At the beginning of this year I posted some goals for the year. I also wanted to set some small, easily-attainable goals for each month. For January, I decided to make a tutu for my daughter Emma’s third birthday next month. I had heard tutus are easy to make, but I’d never done it.
Here’s the finished tutu, made using this excellent tutorial from Vermillion Rules.
I didn’t actually follow the tutorial exactly since I wasn’t sure Emma would wear a super-full tutu (she doesn’t like layers as a general rule), but it was an excellent resource, answering every question I had from where to buy tulle to different types of tulle to use. I bought the kind that comes in 6” rolls, which requires less cutting.
As for my other goals, let’s see how I’m doing…
Find places to keep all those odds and ends that get stashed in random places: I’ve started on this, but there are still plenty of homeless odds and ends lying around the house. Potty train Emma: No progress whatsoever. Any suggestions for motivating a completely unmotivated child to potty train? I don’t want three kids in diapers this summer! Get Johnny to eat more solid food: He’ll eat sweet food now (fruit and yogurt) and the occasional bite of whatever we’re having… Be more patient with cooking/baking that involves a rolling pin: Haven’t touched a rolling pin all month. In fact, I took away my kids’ play rolling pin because they were throwing it around and (being wood) it’s heavy enough to do some real damage. Take the kids outdoors more: I took them both out once. Emma’s been out with Mike a few times. It’s been very cold here all month. Get the kids to sleep through the night better (closer to achieving this with Johnny than Emma, unfortunately): Emma is sleeping about the same, but going to bed without making a fuss. Johnny woke up every ten minutes last night, but I think that’s because he wasn’t feeling great. I sure hope it’s not a new habit he’s starting!MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Thanks for the potty training suggestions, Bad Mummy. My biggest problem is that Emma has no interest in using the potty – she says she likes wearing diapers. Any motivation suggestions?
Bad Mummy, I really like the idea of putting up something interesting to look at and talk about in the bathroom! I will have to try that out with my DD! :)
My potty training went pretty well, but that could be because the potty has been sitting in her room for a year. For every potty use, she earned a sticker, which went on a piece of paper. For every ten stickers, she got to choose an item from a grab bag that I filled with dollar store stuff. Once we filled the page with stickers, we stopped giving them out and she didn’t mind/notice at all. Oh, and this process was started on the weekend, when she and I were both at home. I let her wear underwear and asked her if she needed the potty every 20 minutes. She only had 1-2 accidents over the weekend and started back at daycare on the Monday wearing panties. I also decorated the wall opposite the toilet with wall stickers that have animals and their letters, so we had something to talk about while hanging in the bathroom.
Cute tutu! My sil made one like that for my DD for Christmas this year. So far, DD isn’t really interested–I think it’s too poofy for her. She’ll like it eventually I’m sure.
Love the tutu! It’s adorable!