First Valentine's party

Well, honestly, I don't actually know what transpired. However, today was Noah's first real Valentine's party! We spent the last week or so working on the 13 Valentines, one for each of the children in his class (he did not want to make one for the teachers, because he "does not love them"). Noah cut out all of the hearts by himself, and wrote on several of them. Sometimes, the names turned out looking like this "JCAK" (Jack, written in the correct order, but somehow the C ended up in an unusual place), and other times, they came out perfectly "CHLOE." Other times, the names were too hard and I wrote them myself. We used a paint stamp for some, markers on some, and stickers on most of them. It was a lot of work, I mean, fun.

So, today Noah came home with a bag full of Valentines. Some were homemade, others were store-bought. A couple had scribbles on them, making me very proud of Noah's letters, and others were just adult-written (to be honest, a few of Noah's Valentines turned out that way as well -- 13 is a lot!). A couple had stickers included, and a couple had temporary tatoos (kids this age LOVE tatoos!!). I was pleased that there was limited candy involved, but about 4 parents did resort to candy. And boy, did Noah know which ones had candy. "Where is the one with the lollipop?" he asked. I had sneakily taken it out and placed it on the sideboard for later. But, he is too smart for that! "Where is the one with a number 13 on the package?" I don't know, but I suspect that is one box that "accidentally" stayed in the car when we walked into the house.

Now, it's not that candy is a bad thing, but actually there is a simple equation explaining what happens when Noah gets candy. It goes something like this: Noah + candy = Terminator. He gets very insistent on wanting to eat the candy. He really, really wants it. He is on the verge of a tantrum about having it. He is on the verge of a tantrum about having more. He. Loves. Candy. Read, "I WANT IT NOW!!"

Okay, well, I have to be fair. He actually did quite a good job today. He had one small sweet-tart type candy in the car when I picked him up, and then ate his yogurt that I bring in the car as a snack. He didn't request more after the yogurt went down. Then, once home, he had one small package of Nerds candy, and I told him the rest would be for later. I also bought a (quite large) cookie for him as my present for Valentine's day (at least that way, the carbs off-set a little bit some of the sugar), and told him he could have it after dinner. I never saw him eat dinner so happily! He actually asked for seconds (spaghetti with meat sauce) and ate an entire green bean.

After dinner, he had his (quite large) cookie. I gave him half and told him to save the rest for later. He ate it very happily. Then, he wanted the other half. I told him to wait for 10 minutes first. He obliged. Then, he said, he still wanted it. So, I gave the rest to him. I think this may have been a very happy day for him! Candy and cookies, all in the same day!

Oh, the sugar. We have years of holidays of sugar ahead. Halloween, Valentine's day, Christmas, and every other holiday where it all boils down to sugar. I can't tell you how many meltdowns we have had over sugar. I even captured one of them on video, lest people not understand how it it can affect him (this one is entitled, "I want a cupcake" and that is what the tantrum is about, in its entirety; I only captured a few of the 30 minutes the actual tantrum lasted).

Tonight, as I was putting him to sleep (Nano was out for a candidate interview), I looked at his adorable, sweet face, and saw the cutest, sweetest thing I had ever seen. This little guy is adorable. I told him I loved him. He said, "I love you too, mama." This was followed by him squishing me saying, "I love mama!!" What a sweetheart.

Oh, and Simon's language explosion continues. Today, I was taking off his shoes and socks as I do customarily when we get home (I read somewhere that when they are learning to walk, it should be shoeless), I took off his shoes, one at a time, and then his socks, one at a time, saying, "one...and..." and just as I was about to say two, Simon said, "two," knowingly. He is amazing! And, just to top of the cuteness, he has been humming to me, Nano, and the babysitter all day the "Are you sleeping" song. As soon as I got home, he saw me, then headed straight to the playroom to "sing."

And, by the way, you need to know that Simon. Loves. Cars. I got rid of a ton of the cars we had accumulated from consignment sales. Now, the few that we do have are constantly dumped out of their basket, slid down the ramp, pushed across the floor, carried around the house, and lined up on the table. It is really amazing how much he loves those cars! Outside, when one goes by, he says, "tah." I'd say Simon's favorite things are cars, stickers, and walking at the moment. Noah's three are friends, playing pretend, and the Thomas trains.