gifts for a one year-old

What do you give a one year-old? I remember when my nephew Ben turned 1, my sister got a big cardboard box and filled it up with ornamental gourds of different sizes and shapes. That’s a gift a baby can really appreciate. I wanted to put a little effort into my fourth-born’s first birthday, but she really didn’t need any stuff. She did need a fall jacket, however, and I had bought some of Anna Maria Horner’s gorgeous velveteen earlier in the year with this very project in mind. As I began cutting out pieces, I pondered (as usual) whether my ambition exceeded my skill level, but was happy with how easily and quickly it all came together. I credit AMH’s excellent instructions (pattern from this book). It’s given me confidence to tackle another sewing project for Christmas, but I’ll save that for another post. 

A jacket was fine for keeping her warm, but I felt she also needed something fun, and this is where I enlisted the help of the carpenter. I’d admired the clever wooden wagon that Ella (of the lovely Little Red Caboose blog) had offered her one year-old earlier this year, and thought it was just the thing to help a little toddler around while their steps gained stability. So I put in a request at the workshop, and a few days later the requested item appeared.

This post is a little out of date. The one year-old is now almost 14 months old. She is walking on her own (now uses the walking wagon to help her run) and is in need of a winter coat. But I’m not going to try and tackle that myself. The holiday project list is getting long… more to come!