Emily’s Peg Rail Project

Sometime in June Emily ran out of her room with great energy. “Mom! Let’s make a peg rail for my room to hang my dresses on. We’ll hang it right here (running back in) by my bed!”  A few times a week she’d bring up her plan.

When we returned home from our summer travels we brought her project up at our family council.  We determined the next steps and I committed to finding the wood with her from our scrap bin.  We schedule a day that Emily could go to campus with Andrew to make and sand the peg rail.  A few days later Emily and I made the wood polish from beeswax and olive oil and she set to work at the kitchen table while I worked on a wood project of my own.

The next week we cleaned Emily’s room up on Monday and moved her furniture around.  When Andrew got home we showed him all the progress and the spot – the very spot it has been the entire time in Emily’s head – that the peg rail was ready to hang.  Andrew spearheaded Emily and Nathan’s efforts in hanging the rail.  Nathan took breaks to jump off Emily’s bed and find studs in the other wall.

A quick test!

When we put laundry away Tuesday morning, Emily ran to her room to grab hangers and immediately started putting her dresses on them.  She spent a long time rearranging the dresses on her peg rail to be just right.

We snapped pictures of the final product today – always a good excuse to clean up! The clean room lasted for 30 seconds while Emily was changing out of her swimsuit and Nathan was brushing his hair.  Emily was thrilled to be in the pictures with her project.

Nathan entertained himself for the 1 minute of picture taking by playing with the wood puzzle, climbing in and out of the box, and finding the babies to play with.

Emily decided last week during rest and read time to take her mattress off her bed and move the wood supports around to make a desk.  She’s been using it that way ever since.  At first we’d set it up and take it down each day.  Over the weekend we moved the love seat up to her room, which  she decided to sleep on.  For now the bed mattress is tucked in the closet.

Nathan isn’t deterred by the missing mattress, as long as there is a pillow.  He spent a decent amount of time lying on the bed.  He tucked the babies in right next to him and then Emily joined in the snuggly fun.

Nathan pretending to sleep. Emily has been tucking Nathan into bed as a game ever since he was little, so he is pretty good at closing eyes and “sleeping” on demand.

It is amazing to watch Emily’s ideas unfold and to switch to a supporting role as a parent.