Valentines Day

I've never made a big deal of Valentines Day and now that I have kids I figure it's just a fun excuse for school parties for them. I didn't get my husband a card which I probably should have, but I never liked Valentines cards card shops have. They are full of stupid innuendo jokes or over the top mushy. I happen to have a friend who writes cards for Hallmark and have told him this, but that didn't change anything.

I didn't want to ignore the day completely, so I showed my love for my family my usual way. I baked :) I didn't have time to do full on homemade, so just made Betty Crocker brownies. To make them a little more festive I used a cookie cutter to make the heart shapes.  Simple and cute. 

As my daughters were going through their Valentines I asked them who they got cards from (knowing full well that they all get from the entire class).  My Kindergartner told me that she got two cards from one boy and when he was giving her one of them he said, "Happy Valentines Day, you're my girrrrlfriend."  My second grader asked her if she also liked the boy and she answered no, she has a crush on a different boy.  I asked her why she liked him and she said that when they have free play at school and the girls want to play with blocks he always lets them and tries to convince the other boys to do the same.  So he is polite and shares - sounds good so far. 

My oldest then admitted that she has a crush on someone too.  He's not in her regular class but she sees him twice a week in the accelerated classes she's in.  I asked her why she likes him and got a similar answer, that he plays nicely with everyone, and is respectful.  He also doesn't yell like most of the other boys, except if he's trying to get someone's attention.  Again, good choice.

I let the kids have a couple of sweethearts with their snack and my son surprised me and asked for one.  He licked the whole thing, but even when it got down to a paper thin heart he refused to try and take a bite. It got stuck on his tongue at one point and he kind of freaked so I took it off for him. Even so, a big step for him. Twice this week he has asked me to get some of his snacks so he can play, and he has been licking lots of sweet things. When we were at the supermarket the other day he even got a box of Ritz crackers off the shelf and said that we needed to get them because that was one of the things he has used with the feeding therapist. I got a low sodium kind so hopefully he'll like it more.So far he hasn't really liked the crackers and I think they are just too salty since he's pretty much only been eating fruit so far.