Simple dreams and craftiness

I got home from a work trip yesterday, it was the first time I'd left my Small Boy to go anywhere and it was difficult being away from my lovely little family. They seem to have had a great time without me (a certain boy even managed to talk his way into a day off school) but Mr Z, Little Miss and my Small Boy have been giving me extra cuddles all day long :)

Anyway, Little Miss asked me if we could make something today. It's our thing and I know she had been waiting for my return so she could unleash her creativity. I said yes, thinking she meant baking scones or cupcakes but she beamed and said, "We'll make ballet shoes!".

I love that at this age, they think you can do anything. She asked me a few weeks ago to make her some wings, "that really fly!". That was an interesting afternoon that almost ended in tears. What do you say to that?* I thought about telling her that I couldn't make ballet shoes, but I want her to grow up thinking that anything is possible. Plus I'd spent a big portion of our telly time last night explaining what a cobbler was, and telling her that once upon a time people made shoes by hand instead of programming computers and machines to do it for them**.

So, I decided to give it my best shot and we set to work figuring out how to make some ballet shoes. We had some baby slippers that we had previously taken apart, so after looking at the shapes and measuring her foot, we made our own (wobbly, inept) pattern. We found some coral fleece lurking in the back of the sewing cupboard (left overs from the blanket we made last year, see Mr Z's version here), it was purple but, "It's ok if it isn't pink, Mum. You're doing your best."

We cut, we pinned, we sewed, we laughed that they were two different sizes, we sewed, we cut and sewed some more.

And then they were done.

How lovely to be able to make dreams come true! What a special time in my life - to be so much to three small people who mean everything to me. Happiness really is so simple to a child :)


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* I hope I didn't say that Tinkerbell wasn't real, but I may have. Oops. I told her she'd have to grow up and be clever enough to design and make some clip on fairy wings that would really work and I would buy the first pair from her.
**It sounds like a heavy conversation for a Friday night, but we were singing along with Hans Christian Anderson (the storyteller and cobbler) at the time.