I have decided that there is nothing better than watching a kindergartener open a bag of Valentines.

An aside. I came back from my admittedly long lunch (hard to cram two Valentine parties into an hour, including commute) and showed these pictures to my dear friend/colleague Michele, who remarked, “You know, I think elementary school was the last time I really enjoyed Valentine’s Day.”

I know what she means. It’s the Christmas thing. Unreasonable expectations. (And for me, the knowledge that the chocolate I bought for Ray and the girls is currently a pool in my too-warm car. Back to Walgreens….)

I hope Michele has kids someday, if only so she can relive the elementary school Valentine rush. It really is even better as a parent.

This afternoon at school we gave the kids in Sophie’s class their “healthy” snack of low fat ice cream, whole grain Teddy Grahams and sliced bananas, with some chocolate syrup and whipped cream snuck in. Shhh. Don’t tell.

Then, two by two, Ms. X called the kids up to get their full Valentine bags. The best part was watching them thank each other. You’d think they’d given each other gold and diamonds instead of Nerds and Disney pencils.

I had worried that her classmates wouldn’t be able to read her name (she wrote it herself on all 20 cards) but Sophie got her fair share of exuberant thank yous.

Just one thing was missing. I wasn’t able to savor that teary, bittersweet last-kindergarten-Valentine-party feeling, because at this point, we don’t know it will be.

There’s a meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning with Ms. X to talk about Sophie’s progress — and the future.