The Po Show

Valentine's Day Redux

Oh, so many good stories, so little time. I've been wanting to write this one down for, well, since Valentine's Day, and it's March now. February Break intervened, and then we had Snowicane '10, and today I finally have ten minutes free. (Maybe yesterday I would have had ten minutes to spare, but Matthew's school ended up closing because they had no heat!)

Anyway, since Valentine's Day (I just can't abbreviate that to VD) fell on a Sunday this year, the kids had their school celebrations on the Friday before, which was also the last day before February Break. Tessa had made cards for all of her classmates, and not just a simple "To" and "From" on a piece of paper, but heart-shaped construction paper pockets filled with candy, and with a handmade Shrinky Dink affixed to each one. For 22 kids. Plus she made her teacher a notepad. Needless to say, this took a long time.

As a Valentine's Day fundraiser at her school, the fourth graders sell stuffed animals, pencils, and silk flowers, which are delivered to the recipients in each class. They used to sell candy as well, but I guess someone put the kibosh on that. Tessa filled out her form, sending stuffed animals to her best friends. She folded the form up tightly, asked me to include a check for $9.00, but to PLEASE NOT LOOK at the form, particularly the name written on the fourth line. I was annoyed, saying that I can't look at it, but I get to pay for it? She pleaded further, and I figured she was sending something to a boy and was embarrassed, so I let it go.

For Matthew's classmates and teachers, we bought pre-made cards from Target that held Pixie Stix, and then added an extra fun-size pack of candy. This was a step down from last year, when I went *insane* and spent $60 on candy and made these ridiculously enormous bags for each kid. I was trying to reciprocate for all the amazing goody bags Matthew had brought home in celebration of other kids' birthdays. I later found out that the teachers assemble these goody bags, not the kids' parents. Oops.

Since he only has nine other kids in his class (plus three teachers, the unit director, and his therapist), Matthew was done pretty quickly. Then he decided to make a card for Ana, a girl in one of the other classes to whom he's taken a liking. She's also 12, and this is her first year at Clear View. She is also from White Plains, and is actually on Matthew's bus, so they sit next to each other every day. As Matthew describes her, "She's really nice. I don't even know why she's here [at the school]!" For Ana, Matthew chose a card that read "You're My Sweetie," which I found amusing.

When Matthew returned home after school on Friday, he was carrying a foil-wrapped paper plate. On it was a large, very elaborately decorated cookie. It was from Ana, whose class had baked cookies that day. Each kid made one cookie and decorated it. Ana chose to give hers to Matthew. She also gave him a HUGE (I'm talking, over two feet tall) handmade card, with dancing hearts drawn inside. I found this sort of poignant. I knew that he was smitten with her, as I'd had some stories related to me from his therapist about their interactions during free time, when kids from different classes can play board games and such together. But I didn't realize that it appears to be mutual. It made me happy, to think he may really have girlfriends in the future, that someone may love him. This has worried me, through all the years that he had so much trouble with girls at school thinking he was a freak. It also made me want to cry, to think that he really is growing up. But mostly, I was happy that he was happy. He ate the whole cookie.

Oh, and the mystery recipient of Tessa's gift, the one I wasn't allowed to know about? It was me. She presented me with a pink silk rose as I picked her up from school. It's nice to know that as one child seems to be growing a bit more up and away, the other still considers me her valentine.