Toddler Rock Backpack

First let me say this: girls are different than boys. From the womb. My boys are loud, messy and in constant motion. What a change when I had the girls. Eden at a very young age could barely walk but still knew to get a towel when something had spilled. She and Alette play babies in their room quietly for hours and days. Their fascination with dolls alone is a stark difference from their brothers. With all the contrast there is much in common to. Insatiable hunger. Seriously, these girls can hold their own with their big brothers. Fearless. All my kids have no sense of what could possibly cause serious bodily harm to themselves and/or others.

And rocks. What kid could resist. I remember even into my college years gathering a shoe box of rocks. Of course, I was a geology major. Anyway, the girls are definitely into rocks. Climbing, tossing into puddles, and of course collecting. While the boys have experimented and pushed my limits of where to keep their rocks, they are finally at the age where they know and understand where it is appropriate to hoard them. As a toddler, Eden would just pop them into her mouth, lick them clean and spit them out. I know, disgusting. But my littlest one, her obsession with rocks goes beyond normal. Everywhere. I find them everywhere. Drawers. Closets. Piles on the edges of counters. Cupboards. Cups. Pockets and therefore in the washer. Cuffs of my jeans! This last one is what finally drove me to make something of her own to drag around full of "baby" rocks, as she calls them.

Between projects on an already busy day, I made her this little backpack. Scrap fabric, both inside and out and two strips of jersey for the drawstring and she's an (adorable) happy camper.

She wears it all. the. time. And she's also at that stage where she spends plenty of time, ahem, without clothes, so sometimes it is all she is wearing. I'll spare you that photo... for mommy's eyes only!

The soft drawstring lets her feel accomplished opening and closing it all by herself.

Let me tell you, that little bag can hold quite a few pounds of rocks. We will see how long this lasts.

And the print is so cute. I can see her toting this little bag around filled with other things she adores... like strawberries, frogs and grasshoppers. Just not all at the same time...