You're my happy Valentine!
Zoe and I have been counting down days for a month. Often when Jake leaves we make little countdowns or chains to keep track of how long until he comes home. It helps Z to keep things in perspective and gives her something to look forward to or at least an end point to focus on. This time I didn't make anything right away because we are also working on getting everything packed in order to move to our new house when Daddy does come home. After about the first week of Zoe's constant "how much longer" I knew we needed to get a countdown going. So, we made a little calendar with all the important days marked out. There is a star at the end on the day Jake comes home, a couple smaller stars along the way to mark out play dates and other events we have going on, and a heart for Valentine's Day.
Because of this, Zoe has asked me several times to tell her about Valentine's Day. We have talked about everything from St. Valentine to hearts and flowers and ways to show the people in our lives that we love them. One day we decided to make a trip to Michael's. Zoe picked out a little box for her Daddy and lots of sequins and stickers to decorate it with. Since then she has told me 3 or 4 times that she is working on a surprise for daddy to go in his box. It makes me smile to see her create little things for him and there have been days this month that I have definitely needed a smile.
This morning though, she absolutely made my day. When I went and got her from her room she gave me a great big hug and said Happy Valentine's Day. We ate girl scout cookies for breakfast and then she told me she had a surprise for me. It was a paper with the words, Mommy I love you. You're my happy Valentine. Zoe. Of course the words weren't all spelled correctly but she had made it all by herself just for me.
I have felt several times this month that I have had to be such a mean mommy. Z has been super emotional and there have been meltdowns almost every day. I spend so much time trying to be consistent it's exhausting. In all this though my sweet little girl still shines through. She makes me want to be the best mom that I possibly can be. I love you Zoe, you're my happy Valentine too!
