Thumbody Loves You

“Move over babe, I gotta find something creative for Monkey to do for our loved ones on Valentine’s Day,” I said, shoving aside cables and wood chips, my elbows nearly tipping over the tools that lay nearby.

“And you picked just the perfect time…” Mike said, rolling his eyes and making his way across the study, a slight smirk lining his lips as my ridiculous dedication to the heartfelt holiday.

After a few minutes of tapping on the keys and clicking through songs that gave me an instaheadache (yet made his painting project more manageable), I scribbled a few notes from parenting web sites and began to imagine my own little touches, fighting the urge to immediately jump in my car and head to Hobby Lobby. Because even though this gal ain’t no Martha Stewart, it’s no mystery that every chic can use a creative outlet once in awhile…

I daydreamed through the rest of the afternoon while living in the moment of “chase the toddler,” preparing meals, doing “art” and reading with Elmo. A few hours later after a rocking session, two rounds of “You Are My Sunshine” and whispers about our gratitudes for the day, I was off to collect the goods: 20 small clay pots, craft sticks, pink scrapbooking paper, a Sharpie, raffia ribbon and a bag of conversation hearts. The red paint – we already had it since painting our Halloween pumpkins and doing the many hand/feet projects I forced my toddler into when writing thank you notes or just for my own personal entertainment (much to his dismay I might add). From this, came these:


Twenty little flower-like acts of love, each lined with tiny thumbprints (ok, some are my pinkies, because really, a 16-month old gets bored at number six), each that says: “Thumbody Loves You” and “Happy Valentine’s Day.” Pink hearts, red thumb smudges, ribbon and a multitude of colors lined with sassy little messages. All for the people we love.

Because Valentine’s Day, like all days, is meant to genuinely share with those you cherish that…well…you cherish them. And if you’re a Pisces-born, girly-girl that has a soft spot for pink, glitter and hopeless romance, you make room to go a little overboard on this day.

Wishing you a Valentine’s Day that fills the teeniest corners of your heart with the utmost joy. And remember…”Thumbody Loves You.”