Today we have a Guest Post from Ty Schmidt for Modernize.com, a site full of home ideas and inspiration.
Now that I’ve had two sons, I can say with some authority that every baby is different. Yet there is something that ties my boys together with each and every other newborn ever to grace the world with his or her presence. Though not everyone agrees that all babies are as cute as we say, there is something people seem to say upon meeting a new little one more than anything else.
“He’s so tiny!” they exclaim, as they reach out to touch the tiny little fingers or toes. And at an average weight well under 10 pounds, they’re usually right. What’s interesting is the motive behind the words most likely has some sentiment related to an affiliation with one’s own background dealing with a small child. Because there’s another common thread we can’t escape when it comes to newborns: they grow up. They get bigger. Lots bigger. And quick.
So when it comes to do-it-yourself projects, I’ve developed a passion for encapsulating the “little” times as best I can. I love to integrate them however I can, not only for the learning experience of putting something together as a team, but also to make the project itself into something to remember.
Most recently, my family worked together on a “family footprints” piece for my older son’s room. The project called for blotting each of our feet into paint, cutting the piece out of paper and then layering the feet together in a way that captures the size difference from dad to mine to my son’s little feet. (See the inspiration for this project at The Realistic Mama)
It was messy. It took a lot longer than we thought it would. But it was fun. My then one-year-old son didn’t quite understand the concept of sitting still long enough to make the process easy, so there was a good deal of chasing after a small child with paint on his foot, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle.
A few months have passed, and he’s a big brother now. He’s a big brother who’s grown almost two inches and a whole shoe size since then. Meanwhile, his baby brother is earning that precious phrase from strangers about his tiny size, which serves as a constant reminder that the time might be now to capture that foot and add it to the family frame.
Yes, every baby is different. My newborn looks freakishly similar while at the same time nothing like my first born. He sleeps differently and eats differently and has a different nose. But he has the same sleep smile. And he’s wearing the same tiny clothes. And he really is “so tiny” right now, so I can’t wait to add his little foot to our collection of fingers and toes. Just because it’s little doesn’t mean his footprint hasn’t already left a huge impression on my heart.
For more ideas and inspiration, head to Modernize.com.
What kind of paints did you use? Did the person ‘dip’ their foot into the paint, or was it rolled onto the foot?
Hi Cheryl, This post was written by a Guest so I will have to ask them for more info. I think you could use any paint that will wash off later, and rolling on the paint would give you more control of the coverage and less chance of random drips!