Valentine kit

Jordan has a clear and firmly-worded Valentine's Day assignment from his warm, loving, and steely-eyed kindergarten teacher: Students will bring a card for each child in the class PLUS the principal, the music coach, the three art docents, the PE teacher, the music teacher, the secretaries, the nurse, the art-movement-and-yoga teacher, the retired teacher-tutor, the assistant, the cook, and the custodians. "We will be celebrating friendship, kindness, and caring about other people," says the letter, which was sent three weeks in advance. "This is a great opportunity to practice printing names."

This is a great opportunity for Mommy to practice patience, is what it is. Originally I had felt we would go the homemade route; what can't you do with white index cards, heart stickers, and red glitter glue? Who needs that whole Valentine industry anyway? Yeah, well, when the first valentine took twenty minutes of hounding to reach completion, I had to rethink my strategy. I hadn't realized how much the lack of structure would slow things down... Jordan had to decide what to write (I'm just talking To and From here), where to write it, what kind of decorating to do, etc. And with chagrin I admit that I am not at my best while supervising kid art projects. The vigilance kills me. Now we've gone over to the mass-produced valentine card kit, with preprinted messages, To and From lines, and miniature tattoos that slip into a slot. Jordan thinks they are awesome and cranked out fifteen of them in one energized session. Woo hoo!