My son is 4 and is now randomly saying I love you to me and my wife, and at other times giving us proper tight hugs. We are so buzzing about it. Ever since he was born we have been doing that to him as neither of us got it growing up so wanted to show him all the time that he is loved, and it really feels like all that effort and work is really paying off as he is such an emotional and lovely boy.
Just wanted to share as a super proud dad…
I can relate with you so much! My SO and me are trying to show our 3-year-old as much affection as possible either by telling him we love him or by hugging, cuddling etc.
For some time now he’s been giving back big time by running up to us when we meet (coming back from work), telling us he loves us, hugging, cuddling. It’s an amazing feeling especially because he recently had a phase where he was very uninterested in us. ¯_(ツ)_/¯