five little things that made my week.
1. leaf etchings.
{and getting to do all my favorite childhood stuff all over again.}
2. these remains. 
{i don’t know if it’s the election, or the pregnancy, or the general time of year, but i’ve been extra jittery in the evenings lately. burning stuff is helping me feel more grounded.}
3. this magic powder. 
{more soothing powers. much needed.}
4. these tiny tools. 
{freshly polished by tiny hands.}
5. these fading jack o’ lanterns.
{headed to the compost tomorrow but they made the apartment feel cozy all week.}
other things:
i love ruth reichl in the fall.
rules for living with roomates.
ps. in case you missed it, there’s a chance to win a $300 gift to shop bridge & burn, right this way. (and a special discount for everyone else!)
pps. there’s a weekly newsletter en route later this afternoon. stay tuned…
26 Comments
Love that Washington Post article. (may she never change) As the fellow-mother of a climbing daughter, I feel her pain. I take great pride in my 7-yr-old’s calluses on her hands. She earned those suckers, and can now skip every two rungs on the monkey bars and climb the free-hanging rope to the top of the gym ceiling. I’m constantly reminded of the bravery that is required of parenting – both for watching your kids antics and responding to the judgment of others. Guess I’m building calluses of my own. 🙂
Yes, yes, yes. I also have a 7 year old girl who loves to climb. If you have a climbing gym in your area, I highly recommend taking her. It’s one place where no one will tell her to be careful, come down from there, etc. Bravery, strength, and climbing are highly encouraged!
Yes +1- that was a great, well written article. This article reminds me that i should appreciate my son’s energy, independence, strength, and willfulness rather than wish he wasn’t so exhausting. It’s a joy to have girls and boys like this in the world! 🙂
I really hate to be “that” person but where did you get that crayon set and those tiny wooden tools? My little would love those. Thanks in advance.
The crayons I found locally, but they’re Stockmar crayons like these ones. The little case actually came with a different set of beeswax crayons that we had—we loved the idea of 100% beeswax, but those crayons broke super easily and we ultimately melted them down into a new shapes! The little tools have all been gifts from my mom. I think she sometimes finds her wooden tools through Bella Luna toys but also in little kitchen shops, etc.! Hope that helps!
So, lurking mama here: In addition to my favorite local kitchen shops and beloved Bella Luna, I regularly check Nova Naturals at http://www.novanatural.com/ and For Small Hands Montessori at http://www.forsmallhands.com/
You beat me to it–those three are definite favorites at our house as well!
Burning stuff used to also help me sometimes. Hope you have great cozy weekend. 🙂
I’m all sorts of jittery this week leading up to Tuesday! Thanks for the great links, Erin. 🙂
Yes to jitters and yes to burning stuff. Having a fire in he backyard might be just what I need.
Regarding the Washington Post article: I have two very active and daring small sons. I get plenty of concerned comments about their safety as they climb the playground equipment, trees, etc.
I don’t think this is a girls vs boys thing so much as an ever-growing concern for the physical safety of children.
Agreed. My son is only 2, but I field plenty of admonishments and passive-aggressive corrections from strangers about the things I “allow” him to do. Ah, yes, every parent’s favorite – the passive-aggressive “We don’t [do x],” said loudly and theatrically. “We don’t play in the mud.” “We don’t walk on the garden wall.” “WE don’t climb up the slide” (oh, the up-the-slide drama, does it ever end). When he falls – because he is two, so of course he does – and cries and comes running to me for comfort, the guilt that everyone seems so eager to heap onto me, silently, watching, is almost unbearable. But I know I have to bear it, for him. Because he deserves to climb and jump and get dirty and, yes, fall. And he deserves to know the nuanced difference between “We don’t climb up the slide,” and “We don’t climb up the slide when other people are trying to go down it.” He is smart enough and strong enough to learn these things and know them. And he will be better off for having learned them.
He has a stool in the kitchen that he pushes around to access counters and pantry shelves as he desires, or simply to stand at nearly eye-level with me in the kitchen and enjoy the equal footing. My ten-year old stepson (whose biological mother is extremely over-protective) will not climb the stool. It’s only two steps, but it strikes me how different those two steps are to those two boys: to one, they are freedom; to another, they are danger.
LOVE that huffpo article, it gave me all sorts of feelings. I just have a little boy right now but I also have two niece and I hope they’ll all be as adventurous as each other.
That article about the active little girl is so great. That’s how I was, and that’s how I hope my kids will be.
Just read your newsletter; I’ve considered signing up to make phone calls, but I hate talking on the phone so much, especially to strangers. I’ve donated to Hillary, but am aware I could do more. Have you done the phone call thing before? If I thought it would really make a difference, I might; but I do live in Jersey which is blue anyways. Bottom line: I’m torn. I really want to do what I can to help ensure that sanity reigns in this country, but really, really don’t want to make phone calls, especially since I’m not sure how much of a difference it would make.
I have! I made calls for Obama when I lived in North Carolina and it really felt like a proactive approach (even if it was also sometimes daunting). No need to make calls only in your own state, either!
The article on strong willed little girls! – insert praise hands emoji here – we need more of those girls and those mamas.
That HuffPost article is great. I’m a mother of two very active boys (now teenagers) and suffered greatly for the sin of letting them run wild in open spaces. I’ve dealt with broken bones and scary injuries, but my only regret is for those times I talked them out of doing more daring things. The more you tell kids they can’t do this or that, the more they believe it. And slowly that sparkle of joy and curiosity diminishes until all that’s left are video games and electronic devices.
Chiming in to the choruses singing praises of that WaPo article! I was fortunate enough to have a really playful (wildly so, complete with climbing trees and being out of my parents’ sight) childhood and get so frustrated to see how many more limits we put on kids today. I spent an entire graduate school semester researching “free play” and its importance in development… anyway. Good stuff!
The rules to having roommates made me ROFL!
Where did the brass (?) plate for burning things in come from.
It’s actually a brass coaster from Schoolhouse Electric!
this is such a lovely post, it lifted my mood somehow haha
I totally (and coincidentally) made my first attempt at a sour dough starter last night! Fingers crossed.
I remember those leaf etchings from grade school! My class took a walk around the neighborhood and collected leaves. I miss doing stuff like that.
Hi Erin! Love your blog and book! Can you tell me what color your blue dresser is? Love it! Thanks so much.
Benjamin Moore abyss.
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