Come, Mommy

Waldorf teachers use the traditional northern European fairy tales as stories in their younger classes. First the children hear them as the teachers speak them, then see them in the form of puppet shows put on by the teachers, and then in the grade school they read the stories for themselves. As a result, we are quite familiar with all sorts of gnomes, trolls, and other wee folk.

Last year, Liam made a purple gnome and a tee-pee for him to live in. One of his older classmates knitted a rug for Liam’s gnome house. Then this year in the Parent-Child class that Kiri and I have been going to on Fridays, I made a bigger gnome. When I brought my gnome home last week, Liam took quite a shine to him and ran upstairs to introduce him to “Purple Guy.” As it turns out, Purple Guy and “Red Guy” have become best friends, despite the fact that “Red Guy” has to bend a bit to get into the gnome house.

Here you can see Red Guy and Purple Guy standing in their teepee alongside their dear pet, Mousie.

Here’s Liam, making sure I get a good picture. He was quite worried that I wouldn’t!

Here’s a shot to show the general size of the gnomes – Red Guy is about 9 inches tall, while Purple Guy is between and inch or two in size. The little Purple Guy that Liam made is amazing in that he sewed his purple robe and hat by himself, and then wet felted his body out of cream roving. Liam is getting quite good at sewing and is also beginning to do some knitting in school.

I have always loved crafts and sewing, both for recreation and to make actual useful items for me, my house, or my friends, and I’m so happy that my children will be learning these important skills early on in school.