Like Mother Used To Make

As May approaches with the celebration of Mothers' Day, my own mother has been very much in my thoughts this week. She was an amazing woman who left us a few months before her 91st birthday. Among her many talents were baking and sewing, and she did a lot of both in her lifetime. When my daughter was little she wore sweet little dresses my mother made for her. My mom was a wonderful seamstress who made many of my clothes when I was growing up and then did the same for my children. She could sew with or without patterns, and she could make anything from tiny hand- embroidered "angel tops" to prom dresses with yards and yards of fabric. Sometimes the simplest styles made of pretty fabrics were the sweetest of all her creations. In tribute to many happy memories of my mother, we have included some simple little dresses in both our ETSY shop and our website. White eyelet embroidery, pink tonal prints, blue tone-on-tone, lavender/pink floral print, navy blue gingham, and light blue striped denim are some of the fabrics we used for spring and summer styles.

Visit www.malcolmfortots.com and www.malcolmfortots.etsy.com to see more, and we will be adding some others soon. Mint green with white polkadots, blossom eylet embroidery in pink, blue or yellow, and little sun dresses that have either matching panty or sun hat.

Did You Watch The Academy Awards?

When I was a little girl my sister and I were in love with movies. Our mother's only brother met his wife when both worked for famous columnist Hedda Hopper. They were very dear people and fed our appetite for all things Hollywood when they sent us still photos, autographed pictures, and signed Christmas cards from dozens of our favorite stars. Growing up we lived within walking distance of the only movie theater in our Chicago suburb, and the movies changed 3 times a week and always double features. The admission for us as children was ten cents each, and many weeks we were able to go to the theater each time the movies changed. Summers were the best because snow, ice, school work, and bedtimes did not interfere with our ability to see six films a week. A very special privilege was to be allowed to stay up late on a school night to watch the Oscars after we finally had a television set. Last evening was an evening to enjoy the current award ceremony as well as to reminisce about the wonderful childhood we had enjoying the glamour, magic and Golden Era of Hollywood.

The Cow Jumped Over The Moon

Nursery rhymes are an important part of childhood. The same nursery rhymes I learned as a child were later learned by my own children, and then again by my grandson. The cadence of nursery rhymes can be soothing to a baby or toddler. Illustrations that accompany rhymes in books can create indelible impressions on children. Recently I was selecting flannel fabrics for our line's receiving blankets, and smiled to myself as I picked up fabric with a repeat pattern of a cow jumping over the moon. Immediately the nursery rhyme came back to me: Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such a sight, and the dish ran away with the spoon. There are so many things you can do to create happy memories with your children. Teaching them nursery rhymes will help them as they learn to talk, and memorizing rhymes will help them as they grow to pre-school and elementary school ages. Sometimes early artistic attempts will be images they have seen with the rhymes. Your public library is a great place to find nursery rhyme books to borrow. I remember teaching my son nursery rhymes when he was learning to talk. We reached a point where he could finish each line. I was very excited to have him share his new-found ability with his father at dinner that evening so we practiced throughout the day. You can imagine my disappointment when I said, "There was an old ________ (he immediately said, "woman") who lived in a _________" and instead of saying "shoe" he said, "garage" ... a word he had never said before and one which we were unaware he had ever heard since we did not have a garage. As a family we laugh over that anectdote from time to time and all because of a nursery rhyme. Sometimes small things create great memories so nursery rhymes are a good place to start. Enjoy!