Valentine's week

For most Americans, I think, Valentine's Day is a relatively crisp and finite affair. Maybe you wake up to a surprising breakfast in bed, or are surprised by an Edible Arrangement delivery while managing a spreadsheet at work - or maybe, like many, you go out to dinner at a favorite haunt. Regardless, the holiday's confined; unlike Christmas, which dominates much of a month, or Thanksgiving, which fills airports on the Tuesday before the big Thursday, Valentine's Day is what it proposes to be: a day.

But not at 1202 Sabina! Due to the seemingly infinite and creative generosity of grandparents, we'll have been celebrating V-Day for more than a week by the time that it actually rolls around. It all began last week, when Cleo received a DVD of Valentine-themed videos featuring Angelina, her favorite mouseling ballerina, in the mail (see photo, above). And so for several days we woke up to, among other things, the disarmingly frank confession and honestly touching anthem sung by Marco, a schoolmate of Angelina's, before the big hockey game. It comes dangerously close to stepping over the thin line between treacle and moving emotion, without a trace of redeeming irony or self-consciousness, but of course it's hardly alone in that category (see: Richard Marx), and I've actually come to admire the boy's guilelessness and pluck. And Cleo, of course, adores the whole DVD.

Yesterday, though, Angelina had to take a back seat, as Cleo worked on valentines in school, and then made a lovely heart for me in the evening with the help of her ever-resourceful and angelic former nanny, Jenn, who saved our evening out with some last-minute babysitting. And, on the same day, a package from Chapel Hill arrived, with a number of Valentine-themed kids' books and heart-shaped cookies, to boot. Combine that with cards from her other grandparents, which landed in our mailbox today, and Cleo's amazed. She thought she loved Santa, but Valentine's Day is giving him a real run for his money.

Of course we, as parents, are the indirect beneficiaries of much of this. Happy to have new books in the regular rotation, and delighted to see Cleo cutting, and pasting, and ooh-ing, and ah-ing. And, I should add, even reading, as the following short video will show you. So thanks, to all who thought of us this holiday, and a happy Valentine's Day to you, too.