Table Play

The right moment for a kid-sized table for N came this month. The same month when he started climbing onto every outdoor bench, outdoor cafe dining chair and living room recliner. His eighteenth month to be exact. He was ready for the big leagues. I mightn't have guessed it if he hadn't made it so clear. 

So I made him a table. Ana White's Clara Table to be exact. And boy, sitting at it is a revelation. He likes to move his blocks around it. Move his bugs around it. Move his toy cookies around it. Move his banana around it. Read on it. Drum on it. 

Sit at it. The way we do at ours, just a few feet away. And when I think of all there is to look forward to with this table, I can't help but grin. Play-doh. Coloring. Finger painting. The perfect base for block towers that soar to the sky. Picnics with his toy lamb and little toy lamb and toy sheep who all say ba. Did I mention N says ba for them now? How I do love it.

 I hope this table will be the kids' table for family Thanksgivings with his cousins. And a center of fun at playgroup. And a great place to put the little treehouse I'm making him. 

I like to put out different boxes of things on different days. You never know what you might find on a table. Especially if it has orange chairs...

Of course kids' tables are to be had in many places - rummage sales, IKEA, thrift stores, Amazon. But I really had fun making him his and letting him pick "Ripe Persimmon" from the paint samples at the store. I have loved dabbling in furniture building since N was born, and you just might too. Ana White makes it a lot easier than I thought it could be. I even circular saw now (and I only watched five safety videos first). A lot of new roles come with motherhood, and carpenter seems to be one of mine.