10 Sweet, Little Things You Do That Men Notice Even If They Don't Say It

Communication is usually the driving force behind any successful relationship.

Part of maturity involves expressing yourself in an articulate, respectful fashion – and most mature relationships revolve around this notion.

If there are certain aspects of your relationship you aren’t particularly fond of, it’s your responsibility to convey this to your significant other in a manner that resonates with him or her personally.

Likewise, when things are going well within your relationship, it’s equally as important to make note of the positive things as well – this way you both know “what works” for each other.

Words can save relationships. From time to time, you may feel as though you have nothing left to give to someone – only to immediately remember those three special words and why you bound yourself to him or her in the first place.

Having said that, sometimes it’s the things you notice, but don’t say that ring equally as loud and important.

We men are observant. And although words may appear to be at a premium for a lot of men, we rarely lack things to say. Whether we choose to say them or not – well, that’s a separate matter entirely.

Here are 10 things we'll notice and appreciate but probably never tell you.

1. That you enjoy playing with kids.

We love watching you mesh well with little kids – despite the fact that the mental image tends to pop up, from time to time, as a recurring nightmare.

But don’t get the wrong idea; it’s not that we’re opposed to children ourselves, we’re just not ready for them... yet.

Still, if we have any plans of sticking it out with you for the long haul, we’ll admire any glimpses we can catch of your nurturing, more motherly side.

And not in the “mom from 'Mean Girls'” kind of way (I’m not going to sit here and act like I’ve never seen the movie; it’s an American classic).

2. That you put on makeup before we woke up.

You’re not fooling anyone. By the time we actually got to sleeping last night, your makeup was smudged all over your face, so we know you didn’t “wake up like this.”

I mean, unless you’re capable of doing your makeup during REM sleep.

Fact is, nobody wakes up looking like roses – at least not without a few Snapchat filters – so don’t get too hung up on trying to beautify yourself in the wee hours of the morning before we even get the chance to see you.

And, if you do, try not to make the bed creak so loud on your way to the bathroom. We heard you get up.

3. That you look really cute in our clothes.

Yeah, we noticed you’ve stolen the majority of our hoodies; we just don’t really mind.

It’s hard to deny that you look better in our clothes than we do. We’ll probably never tell you this, though.

Instead, we’ll just leave our retro jerseys by the foot of our bed to ensure they’re the first article of clothing you’ll see when you wake up the next morning.

Even if the majority of the clothes we give to you we never end up getting back (RIP the majority of my vintage Grateful Dead tees).

4. That you started watching sports just to talk to us.

If you’ve always been into sports, this doesn’t really apply to you, but for the ladies out there who have recently taken an interest in the French Open or Champions League football – just to please your men – I salute you.

The willingness to take on new interests just to share them with us is a beautiful thing, especially considering the fact that we’re hardly as willing to see what all the “Gossip Girl” fuss is all about. That’s why we love you, though.

5. That you may or may not get jealous of other women.

They say jealousy is the ugliest of human traits, but – for some strange reason – it doesn’t look half bad on you.

While you’re not a jealous person, in the grand scheme of things, we do notice you get ticked when we show other women attention.

And it’s just darling. Fact is, you don’t need to be insecure. We may pass judgments or appreciate certain characteristics about other women, but that has nothing to do with how we feel about you.

Relax, your spot in our lives is secure. Although, when you get worked up about it, we know you really care.

6. That you snore, ever so slightly, in your sleep.

Yeah, you definitely snore in your sleep. It’s not very loud, but, yeah, you do snore occasionally – we just don’t have the heart to say anything about it.

Although, if it ever gets to the point where it’s hindering our sleep cycle, don’t worry, we’ll tell you.

7. That you try to act more independent than you really are.

We know you’re an independent woman -- that’s why we showed interest in you in the first place, but everyone needs help at times, and you’re no exception.

Although most of the time you do a pretty good “Wonder Woman” impression, solving any and all of the world’s problems, when you crack, it reminds us you’re human (which isn’t such a bad thing).

We may not say anything, but still, we respect the high standard you set for yourself and your ambition to do things for yourself -- and do them well, at that. That’s a quality that all successful people need to be born with.

8. That you’re scared of our mom.

Yeah, we know you’re a little bit scared of our mothers, but not to worry, we are too.

Nevertheless, the fact that you make repeated efforts to get close to our family shows us you’re serious about our relationship – and the other people in our lives, too.

9. That you’re wearing something for us.

Fact is, we compliment you for a reason (surprisingly not just to hear ourselves speak). If we tell you we like something you’re wearing or doing, we mean it.

So when you actually listen to our feedback, it shows us you actually care about our input. It also shows us you care about pleasing us.

I doubt we’ll make a comment about this; it’s more so one of those things we’ll observe and keep to ourselves, but it never goes unnoticed.

10. That you try super hard to get along with our friends.

If anyone knows how difficult our friends can be, it’s us. Still, no matter how rough around the edges they may be, it has never discouraged you from trying to bond with “the guys” to make us happy.

And although we might not take the time to stop and tell you how much we appreciate this, we do. It really makes the difference.

Sure, it would be easier to let our friends stay separate from us, but the fact that you care to be involved shows an interest in our lives outside of our relationship.