Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day just ain't what it used to be for kids. It's not about homemade hearts anymore. It's about cartoon characters and stickers and rub-on tattoos and candy.

So when Biscuit's teacher sent out the list of kids in their class, Biscuit and I headed in search of valentines.

We got to the store, and there were four rows of Valentine's Day ... stuff. There was everything from cards and candy to bubbles and bobble-heads to toys and T-shirts and plush animals to pencils.

I helped Biscuit navigate through the craziness, and he decided on the cards he wanted. They were from a movie he saw last year. And they included tattoos and stickers.

I guess the decision was just too much for Biscuit because he asked if he could ride in the buggy. He's so big now, that I can't just lift him anymore. I have to do the "1, 2, 3, jump" thing to get him up there.

I pushed all the stuff to the end of the buggy, and Biscuit said cross-legged in the buggy.

"Mom, how much longer will we be in the store?" Biscuit asked. "I'm really kinda tired."

"Not too much longer," I said, "but I still need a few more things."

We got to the cosmetics area, and I grabbed some toothpaste, then remembered that Biscuit needed toothpaste, too.

"What kind of toothpaste do you want?" I asked him.

No answer.

"Hey!" I said. "What kind of toothpaste to you want?"

Again, no answer.

I walked around to the buggy and saw this.

Who knew shopping for valentines could be so exhausting?

I picked up a few more things and walked back to the front of the buggy. He was leaning over a little bit more. I was wondering how he could possibly be comfortable.

But by the time we got to the checkout, I was REALLY wondering how he could possibly be comfortable! Look at his hand!

The cashier leaned over, looked at him and shook her head. "How is he doing that?" she asked.

"I have no idea," I said.

She packed up my bags, and as I started to put them in the buggy, I draped my coat over the side and straightened Biscuit up. It was really cold outside that day, but I wasn't worried about Biscuit using my coat. It was a short walk to the car.

The one thing I didn't think about was that Biscuit had no idea we were walking out the door.

I rolled the buggy out, and Biscuit sat straight up and made this awful noise. "Agh! Agh! Agh! Mom! Cold!"

My poor Biscuit. It never even occurred to me to wake him up before we went out. Just imagine how shocking that must have been for him!

I got Biscuit all bundled up in the car, and we headed home to put together his valentines.

I always loved crafty projects, especially the different creations we made for our class valentines. We covered shoe boxes in construction paper and cut out hearts to glue on. We made pretty envelopes. And Biscuit's class made cute valentines holders, too.

He came home with this bag half full of cards, candy, pencils, stickers, balloons, tattoos and more.