With school starting again, I thought I would share one of my all time favorite Chaney stories.
Back in kindergarten, we went on the kindergarten tour of the school before the first day. Chaney's new teacher led our tour. Everything was going fine until we went into the cafeteria.
Picture 18 bright and wide-eyed kids with equally nervous parents following behind a teacher...
Teacher: This is the cafeteria. You can bring your lunch or you can buy your lunch here.
Kids & Parents: silence
Teacher: This is the table where we will sit and eat with all our friends.
Kids & Parents: silence
Teacher: Doesn't that sound like fun??
Most of the Kids & Parents: silence
Chaney: uh huh... prisons have cafeterias too!
Me: bright red and gasping for air with all eyes on me and my suddenly talkative child
Teacher: oooohhh my! ummm...What a great example of a cafeteria!
Kindergarten teachers, bless them, have this amazing ability to turn nearly everything into a positive. Me, I was an odd mixture of pride and embarrassment. How funny but where in the heck did she learn about prison cafeterias?? And even worse, why was she thinking about prison and kindergarten?
As exciting as it is to see Chaney grow and mature, I never want her to lose her sense of humor or creativity. This year we decided it was time to give her a dedicated area to do homework. But in keeping with her creative spirit, we went with something a little less traditional.
We got her a work table from Ikea that is big enough to do homework at, draw, color or craft.
The chair is my absolute favorite. So retro and so Chaney.
The chair seat is a little deep and she's short so I made her a pillow to sit on. When she was looking for fabric for her book bag, she initially went for my Habitat stash. I loved her final choice but I decided to incorporate some of her other favorite prints into this pillow. It's a simple disappearing 9-patch pattern with an envelope closure.
I added some of my Kitchen Sink bunting because doing homework should be festive too!
So we've graduated from a play table and chairs in the corner of my studio to a real work table. I still walk in expecting to see her little table but I have to admit, I really like the colorful makeover too. And there's one thing I can promise, prisons definitely do not have anything like this new space! ;)