My Digital Valentine

Today is the first Valentine's Day card exchange of Big B's public school career. As always ahead of the curve, Big B wanted to explore creating his cards digitally--and I gave him free reign. For his eighteen classmates, he created six designs that he printed and cut in different sized heart shapes, carefully selecting the right match for each friend.

We were left with a collection of eighteen hearts, each with its own unique signature. And I have a budding digital artist on my hands, all he wants to do is paint!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Our day has been pretty sweet. Here are the valentines that were exchanged in our house this morning.

to: Papa
from: Mamato: Mama
from: Papato: Papa
from: Big B & little b

to: Mama & Papa
from: Big Bto: Big B & little b
from: Mamato: Papa, Big B & little b
from: Mama

Almost-Discarded Valentine's Day Garland

As I was cleaning up the mess from yesterday's valentine-making extravaganza, I stopped myself from throwing away the cardstock leftovers from Big B's cut-out hearts. Eleven of them were perfectly intact, and so lovely in their negative space, that I grabbed some yarn and strung them up. I can't wait for Big B to get home from preschool today!

Sack Full of Valentines

To this day, every time I see a brown paper lunch bag, I get a flashback of elementary school Valentine's Day exchanges. This ritual has seen a few alterations. The commercialized card now far outnumbers the good old doily-and-construction paper variety, and political correctness has infiltrated the classroom. The preschool instructions to Big B were to sign, yet leave unaddressed, eighteen valentines to be objectively given to each child. This is a far cry from the popularity contests I remember. I would anxiously watch from my uncomfortable desk as the classmates whose friendships I coveted approached my decorated bag, hanging from the chalkboard.

Ah, the bag. So simple a receptacle, at once universal and customizable. The perfect size, the perfect earthy backdrop for the pink, red, and white palette. This has remained the constant, bridging the generation gap.

To fill the bags of Big B's friends, we focused on the crafty activities he enjoys. Currently, scissorwork and hole punching are at the top of this list. I found some adorable downloadable valentines and printed them on pink cardstock.
Then Big B got to work, studiously and ceremoniously cutting eighteen hearts out of dark pink and red cardstock (pink for girls, red for boys, I am told).We coupled one heart with one valentine, and Big B punched holes through both layers of cardstock. He's really good at this; I think it's a gratifying use for his upper body strength.
I tied them together with rick-rack, wrote his name on the back, and tucked them all into our own brown paper bag. What a cute little sack full of valentines. I can't wait to see what he brings home in his own decorated bag tomorrow!

Be Still, My Heart!

Big B had his first sewing lesson today--and he loved it! My cheeks hurt as I watched him carefully place the needle and pull it gently through the other side (gentleness is highly praised in our rough-and-tumble house).

I saw these heart pockets and they inspired me to buy felt and rick rack, though I wasn't sure how we would create them yet. Today the mood struck, and we cut the felt into pocket-y shapes. I had thought I'd sew the pockets on the hearts and let Big B glue rick-rack, buttons, etc. onto them. But in a flash of "he might actually like this--AND benefit from it!", I asked him if he'd like to try the sewing. He got so excited!

He was patient, careful, prideful and sweet, attentive and focused.

For ten whole minutes.