Love Is In The Air

I am a happily married woman.  My husband is kind, thoughtful, and loving.  And I hate Valentine's Day.  I am not quite sure the source of my disdain.  Maybe it's the boy who broke my heart in high school or that one time in the fourth grade when someone gave me a Valentine that added the word "don't" next to Daffy Duck's little bubble phrase of "I like you."  -- or maybe, it's the fact that on our first Valentine's Day together, David bought me a stuffed teddy bear...from the grocery store.  The whole day is just too much effort.

However, I cannot let my jaded views spoil the day for everyone else.  So I rallied for some crafts.  Morgan and I made a cute little card for David, demonstrating that hand prints and finger paints can get you far in life.

We also had to put together something for Morgan's little friends at their party today.  I tried to be mindful that there will already be plenty of candy to go around - I also tried to be witty with the little notebooks I made.  You know, because toddlers really value a good play on words.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I awoke to find a sweet treat from David on the kitchen table (yes, I recognize the hypocrisy of that statement, but who doesn't love a little chocolate?!?)-

And although my child can't read, she sure as shit knows her name. It was just a matter of minutes before my token holiday acknowledgement had been totally commandeered. 

Then I realized I could use this as leverage to get Morgan dressed in her festive little ensemble. I told her that as soon as she was ready for school, she could pick any one of the chocolates out of the box.  The madness began.  There was jumping, squealing, and mad dashing to get out of her jammies and into her tights.  Before I knew it, she was back in the kitchen, her chubby little fingers caressing every little nugget with love (and germs, and probably boogers), until she selected the one piece that was going to make her day perfect.

Unfortunately, she selected the dark chocolate maple nougat, which also happens to be my favorite.  I briefly considered trying to convince her to try another one, but then I remembered that I hate Valentine's Day.  But I love my daughter.  And so I let her keep it.  Because she is my littlest Valentine.