Valentine’s Day

Let’s just admit to each other that Valentine’s Day is a contrived holiday. If you’re single, Valentine’s Day makes you feel crappy that you’re single; if you’re not single, Valentine’s Day makes you feel anxious that you’re expected to be sexy and romantic every February 14^th when really you just want to wear sweatpants. If you’re a kid, Valentine’s Day produces a shoebox full of useless cards that your parents have to clean up from all over the house. It’s a silly holiday.

But I celebrated it nonetheless. Why would I turn down chocolate-covered strawberries?

Since Eva no longer takes a nap – which really hurts my feelings – I have extra hours to fill during the day. I’m always looking for activities that I won’t mind doing with her. This excludes anything Science related, anything that requires special trips to the store for supplies, anything with glitter, and anything that makes me have to plan ahead. I’m a really good mom.

Decorating Valentine’s Day cupcakes for her little friends was an acceptable activity so we set to it. Eva had a great time shaking the sprinkles and frequently licking her fingers. I did take care not to let her contaminate any of the cupcakes that we were handing out. I do have cleanliness standards after all. I would most definitely receive a grade of “A” from a Health Department inspector. (As long as he didn’t inspect any other part of my house.)

About 3 cupcakes into our decorating, I handed a frosted cupcake to Eva for sprinkling. She took the cupcake and licked all of the frosting off in one swipe of her tongue. She looked and me and said, “More frosting, please.” I can’t blame her. It was deliciously tempting. Michael was working from home and kept begging for more cupcakes. I had to finally cut him off at 26.

I love to cook so I especially enjoyed it. Eva especially enjoyed eating her cupcake. She got up from the table and went to play with her toys as soon as she had finished eating; we were only halfway done with the decorating. Such is my life.

The next day I was sweeping under the table and gathered enough sprinkles to fill a sandbox.

Now that’s a sandbox I would play in.

Happy Valentine’s Day!