Amidst work on two other projects and the beginning of a third, I was interrupted Saturday morning with a 5-year-old who needed something special. Like all sweet little 5-year-olds, he’s always so supportive of everything I do – “Great job sweeping, mom!” “That’s the best cookie in the world!” “You are an amazing sewer, mom!”

The fact that he thinks I’m the best at anything is all the encouragement I need some days (don’t we all need that sometimes?).

Anyway, because he’s so adorable and he loves to help with anything I’m doing (gotta love a kid who gets excited about washing dishes), we decided to find something fun to work on together. I pulled out some fabric I thought he would like – one with whales on it and one with little monsters. First, he wanted a stuffed monster, with white horns, of course! (What kind of silly person would make a monster without horns?) Then he wanted a whale. Then he wanted sweaters for the two Schleich whales he already owns (Jerald and Majerald – this kid has a knack for naming things). But, he decided a stuffed whale is what he really wanted most of all – “so I can snuggle with him.”

I had stumbled across this blog post a few months ago. When I did, I was totally impressed with how beautiful it was, and I remember thinking, “I don’t think I could do that.” I’ve never made stuffed animals before – and quite frankly, the curves and little pieces kind of intimidate me. I actually said that exact thing to a friend just four days prior about making stuffed animals – “Those darn tricky curves are what scare me!”

But, my 5-year-old, who loves everything I do, and who believes I can do anything, made me comfortable enough to get out of my comfort zone and try it. Even if it ended up as a complete failure, I knew he would love it.

And guess what?! It didn’t end up as a complete failure! And I actually kind of loved it! Watching it come together was sort of amazing to me. After creating the seams along the whale’s belly, I would kind of flip it over and think, “Wow! This really looks cool!”

At some point, I think I became more excited about it than my 5-year-old (probably because he has the attention span of, well, a 5-year-old). I think this was also about the time he decided we would host our own QVC-type show, where we would talk about all the great toys he has and try to sell them to “the kids” while I finished up the project. (That was hilarious, and a lot of fun, too. Mainly because he kept encouraging the kids not to tell their parents that they were ordering things from our show, and saying things like, “Call 9-9-1 now to order!” and “You don’t want to miss this!”)

It regained his interest, though, when he got to go through my button jar to find the perfect eyes for his whale, and I let him select the thread color for the detailed stitch work. The fact that it was made using his old jeans made it that much more special to him, too. So, when I got to the point of stuffing the whale (with his help, of course!) and hand-sewing it closed, he had already decided it was his new favorite thing.

Whaley spent the next several hours inseparable from his boy, and everyone he encountered got to hear all about his story and general facts about blue whales.

“Hey, did you see my whale? He was made with my pants and my mom made him. She sewed him. He’s a blue whale, and his name is Whaley. Blue whales are the biggest animals in the ocean and even the world – they’re as big as an airplane and a Brontosaurus, and a Brontosaurus’ neck, and even his tail.”

He assured me that Whaley is indeed snuggly and that although he loves Whaley, he still loves me more. Oh, that boy just melts my heart every time!