Placemats

We invited Nana to join us for crockpot chili Thursday evening. When Nana got there I was busy doing something and she decided to make herself busy by clearing the table. She unknowingly removed the placemats Amelia made us that we had been using for a few days. She cut out pictures from the large coloring pad she has from Melissa & Doug. The pages are pretty thick and I bought it with the idea that they would be good for painting without getting shredded by the watercolors.

Cutting is something Amelia needs to work on and her preschool teacher had sent home paper cutting homework in November. (She recently said Amelia has greatly improved ... but we never did do those exercises, so I'm thinking she just must now be at the right developmental stage for her motor skills and concentration.) When she started cutting the pictures, I didn't say anything and the next thing I know she has decided it's a placemat. Then there's four! I was pretty impressed both with her cutting and her imagination, so we've been using them.

When Amelia came to the table Thursday night for supper, she immediately noticed that the placemats were missing. I hadn't noticed and I felt so bad! I took them off the counter and let her distribute them to the appropriate person so we could each put them under our plates. Just like most things, she had long decided whose was whose and I certainly wasn't going to risk not remembering incorrectly. She seemed so proud to hand them out, and Nana acted duly impressed.