Eva's Valentines Celebration

Today was Valentines Day at school for Eva . I’m not sure how much of it was for the parents but it was quite an adorable event. Eva, Eli and Mama made a valentine for the exchange. We used a doily Grammy gave mama a long time ago and then cut out a big heart from the Swedish napkins from auntie Heather Allen. The real artistic value was added when Eva and Eli added the blossoms made from crumpled hot pink napkins. They represented the cherry blossoms we see all over the city. Eva was quite enthralled with the glue stick. She was an expert by the end of the project.

Anyway, we fist made cookies. Eva patted the dough and rolled it out with a rolling pin. Certainly there were diversions along the way – like squishing the dough between fingers. Eva liked using the heart-shaped cutter. She was quite good at this task. I kept glancing across the table at Delphine and Kusha eating the dough in the hopes Eva would not take their cue. To my surprise, the thought never entered her mind – only a matter of time before she discovers such joy.

After play time, we re-entered the kitchen area to find pink tool wrapped around each little chair, complementing the vases of red tulips enveloped in red tool. We were ready to have a full on tea party. There were stands of heart-shaped almond butter/honey sandwiches, and humas/cucumber ones, and another stand of tomatoes, carrots and apples. The tea was served with tea pots. Eva did her usual slurping of her red tea and eating the parmesan cheese straight from the spoon. We managed to get three bites of soup in before she got to the cookies – she emerged from under the table to gather her treat. She was in heaven by this time. Two of the parents read poetry over the uproar of the children at play.

Eva was quite a challenge to get down for quiet time. She finally hushed long enough for me to get Eli down for his nap. 45 minutes later she started whining by the door. This annoys me since she can easily wake Eli from this vantage point. I peered down the hall once to see books flying out from underneath the door – one more ploy to get attention. I finally went in to hush her. As it turns out, her foot was caught in her doll bed. I felt just horrible as I gently turned her little ankle to ease it from between the slats. My poor baby. We ended up just coming out into the living room to play. She was a bit wound up on sugar from her cookies.