Nothing gets me gushing and feeling loved like getting a hug, especially a random hug for no reason other than the fact that someone wanted to reach out and wrap their arms around you, and of course two armed hugs are the best. Sure the one arm wrap around is nice, but not nearly as nice as a full on two armed embrace.

My adopted stepson was very uncomfortable with physical contact for the longest time, and hugs were not something that he was comfortable with at all. He finally relented to leaning in with his head, while wrapping one arm around you, but two armed hugs were few and far between. However I am happy to report that after coming back from our wonderful and relaxing family cruise, he has been full of two armed hugs, and it has made my heart soar!

The other night I told him that he could have some extra computer time, and instead of running off to his room as he would normally do, he instead came running over to me saying thank you, and suddenly wrapped both arms around me and gave me the nicest hug that I have gotten since he was nine years old and I married his father. It was so full of love that I could actually feel it, and simply sent me over the moon.

He is is not only more open emotionally towards me and his father, but his little brother as well. He has hugged his little brother, put cartoons on for him, gotten drinks for him if I am busy and over all just been an outstanding big brother. The thing that made me stop in my tracks happened earlier today. We have a little toy vending machine that hold small pieces of candy, which we have used this year for our youngest son's Halloween candy so that we can keep track of how much candy he is eating on a daily basis. This morning when I went into the kitchen, I noticed that their was a piece of candy missing, and the only one that had been in the kitchen before me that morning was my adopted stepson. We had an issue last year with him eating all of his brother's candy in the mornings when no one else was up, as well as issues in general with him sneaking candy, and I was instantly upset that history was repeating itself. I stewed all morning long at the food store, wondering what I was going to do about it and how I was going to get across to him that it is not okay to take something that does not belong to you without asking the owner, no matter how small it is or seems.

Yet to my surprise when I calmly asked him in the car on the way to get his little brother from school what he had for breakfast this morning, he pulled the candy out of his pocket and handed it to me saying " are you taking about this?" He then apologized saying that he looked for a quarter this morning to put in the machine before taking the candy but couldn't find one. And then on his way out to the bus stop he realized that he shouldn't have taken the candy and stuck it in his pocket instead of downing it while waiting for the bus. I was speechless, absolutely dumbfounded, as he continued to say " see I am learning...it just took me half way to the bus stop before I got it, but at least I got it!"

I couldn't have been more proud of him at that moment if he had found a cure for global warming! It seems that our vacation has done all of us a world of good, perhaps it was all of the extra family time and hugs from the extended family on the cruise ship, the relaxing time spent in another country, or simply him growing up and feeling more secure in his family every day. Whatever it is, I am thankful for the wonderful positive changes that I see in my adopted stepson day by day!

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