Ricci; Quite the snuggler...

A morning in Ricci's world looks and sounds a little like this:
"Mommy, mommy, I want you!" Ricci snuggles up to me tightly, and says, "I lllooove you, mommy... I want breaaakfast." I slowly turn over and get out of bed, Ricci leaps up to me, squeezing me tightly, and reaches under my arm to pinch my skin. He has always done this. He looks for a mole, finds it and squeezes with all his might. He bathes me in kisses, and holds onto me with every inch of his 41'' body. Ricci needs touch. Always has.

After he was born, we reached our hospital room, and they listened to his breathing and thought there was an infection. So off he went to the nursery. I fought my way in and sat right next to him. He held my finger the minute he heard my voice. He also reached out for daddy's finger after hearing his voice. During his blood tests, his crying stopped with this small comfort when I could not hold him, the grasp around my finger helped him as I told him mommy's here.

So, back to mornings: we walk out to the stop at the bathroom, I bargain with him saying I can get breakfast after he uses the potty. He wants kisses the entire time he pees, and hugs. Then coffee brewing, I ask what he wants. It varies. I make it, whatever it is, pancakes, yogurt and cereal, plain cereal and fruit, bagels, whatever, and the whole time Ricci rotates from standing on my feet on his tip toes digging the balls of his feet into my instep. I ask him to sit down so I can please finish, but he wants me. We sit down to eat and Ricci eats a little before he slides his food over towards me, and starts to stretch his little leg across to my chair. He swings his body into my lap and says, "I want to eat with you, mommy."

Okay, so you might be thinking, okay, so he REALLY loves his mommy. Or wow, what a lucky mommy, but maybe you might also think, hmm, he is not a baby, so what is his deal. And all I can say is once again, Ricci needs touch.

None of this is a complaint. I love all his affection, but I also need to understand it. Ricci loves me, like all children love their parents, and caregivers. And all people need touch. It is proven that orphaned infants will thrive with touch and fail to thrive without it, but for Ricci touches like squeezing and stroking mean something more.

Last month in one of the assessment sessions, I watched as Ricci bounced off every surface in the room, completely overstimulated by the new environment, and then the Occupational Therapist asked Ricci to lay in a blanket. She asked him what kind of "burrito" he wanted to be, and with each layer, she applied varying deep strokes to Ricci's arms and legs. It sounds weird, but he melted with each touch and calmly looked into the therapist's eyes smiling as if to say, "Oh, you understand."

She told us Ricci might need "sensory breaks" when he becomes overstimulated. Wall push-ups, deep pressure on his shoulders, and some pressure on palms and feet. So even more than we realized, Ricci needs touch.

And so our journey begins....