A week or so ago, I made two books out of home-made cooked paper and cardboard, one for Eli and one for Wesley, and Eva immediately asked: "Can I have one?" Of course I intended to make her one too, but I expected to be able to have a little more time before she felt bad about it. Then two days ago, I was quickly making Japanese stab-bound books out of all my scraps (perfect for foreign language vocab/flashcards) when Eva came in and grabbed the first one she saw and said "Is this one for me?" My heart melted and I said "You bet! You can have any one you want." So she grabbed the two smallest ones, much smaller than all the others, and declared her ownership. Unfortunately, those had a writable page area of about .5 inches by 2.5 inches, not ideal for a two year old to use in developing her creativity.
So I managed to trade her some chocolate to have those two back, and I resolved right then to make her a book in the next hour or so. I basically made a concertina out of a purple chocolate bar wrapper, and sewed in a three section text block, 42 folios total, with hemp. Its only about 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches, but she liked the smallness, and at least she can draw little pictures in this one, which she already has...
