A Simple Marker Heart

It has been almost complete smooth sailing since Emmy started school back in September.  She loves her teacher, has several little best friends, and is miserable when she has to miss even one day.  She is learning so much and the routine really has been great for all of us.

But like any four year old, she does have her rough days.  There have been a few tear-filled drop-offs, some that last most of the morning according to her teacher.  Breaks my momma heart every time.

It was during one of these rougher mornings, when Emmy was crying about how she was going to miss me during school, that I had a brilliant idea.  I grabbed a purple marker and drew a heart on the top of her hand.  I then kissed it about a million times.  I told her that if she gets sad or misses me during the day to just kiss that heart or rub it with her hand and it will be as if I'm giving her a kiss.

And you know what?  It worked.  She came home smiling and happy that day.  The heart was just enough of a reminder of how much I love her that she was able to get through the day. 

Emmy doesn't ask for the heart every day.  But about once every two weeks or so she'll come to me, purple marker in hand, and ask for her heart filled with kisses.  As a child who was constantly terrified of school at her age, I'm so glad we found something to get her through the very rare rough days.

Even cuter?  After I draw on her heart, she has now taken to drawing a rainbow on my hand and filling it with her own kisses, you know, for when I miss her. 

Some days I feel like I'm doing okay at parenting.