and he says "i love you mommy"

i am participating in: PPBC (I have missed two articles. hope this one can still join) the question is:

how do my kids say they love me?

for my son, he started saying he loved me on his own when he was 2 years old. the first time i heard it, it came as a surprise. we were lying down on the bed, i was gonna put him to sleep and suddenly, out of the blue, he said "i love you, mommy." took me a long time to sleep that night. ever since he started saying that, that would be our nightly ritual before he goes off to sleep. he's now 3.5 years old. and he never missed to say i love you to his daddy and me. however, you know you would start getting nervous when one night, he told me "i love you, mommy... i love my friend also."

for my daughter, she's only 1.5 years old so she cannot say the words yet. i'm still teaching her how to say it: I (ayyy) love (tab) you (km!!!) hehehe. my son could could copy that perfectly well. my girl loves giving hugs and kisses. that's when i know she says she loves me.

children learn by example. we can teach them to say this 3 magic words by saying them often, to them or to each other as a couple.