Biophilliac Mommy: Valentine's Day....well more like days

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Valentine's Day....well more like days

Valentine's Day has come and gone, yet we still aren't quite through with it. In the drawer by my door I have 24 handmade Valentine's Day card from Meo just waiting to be sent to their new homes. But that trip has been postponed...twice! I blame the norovirus, which not unlike the plague has reaped havoc on friends and family alike. So while we still haven't had a Valentine's Day play date, we did still manage to celebrate as a family, and this at least I can share with you now.

On Valentine's Day, Mattimeo and I brought Robbie to work so we could have the car for the day. We stopped at a local nursery so we could get a Valentine's Day present for our sweet wild bird friends: some suet and a couple birdhouse kits (we aren't set up with a jigsaw yet, so it was just easier for us to buy a precut kit). Then, on our way home I randomly wondered if the Gorham library had a story time (as we were at a stoplight in downtown Gorham). When I checked, I found that they did indeed, that day in fact, and in just 15 minutes time! So I pulled over, looked up where the library was and found it to be just a quarter mile away! Very excitedly at my bit of good luck, Meo and I headed over to the Gorham library. They actually had two different story time sessions that morning. The first was for infants aged 0-18 months and the second was for toddlers aged 18-36 months. Since Meo is just now 18 months, I wondered which would be more appropriate, and after consulting the friendly librarian's decided to try out both. The first one with little babies was full of simple, sweet finger songs and a board book. The toddler session involved more active songs, a longer book, and and arts and crafts session to make homemade Valentine's Day cards. Mattimeo began by hanging out close to me, nursing frequently and taking everything in. Soon enough though he was up and about...listening to the songs, laughing, and mainly running back and forth up and down the handicap ramp in the children's section of the library. He turned into a completely energetic goof ball, and it warmed my heart to see him so much himself and cheerful in a public space. I think we will be making a habit of visiting the Gorham library, at it is not probably the closest library to our new house (there are a couple in Standish but they don't do children's activities at the moment).

Goofy boy running around in the library

Making a Valentine's Day car for Daddy

Valentine's Day card for Daddy

After story time, Meo and I went home, and Meo took a nice long time. We then had lunch together, some cuddle time, sang songs and read books on the couch. We were thinking about going for a snowshoe (Meo started bringing the snowshoes over to me), but unfortunately by the time we were ready, we had to go run some errands before picking Robbie up from work.

We were planning on going out for dinner that night, and Meo was just stay at home where my mom was going to watch him. But my cousin Falisha had her baby that day, and my mom was in the room with her helping her through the labor. She ended up having a c-section around 5 in the evening...so long story short: no dinner for us. We just postponed our date until the next day, and had a family Valentine dinner at home.

Valentine's Day ride with Gobo

Madagascar Jasmines from my love

Robbie and I have been watching Dr. Who so I made him this Valentine featuring my favorite Doctor :)

From my creative husband

My silly card to Robbie

Bubble bath for Valentine's Day

The next day Robbie and I got to go on our very special date to our favorite restaurant, The Green Elephant. This is a classy vegetarian restaurant featuring Asian inspired cuisine. We love it there so much, but because it is very expensive we can only afford to go on special occasions (this has just been Valentine's Day for the past three years). I was very hungry and managed to eat three mouth watering courses! We shared crispy wontons stuffed with soy cheese and spinach for an appetizer. I had the Chinese Broccoli with Crispy Breaded Soy Filet for an entree while Robbie enjoyed the Pad Thai. For desert we shared their Valentine's Day special of a cupcake, truffle, and raspberry sorbet.

We had a wonderful time, and it felt almost like we were in college again because we were so transformed into youthful fools in the absence of our offspring. Meanwhile, back at home, my mom had fun taking care of Meo. She fed him his favorite food (frozen blueberries) among other delicacies for dinner, then treated him to a soothing bubble bath and managed to easily put him to bed by rocking him to sleep and singing to him. We are so grateful to my mom for being willing to take care of our sweet Meo, so Robbie and I could enjoy a date alone. It is a rare and wonderful opportunity.