1 Cashew, 2 Cashew

Rebecca is such an amazing little girl. She's 2 1/2 and I sent her to Connecticut having not even begun potty training... and she came back from Connecticut completely potty trained! I don't know how Steve and Jenn did it. And in just a few days, too, to hear them tell it. Apparently it was a one cookie for pee, two cookie for poop method with no yelling, just positive reinforcement (I had asked Steve to take over this one since I had a terrible time potty training the other two and it was a bad experience for all involved). They said that on day one she had accidents all day long, decided she didn't like having accidents, and from then on she was 100% dry including at nighttime! With the exception of one time when she was scared by a dog, which I can understand. I have never seen a 2 year old who can stay dry at night. We switched from cookies to cashews when the cookies ran out (and she was getting tired of them) so this morning I have an adorable chubby little girl on the potty saying, very determinedly, "I get two cashews for pooping in the potty." And she did! What a good girl. I just can't get over it.

Today I am starting to get some stuff done around the house and I decided first to tackle the mending pile. One thing I have to say for natural toys is that you can actually mend them yourself instead of throwing them away, which is basically what you have to do for plastic. Today I mended one of our felt crowns which had been torn. It was one Kelly O'Neil made for me. :-) She put a cute little felt heart embellishment on it and the heart got a hole in it but the crown was fine. So I searched in my felt box, found a scrap, cut out a new heart shape (luckily I have a ton of heart stencils in all different sizes from Valentine's Day) and sewed it on. One of my favorite possessions is a collection of vintage Belding Corticelli thread which I inherited from my Aunty when she died. I have them all arranged by number and they are so pretty to look at. It always makes me happy when I can use some of her thread for a project. It's like I make a little connection with her -- really heart warming. Next I will mend a Waldorf doll which we got from Australia (from Over the Rainbow Waldorf Toys). It is a beautiful small Honey Bun doll with thread joints and my kids are always breaking the joints. I would say, from my own experience, that these dolls are best for ages 5 and up. There are directions for this type of doll in Making Waldorf Dolls if you need to mend one (or make your own!) I am using Barbour's 3 cord 100% linen thread (also vintage -- it's very thick & strong) and a 5 inch dollmaking needle from Magic Cabin.