And I really think a family Valentine's dance oughtta become a tradition! Priceless!It was my first Valentine's Day of having a kid with a school Valentine's party. (Oh, the memories of winning the Limbo contest at my 3rd grade Valentine's party! Why do I remember that?) I decided that the valentine exchange would be more meaningful if Xander made his personal. We kept it pretty simple with red, purple, and white paper, scissors, and tape. I asked Xander to write one or two nice things to each kid in his class. And he decided to draw a picture for each kid, too, because he loves to draw. Xander and Elodie had a lot of fun with the project, and I loved seeing the things he wrote! It gave me a glimpse into how my five-year-old perceives his friends. He chose who to write to first and marked off their names on the list.
I wasn't too surprised that he wrote to all the boys first (well, except for one because he was apparently having a hard time thinking of something nice to say to the token "troublemaker" kid--it was a great teaching moment). I think my favorite one said: "You are funy. You are nise and not meen."
But I was surprised about what he wrote to the first girl he picked: "I think you are prity." And to the next two girls? "You are byutifl." I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised--now that i think of it, I remember him telling his friend Marian at her 3rd birthday party a couple years ago that she looked beauuuuutiful in her dress. And he frequently tells me and Elodie that we look beautiful. What a sweetie he is! (Would he be embarrassed if he knew I was writing this? He is just starting to show signs of embarrassment about that kind of stuff. Oh well, some day after the embarrassment phase he'll get a kick out of this.)
One mom at library story time commented that she liked Xander's valentine to her son, which said, "You are cool. Thanks for being my friend." Her son put it up on his door. That just warmed my heart and made me commit to making this a Valentine's tradition, too! So you can write off Valentine's Day as a worthless, gushy, commercialized, pointless holiday if you want. But we enjoyed the celebration of love, friendship, and chocolate!
3 comments:
Oh my gosh -- hurry and get back here, cuz I miss your darling kids!! :-) And Hazel is lookin' so cute and chubby now! :-)
That's a good reminder of how V-day cards should be. Way to go, Xander. I'm embarrassed to say that we often don't make the homemade ones anymore, unless a child really wants to. I'll try to post a pix of what Corinne and Jillian gave out this year--easy, but somewhat homemade. We miss you!
That's funny that he's already identifying pretty girls! I love that you have him give out real Valentines. That makes for a much more meaningful holiday. Your kids are growing up so fast, and Hazel is absolutely adorable! Fun posts!
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