Patricia today walked out of the porch and said “I have shoes on!” Followed closely by “bye guys I’m going to Davis Farmland”. And she trotted off. We did intercept her before she got very far. It was adorable.
We went to Julius’ preschool “graduation” last week. It was very cute. The sang a bunch of “sunshine” themed songs all while this giant thundercloud loomed ominously overhead. My favorite part was seeing Julius looking all around for us in the crowd, then his big giant smile (and shout of “mommy!”) when he saw us. It was so darn cute. I can’t believe my big guy is going to school next year! Childhood is definitely going by too fast.
Two more quick cute stories before I show you what I made Julius for his graduation present. We showed Aladdin to Julius and Patricia this weekend but I had to explain a couple of concepts like stealing and poverty to them before they understood some of the songs. Julius knew that poverty was when you had no money, but I somehow don’t think he connected not having money to not being able to eat. Patricia still did not quite grasp why you’d need to steal because as she pointed out if Aladdin wanted some bread “he just has to say, ‘please could I have a piece of bread?'” Which is a nice thought, always helps to be polite. Patricia still uses the baby sign language for please when she says “please” which is basically rubbing her hand in a circle on her torso. This means whenever she asks for a napkin because her hands are covered in peanut butter or some other unmentionable goo (read: all the time) she conveniently smears the substance all over her shirt before obtaining the napkin. Can’t fault her for politeness.
Yesterday I told Julius he could come with me to the store but he had to put his shoes on. For some reason or another he only had one sock on (happens daily), so when I was asked, I told him he needed to wear socks with his sneakers and to go upstairs and get a new pair of socks. I stopped paying attention and he got in the car and I realized he had on one boat shoe (on the foot with no sock) and one sneaker (on the foot with the sock). I couldn’t help but applaud his innovative solution. I wonder if anyone at the store noticed.
Julius, as you probably know by now if you’ve met Julius recently, is obsessed with sharks. His favorite shark is a goblin shark. Don’t look it up, you’ll regret it. They are horrifying. A thing of nightmares. Julius thinks they are cute. Which I guess they sort of are if you can find a picture of one with it’s mouth closed. Anyway I was determined to make him a cute goblin shark stuffed animal. I also really wanted to use old jeans to make it, of which I have a nearly infinite supply thanks to Will’s knife-knees that rip holes in jeans after a single wear. Goblin sharks have a long, flat, pointed nose (reminder: don’t look it up) on a smallish body with a really neat looking long tail (you looked it up didn’t you? I warned you.) To make the nose flat on the horizontal I had to join the head of the shark to the rest of the shark (which was made on the vertical). I don’t love how that part came out because it would have been better to make the shark one continuous piece, but overall I think she came out pretty cute. (It’s a female goblin shark – Julius named her Meringue.) Oh one last thing. I thought I was being really clever with the jeans because they are blueish grey with a bit of texture (maybe like a shark’s rough skin) but apparently goblin sharks are this sickly greyish pink like a naked mole rat (if you’ve gotten this far without googling, don’t do it now). I guess that’s from not being exposed to light?
The great news though is that now you can make your very own upcycled goblin shark for nearly free. For mine I just bought the eyes which were less than $1.50 thanks to the nice cashier who gave me some coupons. 
Stuffed Goblin Shark from Upcycled Jeans
What you’ll need:
- 1 pair of ripped jeans (mine were from one of Will’s size 34×34)
- stuffing material (I use recycled polyester polyfil)
- pair of 18mm solid black eyes (I used these)
- black embroidery thread and embroidery needle
- My pattern here
Cut out all pattern pieces from jeans, starting with the larger pieces, and squeezing in the smaller ones where able. For the pieces with NSA (no seam allowance) add 1/2″ seam allowance to the pieces when cutting. 
Stitch all fin pieces together to form a total of 8 fins. 
Clip curves on fins and turn right side out. 
Pin the two body/tail portions of the shark together from front to the point where the tail meets the body on the underside of the shark. 
Remove pins and insert first dorsal fin and second dorsal fin inside the shark, then repin. Stitch.
This is around where you should pin the dorsal fins, but note they should be stitched and turned by this point and they should be placed INSIDE the fish at this point.
Attach snout of shark to front of shark, centering along the spine of the shark, right sides of fabric together. 
Pin belly of shark to snout of shark, and all along shark belly down to the tail area, ending in the point where the tail meets the body. 
Insert fins in spots indicated on the pattern (in between the layers of fabric).
Again this is where one of the fins should go, but it should go INSIDE the two layers of fabric.
Stitch, leaving a gap between the front and second fin on one side. Clip curves (especially where the tail meets the body.
Turn right side out.
Stitch gills and smile using a backstitch. 
Apply eyes by poking a small hole using a seam ripper, inserting the eye, then closing it with the washer.
Stitch along the tail on the mark indicated. 
Stuff the top portion of the tail and the rest of the shark.
Ladder stitch the opening in the shark closed. 
Julius brought Meringue to school today and I was really proud. :D
