I heart him.

Bus 42 pulls up at the end of my driveway.  I stand at the front door and wave, as a very enthusiastic little guy jumps off the bottom step of the bus and bounds up the driveway.

I open the back door to see sparkly blue eyes and a gaping mouth frozen in place. 

I chuckle "What IS it?  Did you have a party today?"  Isaac nods his head with a hearty yes...and keeps nodding..."Okay, you can come inside now" I remind him, and he hops into the foyer. 

(FYI, Isaac never does anything without enthusiasm--one of the many wonderful things I cherish about him)

As we struggle to take off his coat and back pack, I open it up to see what goodies he brought home. 

"Look, buddy!"  I pulled out a large blue gift bag with a giant smiling heart with arms and legs accordion-ing off the sides. 

He beams.

"Mom!!  It's a HEART!" 

Since Isaac was very young, he's had an infatuation with hearts.  He loves to love them.  He puts them up to his cheek, caressing them gently.  He traces them lightly with his finger and says softly, "heart..."  Valentine's day is a day where all that heart loving can go nuts. 

But this is the first year where the representation of the picture of a heart takes on an emotion for Isaac.  He's getting love.  He's processing what it means to love--how it feels to love--and how wonderful it is.  It's a milestone of grand proportions. 

I pick him up and we look at his bag of candy and Valentine's notes from his friends.  But what I love to love about Isaac is his ability to love freely...even those paper hearts. 

"Aw, I love you mom," he says with a head on my shoulder. 

"I love you too, Isaac."  You have no idea how much.