braid basket

Today, in the chaos that envelops most homes the week before school begins, Maddy said, Mommy, I want to learn how to braid.

So I stopped what I was doing (what could really trump teaching my soon-to-be-Kindergartener how to braid?!), thought for a second, and ran for some supplies I knew we had on hand that would help her learn to do just that–braid.

And so, our braid basket was born.

• Braid Basket: My mom picked these wire baskets up from the dollar store last year for Maddy, Owen, and Cora to use to carry the tomatoes from our garden to the kitchen. I was actually looking for a shoe box or an old plastic bucket that I could poke holes in then thread the string through, but this basket was one step ahead of me.

Before it was a Braid Basket, it was just a little yellow basket.

Then I grabbed three strands of different colored yarn, three shiny ribbons, three sparkly ribbons (leftovers from Maddy’s Fancy Nancy Salon Tea Party Birthday Bash), and three pipe cleaners.

I tied the strands to the bottom of the basket and took the brand new Braid Basket to Maddy’s room.

We spent the next few minutes braiding. I told her to use her feet or legs to hold the basket steady, and then we began. We started with the pipe cleaners, and I said, Put the yellow over green, then orange over yellow, then green over orange. . .

Her tiny fingers can do it!

Maddy moved on to the longest, skinniest strands, and I knew she had it. I watched her for a bit, and we talked about the things moms and daughters talk about while they’re busy braiding. And then Cora appeared in the doorway, and Owen said he needed help on the potty, and the phone rang, and life went back into full swing.

The Braid Basket will remain just that for as long as we need it to be, but I anticipate re-making it into the Shoelace Basket in just a short while for my big, bad Owen.

Ahhh, the beauty of a flexible household and new lives for even the most random things. . .

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