I've been meaning to share this project with you for a week or so. The snow makes it look like it is from ages ago, but really it has just been a week!
When Pete and the kids were buying supplies for my potting bench Pete added a stack of pine lumber to their cart. The pine was a gift for Sage - his very own project boards. I was amazed that it had never occurred to us before to buy Sage his own lumber. He has always had access to our lumber, but there is the necessary permission before digging in and the pieces below his own workbench are small scraps, limiting the scope of his projects.
Sage is a child who would likely trade every toy in the house for a stack of lumber. He was in his bliss and set to work immediately. While Pete built my birthday gift Sage worked at his own workbench, transforming the lumber, two old balance beams, some wheels and rope into this:
He had some papa help with the angle of the seat (the concept was his own but he needed help with putting that part together). The front wheels pivot and it is steered by the rope. As I watched the kids playing on their new cart I realized: we could have bought him a little ride-on cart. I'm sure there are plenty of ready-made carts and scooters and other toys out there, just waiting to be purchased.
And that, of course, would have entirely missed the point. He didn't get a new cart - he got an amazing experience of building, tweaking, completing, and succeeding. In reality, it isn't about the cart at all.
