A Onesie For Brother

I'm kind of a grinch, when it comes to giving my daughter's craft time. It used to be all the time- I'd set her up with a box of markers, some construction paper, a sheet of stickers, and she'd be happy. But then she started getting greedy, and nothing was good enough. I'd give her these markers, but she'd want those. I'd give her blue paper, but she'd want orange.

There was room for negotiation, though, always.

"You can have this lined alphabet paper to for your craft time today Miss Eleanore, now would you like crayons, or markers, to go with it?" ...she'd choose crayons.

Not even minutes later, she'd be bored with the crayons, having only used one color, and in her whiny voice, asking for the markers.

"No... why don't you try using some different color crayons, more than just the purple. You can practice writing your A's, your B's, and your C's. Draw them each in different colors, and then when you're all finished, call me and let me know, I'll come see them!" ...oh, okay, that doesn't sound so bad.

She'd draw one letter A, put the crayon down, and say "Ok Mommy, I'm all finished, come look! Can I have my markers now?" ...um, no.

Craft time became a pattern. She was never satisfied. I'd set her up with more options, giving her both crayons and markers, two different kinds of papers, more ideas for her brain to work with, and while she was happy for the first 45 seconds of it all, the fun never lasted past the initial pen to paper moment.

"Craft time is hear by cancelled!", I established.

...oh booooo Mom, really? Cancelled?
Yes. I'm sick of the drama.

Well the other day, while baby Brother was taking a nap, Eleanore had started complaining of boredom, of course, so I figured we could give craft time another go. There had been several non crafting weeks, giving it another try wouldn't hurt.



I remembered some Crayola fabric markers that I had gotten on sale at Michael's nearly half a year ago, and some blank onesies leftover from Charlie's Christmas outfit. That would be perfect! She could make a onesie for Brother.

And she could do everything in her means to avoid having her picture taken, too.

So how'd craft time go, you wonder? ...


Well we finished the onesie! I may or may not have done most of the artwork, following loosely some very bossy instructions, but... Eleanore for sure was the hand behind all of raindrops and the "cat" under the grass (its not dead, its just... living in dirt).

Brother was very pleased with his handmade gift from Sister. So pleased that he got applesauce on it the very first time he wore it.

And while craft time wasn't a total failure, I don't think it will be making its way back into our daily routine anytime soon.