Valentines, schmalentines

If this were five – wait, let’s be reasonable – ten years ago, Valentine’s Day would be all about Chad and I. Love and coupledom and all of that. Fast forward to present day, and it’s all about Liam. Chad and I are not doing anything to celebrate today, no dinner out or gifts (if Chad does anything to break our deal on this arrangement and makes me look bad, I will be ticked!) The reasons are many: lack of babysitter; we’re going away this weekend anyway; and I guess the simple fact that we no longer feel the need to impress each other. And, let's face it, between a yoga class and a new episode of Lost, my Wednesday nights are already jam-packed.

On the other hand, it’s a holiday, and there is nothing like having a kiddo around to bring out my inner craving to celebrate the holidays. A couple of weeks ago, we (I) made Valentines for Liam to hand out to his family and friends at daycare. I decided it was best not to involve Liam in assembling these Valentines, because he knows exactly what a Hershey’s Kiss is, and had he helped, I doubt there would have been any left to give away. He was not terribly cooperative about having his picture taken – there’s a surprise! - so on the cards he has kind of a funny look on his face. I made sure I packed an extra bag of kisses in his diaper bag today, just in case he started to fret at the idea of giving them all away and wanted one of his own. Cindy was planning to make little cupcakes for the kids, and I’m sure he will come home tonight with at least a few cards. Just to drive the holiday thing home a little further though, we presented him with a balloon bouquet this morning, and made sure he was wearing his Valentines shirt. (Which caused a bit of a stink yesterday, when he wanted to wear it then and I said no. Then he wanted to wear some of his summer clothes and I had to say no again. Luckily, we were able to distract him with a basketball shirt, and finally got out the door.)Regardless, it’s sad to think that, with the abundance of kids’ holidays, we’ve taken one of the few remaining adult holidays and basically ignored it; sadder still to think we’ve turned it into yet another one for the kids. Ah well. I’m sure that in the blink of an eye, Liam will be celebrating Valentines Day by blowing his allowance on some cheap, gaudy doodad to impress a girl, and he won’t want anything to do with mushy sentiments from his parents. Then Chad and I can go back to celebrating each other, back to overpriced roses and hard-to-get dinner reservations; and the whole reason why Liam even exists today.

ETA: since I wrote this, my little cutie pie gave me a beautiful orchid. Strictly speaking, this is Chad bending the rules a little... but it's pretty enough that that's OK!