Look What I Made

Continuing my review of some of the highlights of 2007, in June, we hosted a party at Look What I Made, an arts and crafts play space in Long Beach. It is a great space with lots for kids to explore and create, all at their own pace. There are four large craft tables, each with a different project, three easels, and a dedicated play area.

Aviss (the owner) and Eva were great at making everyone feel comfortable, assisting and encouraging the children, ensuring the materials were available when inspiration struck, and carefully packing up all of the art for the children to take home. Everyone had a great time!

One of the things I love most about Look What I Made is that there is lots of room for creative exploration and expression, without all of the set up and clean up. Look What I Made is open for parties on Saturdays, or you can drop-in any weekday that you and your child need a break from the daily routine.

Baking

I have photographed the Bachman's every year for the last seven years. Our portrait sessions usually include spending some time at their home and some time playing at a local park, but when rain forced us to stay indoors last year, they rolled up their sleeves, got out the mixer and made chocolate chip cookies. The kids loved it and mom and dad got great pictures of their children enjoying a rainy day at home together.

There are many ways to say I love you

There are many ways to say I love you,
There are many ways to say I care about you.
Many ways, many ways, many ways to say, I love you.

There's the cooking way to say I love you,
There's the cooking something someone really likes to eat.
The cooking way, the cooking way, the cooking way to say, I love you...

In this simple song, Mister Rogers talks about a few of the things parents and children can do to show their love for each other.

I sing it to myself when I am performing some of the more mundane (or challenging tasks) of parenting, and am reminded why I am doing them. You can easily substitute nearly any parenting chore - "there's the changing diapers way to say I love you", "there's the driving you to soccer practice way to say I love you", "there's the disciplining you way to say I love you", "there's the potty training way to say I love you", "there's the spending time with you way to say I love you", "there's the packing your lunch way to say I love you."

While photographing at Great Beginnings preschool last year, I was fortunate to spot the scene above, demonstrating the care with which the teachers set out the children's lunches each day and the love of the mom who packed one with a special note.

Here is a link to the song, with slightly different lyrics than the CD version.