Valentine Friends

Another spur of the moment decision... let's have friends over for Valentine's Day!

The Valentine's Day crew at our house.

Friends, I miss you.

I'm lucky I have such a tight-knit family because I've never had more than a few close friends at one time. My sister and I have joked for a long time that "You're friends are my friends." And it's true. I've always invited myself into her circles and she's never had a problem with it. But I find myself spending more time with her and her friends than any of my own.

In looking back, I see that I've had several close friendships; never part of a large circle. And even those friendships have changed with the season's of my life.

I still communicate (at least occassionally) with most friends from my past, but so many of us have drifted apart. They were true friendships, with shared secrets, hopes, dreams, and fears. But somehow they have grown quiet. Each one had a purpose in my life...something I treasure. And in reminiscing, I realize I miss not having those same tight friendships with me today. What could I have done differently?

I don't know why this came up for a blog topic today... I think I'm feeling lonely. People come into my life boldly leaving an impression, but tend to stay for a season or two. And I again realize how much my family and close friends mean.

The Best Girl Ever

Monday, I had the joy of taking my 5-year old to school. Because of our work schedules, we generally take him to a classmate's house in the morning, and his mom takes DT with her own 3 children. It has worked out nicely, but since Ben and I didn't have shcool Monday, I surprised DT and took him to school myself. And I'm so glad I did.

Including a book-dropoff at the library, it was only a 3 minute trip to school, but it was just enough time for a heart-to-heart conversation. My little boy poured out his soul and told me that he gets picked on...describing specific instances. Mainly a kid who kicks his bag, flicks him, and jumps on him. My heart broke. DT is such a kind, mild-mannered, unprovoking kid. I was sad.

We pulled into the school parking lot. Before he got out of the car, he looked at me lovingly and said, "Mom, you're the best girl ever."

"Don't look in my folder."

The puppy pocket he made to hold his Valentine cards at school.























Getting ready for his first Valentine's Day party at school.


Writing names on Valentine cards for kindergarten.

Now, what would my blog be without a twist...

Saturday, DT's cousins came over to play and brought him a grand Valentine's Day gift... the movie "Madagascar 2." I, his mother, on the other hand gave him a simple Matchbox car with the note "Racing in to wish you a happy Valentine's Day." He loved both gifts, but begged to take the car to school today. At recess, the kids are allowed to get out playthings from their backpacks.

Because the public schools had the day off for President's Day, Ben and I picked DT up together after school. And strangely, the first thing he said when he got in the truck was "Don't look in my folder." Well, of course the first thing his dad and I decided to do when we got home was... yes, LOOK IN HIS FOLDER. Hmmm? A report card... yes, a report card. But why wouldn't he want us to see it. Every mark was good! "Mom, look!" he said. And he pulled out a ziplock bag with the sad remains of his Valentine's Day Matchbox car.

How pathetic! The top was crushed. Pieces of metal frame were broken. The plastic windows were smashed. And all easily viewed through the clear bag. "What happened?" we asked. Sadly, he replied "I lost it by the playground and a Mary's brother found it and said maybe a ball bounced on it." Seriously? A ball? Clearly there was much more damage than a ball could do. We tried to tell DT that it looked like a car or bus drove over it. He didn't buy it. But there could be no other explanation.

Valentine's Day greetings

There is sound with this video. So, before you click the play button, scroll way down to the bottom of my blog and either pause my blog music or slide the music volume down. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day gift? Seriously?!

Do parents really get their kids a gift for Valentine's Day? I don't remember getting gifts from my parents. And my husband say's NO WAY!

But my little guy has been seeing commercials for Valentine's Day (yes, the commercialism has even hit childrens' channels) and recently asked if he could have a new Webkinz pet for Valentine's Day. He asked Santa for a Webkinz bear at Christmas and got it. He loves taking care of "Novela"... virtually and physically. When he leaves her at home, he wants someone to babysit her. When he's home, he wants to play games on-line to earn her clothes and things for her room. In fact, just since I began writing this post, he has come to ask me if HE can get on the computer to go to the Webkinz site.

I don't know if I'll get him another one for Valentine's Day or not. But I'm sure he'll get another one sometime. He is making space in his bear's virtual room for a "friend". It's cute.

The pictures above were taken this weekend. He helped us pick out a Webkinz pet for his cousin's 7th birthday over the weekend. He got her the same one he has... the bear. Before we mailed the gift off to her, we took pictures of his "Novela" and his cousin's "Elizabeth." He says they're twin sisters. He's intrigued with twins since there's a pair of twins in his kindergarten class.

Anyway, I'm interested in hearing your take on Valentine's Day gifts for kids. Yay or Nay?

Picky Eater

I've been getting more and more frustrated with my little boy's eating habits lately. And I know he can sense it. I've tried to not let it become a battle because I know it's not one I could win. I mean, I can't force-feed him.... and he's just not going to eat vegetables on his own.

My husband and I have mature tastes. We love any meat, any vegetable, any fruit, and every ethnicity of food we've tried. I love to cook Mexican and my husband throws down some good Chinese and Italian. But the little guy won't try any of it.

So, what DOES he eat? Really, his list of "likes" is much smaller than the "dislikes." He eats canned chicken noodle soup, raman noodles, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, chips, spaghetti O's, bologna sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, lunchables, plain tacos, yogurt, cheese, spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese, and a fine aray of fruits as well as sweets. Additionally, for breakfast he'll eat waffles, muffins, pancakes, hard-boiled eggs, cinnamon rolls, toast, and dry cereal.

NO VEGETABLES!

This is NOT what I'd call a balanced diet. I wouldn't say I've ever just let my son dictate what goes on his plate. I've always offered him what the adults are eating... but for fear he won't eat ANYTHING, I've typically given him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when dinner is done and he hasn't eaten. Now, keep in mind, he doesn't whine or complain when he doesn't eat, he simply states "I don't like (whatever is in front of him)". At that point, we tell him he hasn't even tried it and we tell him to taste it. Reluctantly, with much delay and prompting, he puts a bite in his mouth, begins to chew, gets a sick look on his face, and spits it out.

Well, recently I've decided the old standby won't be available. If he won't eat what's on the table, he will go to bed without dinner. If at any time he wants to go back to the table, he can eat it. But a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is not an option. And he hasn't asked for it. He just doesn't eat. As the parent, I feel mean. I know my child is hungry. I even think he's losing weight... and he's already a skinny 5-year old.

A friend recently suggested V-8 Fusion (the vegetable juice that looks and tastes more like fruit juice) and so far he's drinking it without questioning it. But I'm also going to have to start giving him some vitamins. I'm wondering about Juice Plus, they're gummies. Does anybody know about this product? Please share. Or even better yet... ideas on getting boys to try vegetables?!

Warming Up

It's been so cold and snowy here in Northern Indiana... I haven't been outside much in the past 3 weeks. Until today, I haven't encouraged going out to play. Temperatures have been well below 0. And exposing skin to the outside air has been a bad idea. Well, today it finally warmed up. A serious heat wave! The driveway snow melted off and the ground became completely saturated as roofs lightened and gutters tried to keep up. As I walked around the house checking the downspouts, my feet sloshed through the yard and I had to pull my shoes out of the suctioning mud with every step.

Being cooped up the past few weeks should have meant more time to blog, but clearly that wasn't what happened. I did find myself at the computer more, but more or less wandering aimlessly around on-line. I've searched tricks to get kids to eat vegetables and checked Facebook statuses. I've read blogs and balanced the checkbook. I've checked email and read the local news and school closings.

Also inside, I got to spend some quality time with my little boy. We've played more games, read more books, and eaten at home more than usual. We've done more crafts, projects, word searches, dot-to-dots, mazes, and colored more pages in coloring books than I can count. In the picture above, DT had just finished making a stained glass window out of tissue paper and was putting it in the window. It looked so nice against the bright glare of the snow outside. We sure had fun.

But it was great to get outside again today. Since the snow was melting, I didn't have to park in the garage. I got out the vacuum and cleaned out my car. It was desperately needing some attention and I got to be outside. I had forgotten how nice it is... even if sloshing around.