Laurea and I both realize that Kina’s snuggling is a non-renewable resource, and so whenever she is distracted by her favorite witch show, Little Witch Academia, we sidle up next to her and lean in for a little squeeze. With Kina’s defenses down, she is more readily receptive to patting us on the head and feeling our heads on her little shoulder. Laurea has an easier time of this than I do, and can get what I call the full reverse lap snuggle, placing her head on Kina’s lap while Kina strokes her hair. This is the ultimate snuggle. I never get this snuggle.

Yesterday, as she watched a particularly riveting episode of Little Witch Academia, in which our heroine Akko Kagari is cast into her friend Sucy’s medicated mushroom dreamscape, where she finds all of Sucy’s alter egos and memories wandering aimlessly through a field of amanita, Kina was so distracted that I was able to pull off the full reverse lap snuggle myself for nearly five minutes. It wasn’t until she spotted her mother standing in the kitchen doorway that I got the boot. Kina scolded me, but I am unrepentant.

To be fair to Kina, she has been a little more snuggly with me in the last week, because of my janky back (which, dear reader, is feeling much better), and I have really been milking it. Ever since Kina has been aware of the value of snuggles, she has been incredibly stingy in their distribution, and yet she appears to be dishing them out more frequently lately. Is it because she knows that she’ll only be small for a little while longer? Are they rewards for the ice pops Laurea and I have been giving her as after-work snacks? Is it all an elaborate scheme? Whatever it is, I’ll take all the snuggles she wants to offer, and then some. It’s worth all the ice pops and witch shows we have.

And there are lots of witch shows. They’re super weird.

dad