Emily's Day to Shine

Helen was at a sleepover last night, which gave me uninterrupted time to focus on Emily today. One on one with a child is an extremely good thing. At least in this house it is. It usually leads to better behaviour and an increase in that loving feeling.

Emily took it up another notch though. Because she started the day with a small miracle. I heard her get up and listened to her singing to herself as she played happily in her room. Only she wasn't playing. She was doing this, without even being threatened!

She just got out of bed this morning and tidied! I was gobsmacked, and incredibly pleased. She put toys in the storage provided. It was an unprecedented act on her part and one that had to be documented.

The next task for the day was a shared one. It was time to make her summer top with the pattern she chose. Now this pattern is the same as the one I used to make her an outfit before she was three. She loved that outfit. It now resides in her memory box and she talks about it still. So she is going for the same happy feeling, I presume.

Emily at 3 in the first outfit (and her brand new shiny birthday scooter).

This time Emily was more involved in the creation of her new top. She mumbled a lot about how hard it was to sew curves, and got distracted making patterns in the pin cushion with the pins - but she persevered.

Yup, I know she needs a haircut. She is booked in while we are at Mum's.

It was a very easy pattern. Six pieces, no zippers, buttons, or anything complicated at all. And the great bit is - if you have made it before you realise this because they don't tell you - it is reversible. So Emily dived into the fabric stash and pulled out a different fabric for the reverse side. Since she had cherries on a pink background for the first fabric she went all out and went for apples on a pink background for the other. Umm, a little variety here please. But it was her top, for her to wear, not me so apples it was.

Here is the finished article -

I would call that a successful project. She's happy. I'm happy. We had fun together. The sun is shining. It feels like summer again. We are about to go for a walk. A barbeque is planned for tonight. Life is good!

Susan