jptwins's Profile

I love this artist's "Thumbprint Portraits" as an alternative. They give so much more information than just an image--more like a diary or visual biography.

http://www.cherylsorg.com/thumbprint_portraits.html

The artist asks you for a list of books, magazines, movies and other interests and uses paper images of these things as the lines of your enlarged thumbprint. We commissioned them of our then 6 year old identical twins (whose thumbprints are almost exact mirrors of one another) and although their interests are evolving, we all still appreciate remembering what books they were reading, what games they were playing and what obsessions they had at the time.

We had these chairs in our playroom growing up and they were always covered (lilac in the 80s!).

I have other Knoll chairs too (Saarinen Executive Chair with wood legs) that I've had to re-upholster recently. I was told by the independent upholsterer that it's safest to use the Knoll fabrics. Apparently, some fabrics are not as well suited to the unusual shapes and contours of the chairs and can rip or at least not lay correctly. So seeing that this was something we were only going to do once, it was worth the extra price.

The Bertoia chair though is simpler--the Saarinen chair has the hole in the middle--so maybe another fabric is ok. Ask a qualified Knoll upholsterer for advice.

We have 5 year old twin girls and since they were 3 they've had two IKEA Malm twin beds pushed together with night stands on the outsides. They each have their own bed, with their own linens, but because the beds are together, we often find the girls together or at least touching in the night. Plus, the "platform" that is formed by pushing the two beds together provides an excellent place for a grown-up to sit and read a book to the girls.

I wish they still made these...

We've had to resort to the newer version of Little People. We bought a huge lot second-hand and our girls only play with the people and the animals and a few of the vehicles. The castles, parking garages, etc. are so big, bulky and not so engaging without the batteries (which we promptly removed for our own sanity).

My biggest complaint, beyond aesthetics, is that the size of each "little person" is not consistent, so it's hard to make the construction worker sit on the bus, the bus driver can't ride the tractor, etc. Maybe it's a marketing ploy to get you to buy the full sets?

Just venting...

I would suggest a transparent shower curtain. We originally had fabric, but then as the girls got older (they're now almost 3), they wanted to splash around. So in order to be able to see them and make sure they were safe, we got a clear (yes, vinyl!) curtain that would keep the water out but through which we could monitor them.