Signs of Love

"Mama, let's make the 'I Love You' sign," Grace, 6, says enthusiastically as we are tracing and cutting out handprints from red construction paper for she and her brother to send as Valentine's Day cards. She can tell by my perplexed look that I'm not sure what she means.

"Like this," she shows me as she takes one of the paper hands and bends the two middle fingers down to form the sign for "I love you," in sign language.

"Grace, I LOVE that idea!" I exclaim, my heart practically bursting with pride at her brilliance. With the fingers folded down, it also creates the perfect place to tuck in a little note.

Grace writes small "love letters" on white cardstock and decorates them with fingerprint hearts. The prints are so simple that 2-year-old Luke has no problem covering his notes, the surrounding work area, and even himself with toddler-sized messages of affection. With a glue stick and glitter, Grace adds a little glamour to her cards by "doing the nails" and fashioning a silver ring out of aluminum foil for extra sparkle.

To further sweeten the correspondence, I mail the cards using personalized stamps featuring a picture of the kids (www.photostamps.com). For some extra Valentine love, I tuck a few extra stamps into the cards for the grandparents.

With family spread out around the country, our loved ones don't get their hands on our kids nearly as much as they'd like to, so I know these handprint valentines will be a big hit. When we're done, Grace uses a leftover paper hand to give me a little pat on the back -- the sweetest valentine of all.