Friday the 13th

Yesterday was the kind of day where one minute, your child is sitting next to you embroidering like the sweetest most perfect angel ever and the next minute, he's having a screaming fit because you won't let him hurl himself out the second floor window.  I'm thinking it's because we finally got our first real snow of the season.  Real snow on the ground raises the stakes.

A few words about embroidery with kids.  Ellis has been embroidering with a real needle for nearly a year.  He's not yet four.  He is possibly the most danger-seeking child I have ever met and he's never done worse than poke himself a bit with the needle.  For example, yesterday he built a tower of pillows as high as my head and tried to scale it and then leap off of it onto the radiator.  Next to a window.  I almost threw up.  But I do let him sew with real thread and a real needle in a real hoop.   If you're worried, you can give your child a blunt tapestry needle and felted wool, which is very easy to stitch through.  But they won't be fooled.  They won't settle for baby embroidery.  They want to sew with the big kids.  And frankly, the needle's sharpness works in your favor here.  It's so sharp that as soon as they start to poke themselves, they stop.  Because, ouch.  Unless they don't have enough motor control to not randomly just poke themselves in the eye, I say real needles all the way.

Here's what Friday afternoon looks like at our house.

That's what I get for making him new mittens, right?  Check these out!  I scored a fleece remnant today for $1.81, which should be good for at least 5 pairs of mittens.

And here he is stitching.

And resting after playing in the snow.

And what I did while he was at school (instead of the dishes or laundry!)