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Bean; Been; Bean... Bag!

You know what I think is a really cruel word... "LISP".  If you think about it from the point of view of someone that has it...


Have you ever thought about the complexity of the english language?  Hmmm...yes... try teaching your little one how to communicate in spoken english.  All I've got to say is... Thank goodness for sign language!

At the sewing machine...
Little Miss M : What are you making mama?
Mama : I'm making a bean bag for you.
Little Miss M : A bean bag?
Mama : Yeah - like the ones that you sit on in the library.
Little Miss M : Oh, ok.  It doesn't look like a bean bag.
Mama : Well, when I finish sewing it, I'm going to put in some bean bag filling.
Little Miss M : Bean bag filling?  What is bean bag filling?
Mama : The stuff that I put in the bean bag so that it becomes fluffy when you sit on it.
Little Miss M : Do you put beans in it?
Mama : Ummm... yes, I suppose you can call it that.
< A bit of silence; a bit of sewing >
Little Miss M : Mama?
Mama : Yes, baby...
Little Miss M : Mama, what does bean mean?
Mama : Huh?  It's the stuff we put in the bean bag.
Little Miss M : Yeah, but what does it mean?
Mama : "What does it mean?"  It doesn't mean anything.  It's just the name of the stuff that we put in the bean bag.
< Repeat the last two lines a few times, with (horrible) Mama getting a bit annoyed >
< And then some silence >
Little Miss M : Mama!!  I know what "bean" means!!
Mama (in distracted resignation) : And what's that, baby?
Little Miss M : It means that I've just done something!
< And now she's got my attention >
Mama : "I've just done something"?
Little Miss M (in her most adults-are-soooo-slow voice) : Yes mama.  Like "I've just been to the supermarket".  That's what "been" means.
< and she walks off rolling her eyes, and I'm sitting there, laughing aloud, but feeling like the biggest goose >


So here's my constant reminder never to take for granted how difficult it can be to learn a new language, especially the english one.  And a reminder of how clever these little ones really are.




Some nitty gritty...
- The bean bag consists of a removable outer layer for easier washing and an inner layer filled with the "beans'.
- The finished size is about 16" across and about 13" high.
- I used a 100liter bean bag filling of cheapie polystyrene.  The bean bag feels a bit full, but with the amount of jumping on it that has been happening, it will flatten out a bit so that Little Miss M and Baby Mac can "sink" into it, as it should be with bean bags.
- The pattern can be found here.  It's an easy one.
- I flat-felled all of the seams except for the opening of the outer layer and the last seam of the inner layer.
- I would consider using a zipper instead of velcro for the outer layer opening.

It's quite a satisfying project - simple project; beginner effort; big outcome and lots of fun for the kids.  The choice of materials and bean bag filling will determine how much money you end up spending.

Comments

  1. Super cute!!! Love it! flat-felled the seams? Will have to look that one up!

    ReplyDelete

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