was all ready to go and then bent down to say bye to Ishu.

“Ishu, can Papa have a hug?” Ankur asked.

Ishu moved in closer, allowing Ankur to pick him up.

His head immediately connected with Ankur’s shoulder. And his little arms wrapped around his papa’s arms.

He stayed like that for some time. Ankur smiled and nuzzled his little body.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to call work and tell them I’ll be late because I don’t want to stop hugging my baby,” he joked.

A few seconds later, Ishu let go and Ankur put him down.

“He’s such a loving baby,” Ankur said. “Such a loving baby. Because HE is so loved.”

I thought about that a lot yesterday. Watching how he watches us. Our interactions with one another. Our interactions with other people. I mean, babies mirror our emotional states. When we’re flustered, when we’re angry, when we’re happy, when we love.

And this baby?

Well, he loves hard. Because he is loved hard.