I'm the Loser Preschool Mom. You know, the one the other moms talk about.

So, first let me say something. This is my first go-around. This is my first child experience. My first being-a-preschool-mom experience. There is no rule book for people like me. People like me whose school-age mommy instincts might be a little off. I never had friends with kids and my sister didn't have kids. I've had no one to learn from.

And before I had my boys, all I worried about on Valentine's Day was where my boyfriend/husband and I were going to go for the big romantic evening. What was I going to wear? Should I buy a new dress? What was he going to get me? Was I going to be disappointed? Was it going to be romantic? What was I going to order at the restaurant? How should I fix my hair?

Now, with kids, I haven't even showered, I don't care what I am wearing, and my husband and I don't care where we eat, as long as we get to get out of the house for a couple of hours, kid-free, and eat something that I didn't cook.

So, keeping this in mind, it might be understandable that I can be the loser preschool mom. I sometimes don't know the rules to being a preschool mommy. Or I might forget the rules that I have learned from watching TV. Ahem.

So, here is my confession. I didn't know the rules of preschool today. You know, the unspoken rule about getting Valentines for the kids in your son's preschool class. Yeah, I missed that one.

When I picked my son up from preschool today, he had a little bag with his name on it, full of Valentines and candy from his classmates. I was mortified. I guess I thought kids only gave out Valentines in elementary school. I didn't realize it applied to 1-2 years olds, as well. My son doesn't even know what a Valentine is. To him, it is just a piece of paper to shred.

I feel awful. My kid is the weird one whose parents didn't splurge for Valentines for everyone. And it isn't like there are a ton of kids in his class so maybe no one will notice. Oh no, there are only 7 kids in his class. You can't help but notice it.

Well, all I can say is that I will know better from now on. And here is a warning to all you new parents who might not have had kids until later in life and have 8 million other things to worry about besides dinosaur Valentines: make the dinosaur Valentines eight million and one. They apparently gotta be done. Whether the kids know what they are or not.

On a lighter note, here is a picture of my 2 yr old on his first Valentine's Day, 2 years ago - he was five months old:

And here is a picture of Harry - today is his first Valentine's Day and he is also five months old!

I can't believe that Harry will start eating solid foods in just a few weeks. The last five and a half months have gone by so quickly! Max was already sitting up by himself by this age, so we put him in his highchair. Harry cannot sit up by himself yet. He doesn't even support himself with his arms. He just falls right over! Not sure how we are going to get him to sit up so we can feed him. He falls over in his Bumbo too! He still has trouble holding up his big ole' head. We will figure out something...

maybe put him in his highchair and stuff a bunch of blankets all around him? How can we keep his head from falling over? These are the questions I ask now on this Valentine's Day. New adventures!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!