Nature Preschools in the Seattle Area

I've spent a lot of time reading about early-childhood education and have formed some fairly specific opinions on the matter. I was very inspired when I read Last Child in the Woods a year or so ago.  I became intrigued in the idea of outdoor classrooms and their affect on learning.  I searched for programs in our area, but most were not that close. I really would love to see a preschool that embraces the outdoor philosophy nearby. In the meantime here is a list I have compiled of nature preschools in the greater Seattle area (*Edited: It has been great to see that more programs have opened over the years).

• Village Outdoor Preschool (Tacoma) - Parent cooperative
• Tiny Treks Preschool - (Redmond)  
• Natural Start Preschool (Bellevue)
• Cedarsong Nature School (Vashon Island) - This one was featured in the Seattle Times a while ago.
• Wilderness Awareness School (Duvall)
• Discovery Park Nature Kids (Seattle)
• Nature Preschool (Tacoma)
• Field & Forest Outdoor Preschool (Woodinville)
• Fox in the Forest - (Bothell) 
• Fiddleheads Forest School - Washington Park Arboretum (Seattle)  
• Froggy Holler (Shoreline) - Froggy Holler Blog
• Polliwog Nature Preschool - Mercer Slough
• Woodland Park Cooperative Preschool (Seattle) - This isn't a nature preschool, but they do have an outdoor classroom, and the teacher, Teacher Tom has a blog that is fantastic.
• Greater Gig Harbor - Curious by Nature (Gig Harbor)

*If you know of any others please let me know and I will add them to the list.

Here are some general links about nature and child development and particular nature classrooms:

• Fact sheet on Children's Health and Nature
• Richard Louv's Site
• Children and Nature Network

20 months old

Allie is impressing us every day.  She's 20 months old and is talking more and more, and when we can't understand what she is saying, Selena is there to translate.  Her favorite things to do are:

• Playing with her babies. She dresses them, puts them down for naps, wraps them up in blankets, has them ride Dyna, has them stand on their head, bathes them.  Selena says that Allie is one busy mom.  
• She likes playing with Duplo Legos.  She builds towers and then places them up on the TV stand and says, "Look at that."  She is very precise in how she puts the blocks, and will take apart towers she doesn't like and redo them.  Then when she is all done, she takes them all apart and does it over again.
• She likes reading books.  Silly Sally and Baby Bear, Baby Bear are still favorites.  She also likes Bob the Builder books, The Three Little Rigs, Five Little Monkeys Sitting in A Tree among others.  She likes pointing at every single thing on the page and saying, "What's that?"  But if she disagrees with how you label something she'll correct you.  
• She likes drawing and having you draw dogs, cats, girls, shapes, and Selena for her.  After she draws something she says, "Look at that."  Then when you ask her what it is she'll say, "It's a dog" or "It's a circle" etc.  
• She's started doing puzzles.  She takes a pieces and says, "Where's it go?"  Then points to where it goes and says, "Right there."  Then puts it in, then says, "I did it." Sometimes she'll throw an "Can I do it?", "Yes I can, Bob" in there.
• When she gets really excited she runs around in circles.
• She likes eating one bite off a banana.  She likes sitting in my lap and eating my breakfast of eggs and a smoothie.
• When she spills or makes a mess she'll go into the bathroom and get some toilet paper and then go and wipe it up. 

She is very independent and gets very upset at being told what to do, or being told she can't do something, or doing something for her that she wants to do herself.  I try to remember to ask her to do things instead of tell her, and using distraction when she is doing something she shouldn't.  But if I forget, or those two techniques aren't working she pretty much screams and lays down on the ground and cries.  Fortunately these tantrums only last a minute or two.  Unfortunately she had one while she was at the child care at the Y.  They told her she couldn't go up the slide and she lost it, and I had to cut my run short.  But if you ask her nicely she usually is sweet and cooperative.  

Miraculously the last few months she can usually be counted on to take a longish nap.  She never napped more than 45 minutes to maybe an hour when she was younger and all of a sudden she started taking 1.5 - 3 hour naps.  It is also fairly dependably around 2 o'clock.  

She can count to 10, and can even count things and is starting to recognize letters.  We don't "work" on these things, she just has picked them up from reading books and from playing.  

2010 In Review and 2011 Goals

I'm a little late on the game, but that is okay.  2010 was full of change.  We sold our house in Puyallup and bought a new one in Mill Creek/Everett.  Floyd quit his job as a teacher to play poker full time.  We really love living closer to family and our new neighborhood is fantastic for running, playing, and walking.  I've really been excited about living close to a fancy grocery store where it is easy to buy local organic produce and ethically raised meat.

I did a pretty good job with my 2010 goals.  I didn't do much sewing because it was too hard to find time with the girls, and I was okay with that.  Now the girls are older and we are closer to family so I get a bit more free time so I am picking it up more now.  I have become an even better cook.  I hardly eat any processed food and we joined a CSA in the spring and summer and I eat more vegetables than I ever have in my life.  While I've done great Selena does not have much variety in what she eats, and most of what she eats are convenience foods and thus Allie does too.  :(

I have pretty much eliminated sugar from my diet, but it wasn't really by choice.  After getting sick in September a side effect of the seizure medication, or the seizures, caused sugar to be really unappetizing.  So now if I have something sugary it isn't more than one or two bites.  I miss ice cream.  I have an idea for a no-sugar, or really low sugar ice cream recipe, but haven't tried it yet.  I did run quite a bit in the summer, but got thwarted by being sick in September.

So my goals for 2011 are:

• Sew a pair of jeans.  I've already done this, but my first pair had some mistakes.  I have more denim ordered and should get a perfect pair of jeans sewn within the next month.  
• Sew a jacket.  
• I am committed to running the Capital City Half Marathon in May.
• I want to work on having less waste.  I buy lots of bulk items at the grocery store, but don't bring my own containers.
• I want to eat more fish, preferably at least 3 times a week
• Be more ethically minded in my purchases.  Everything we consume has ethical ramifications.  Usually the cheaper something is, the more unethically it was produced.  I want to limit my purchases to only things we need, and I want them to be of good quality.  I want to make more of our clothes and buy more things used (I am going to have to overcome a snobbish attitude for buying used).  I don't want to be swayed by advertising, and I don't want to buy random crap. Sadly this is a hard goal.
• I am going to have a garden this year!  I thought I would be able to start a late one after we moved, but wasn't able to make it happen.  This year I will. 

When you find something mucky you've got to run right through it

Christmas is over and Selena had a lot fun.  I think decorating Christmas cookies was her favorite part.  She got a bike from her grandma and that was really exciting.  She was jumping up and down and carrying on and on.  It also came unassembled so we got to build it.  She was very happy.   She also got some roller skates.  She wore those all day on Christmas. Unfortunately there hasn't been a whole lot of bike riding or roller skating weather.  It has been very cold, we had snow for a week, then it melted and a week later it snowed again.  We did trek to the school in the snow and ride the bike and rollerskate in the play shed, but then we got cold and hiked back home.  I was the pack mule, carrying Allie on my back, and the bike in one hand, and a bag full of roller skates in the other.


Christmas being over, means that preschool is starting again.  Getting up early has been a real downside to preschool.  I am kicking myself over not finding an afternoon program.  Even when she gets on an earlier schedule, she is still naturally waking up at 8:45, 45 minutes later than she does on Tuesday and Thursday.  It really takes its toll on her and results in a lot of whining and crying. :(  I'm not sure if it is related or not, but we've had a lot of sickness this fall and winter.  Selena just got over a fever and then Allie had it, and now Floyd and I have colds.

Finally here are some Selena bits of wisdom:
- Issac is cuter than Allie, because the smaller the cuter.
- The harder it is the funner it is.
- When you are sick you have to watch TV all day.
- Real people don't have lists, they give presents either way.  Real people don't know.
- That's the point of running.  When you find something mucky you've got to run right through it.
- This one is from a while ago, but she said, "Allie didn't pester me FOR YEARS (and she totally emphasizes the words for years and then repeats FOR YEARS) when I was two, but then I grew to this age, and now she hits and pulls my hair, but she didn't pester me FOR YEARS before.
- I can't clean up, it'll take ages.

Heidi and Finn Chic Everyday Coat

So Selena doesn't really like the rain jacket I bought her.  She says it is too rough and makes funny noises.  So I decided to make her a double layered fleece jacket.  The pattern is super cute, though I was a bit bummed that the coat did not have a hood, but that could have been easily fixed if I had put the effort out.  Ideally I has planned on making a scoodie to go with it, but she has a ton of hats so I probably won't ever get to it.

After making multiple versions of the Heidi and Fin Hoodie I was excited to try another pattern from her.  I chose the Heidi and Finn Chic Everyday Coat.  The sizing goes from 12M - 6T, but really there are only four different sized pattern pieces. Unfortunately I did not have as much success in the sizing as I did with the hoodie.  The 3T and 4T sizes were combined on the pattern pieces and really that size fits like a 4T.  The neck was a bit big and the sleeves were about 4 inches too long.  The largeness, especially in the neck area, is probably exaggerated by the fact that I used a stretchy fleece instead of a woven.  I kept all the extra length in the sleeve by folding it inside the hem, so hypothetically I can let the sleeves out as she grows and she'll be able to wear the coat for a long time.  If I were to make her another one I would go with the 2T size.  Besides that the directions were wonderful (colored picture in a pdf), and the coat went together very easily.

The one change I made to the pattern was to add pockets, because Selena adamantly requested them.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how I would make the pockets.  Ideally I would have made a welt pocket, but supposedly those are tricky.  What I ended up doing was simply cutting a slit in the shell, bar tacking the edges and then after I had attached the lining to the shell I topstitched a pocket shape--so the coat lining acted as the pocket lining.  Very simple and it worked, and a little bit of white peeks out of the pockets, which I think looks nice.

Back View

Pocket

* I bought this pattern and did not receive any compensation for this pattern review.

Books in 2010

I read 45 books in 2010.  Just a bit shy of my 50 book goal.

My favorite fiction books of the year were:

Ship of Magic: I read this series a long time ago, but reread it this year, and it is one of my favorites. The heroine fights to maintain a traditionally male role against fierce opposition, plus some pirates, dragons, and magic thrown in.
The Art of Racing in the Rain:  A heartwarming story told in a dog's point of view.  I liked it for a few funny reasons:  1) It takes place in Seattle.  2)  The mother in the story had a home birth and the story made a small plug for midwives and home birth.  3) There was a scene where the dog talks about crows and what they are up to.  I am always trying to figure out crows, so I enjoyed that bit.
Pock's World:  Dave Duncan is my favorite author and he ventured into sci-fi with this story.  It had an exciting end and a twist as always.
The Tea Rose: This book is historical fiction with a bit of romance, and was one of those books that you can't put down, but you feel like you are falling victim to cliche writing techniques to keep you on the edge of your seat. But the book did seem well researched in the historical aspect and I did enjoy it.
Bulletproof Mascara: This book was written by a friend of mine who I used to work with. It is light and funny and had a good twist at the end. I have to admit I think it is really cool that a friend of mine is a published author. :)

My favorite non-fiction books for the year were:

Born to Run: This book had a great story and changed my perception in running in that it isn't something I do because I'm weird, but that humans are meant to be long distance runners. It advocates barefoot running and is pretty convincing, but I do think it loses some of its sway in that it also advocates veganism. While I'm not opposed to veganism, per se, the author hypothesizes that early humans practiced persistence hunting and their ability to run for long periods of time gave them an evolutionary advantage, but in the same breath says that they would have only done it occasionally and probably ate plants most of the time. It is contradictory to say hunting provided them an evolutionary advantage, but animals are an inferior food source. But other than that the book was good and I enjoyed it.

Unconditional Parenting: While this book was more philosophical than practical it clarified my overall feelings about parenting.

Belated 18 month post

Allie is almost 19 months now and is still as sweet as ever.  Right now she loves her dolls and stuffed animals.  She spends a lot of time lining them all up, tucking them in with a blanket, kissing them "night night", then moving them and repeating the process.  She also enjoys blocks and legos.  She'll stack some together and set them up on the shelf and say, "Tada."

She is talking more and more every day.  She has adopted the word "sure" instead of yes.  Just in the last few days has she actually started saying "yes".  You would ask her if she could say "yes" and she would say, "No", then you would ask her if she could say "sure" and she would say, "Suuurrreee."  She'll say it before we respond too.  She'll say, "I want dog world.  Suuurrrrre."  Apparently she got it from me because I say it all the time.  I never noticed until she started parroting me. :)  She watches Bob the Builder with Selena so she knows all the characters and when reading Bob books points every character out and names them.  She can also count to ten, and sing songs.  Her favorite songs are the ABC's, I love you (from Barney), and the Wheels on the Bus.

She has stopped hitting!  Well at least unprovoked hitting. She'll still smack Selena if Selena makes her mad or takes something for her, but she no longer walks by and smacks Selena, or scratches your face and laughs, or head butts you for no reason.  Only took 15 months to grow out of it.  ** I have taken a couple days to finish this post and since then she did smack Selena for no reason. >:(

She got a pretty bad stomach bug for the last week and a half.  It was pretty sad. She wasn't eating much.  But when she did finally get better she ate 3 eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, and a bowl of cereal.

For a week or so she was almost 100% on the potty, but then she got sick.  Now she will wear diapers for the most part.  She's been mostly pooping in the potty, but not really peeing.  Occasionally she'll take off all her clothes and say, "Tee hee".  She loves to dress herself and put on 5 pair of undies.  Except most of the time she sticks both legs in one hole, so it kind of defeats the purpose. :)

We got a bit of snow storm a couple weeks back.  She wasn't too thrilled.  She gets pretty cold and we were unprepared clothes wise, so that didn't help.  It is so fun to see her grow and learn.  We love her a lot and are so proud.

Cutout Sugar Cookie Recipe

This is a Tea Cookie recipe my mother gave me.  Unfortunately she gave me her only copy of the recipe so when we went to make Christmas cookies at her house we didn't have the recipe.  So I decided to post it here, so it will be available no matter where we are making cookies (granted internet is available).  I like the recipe because it doesn't require extensive planning (no chilling the dough in the fridge), is made with butter, is easily halved or even quartered.

Tea Cookie Recipe (Makes 12 dozen)

1 cup of soft butter
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp of cream
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of vanilla
6 cups of flour

1. Mix ingredients
2. Roll out dough
3. Cut out cookies.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and cook for 5-7 minutes.

Milking it For All It's Worth

Weaning Allie a couple months ago was emotionally pretty hard for me, but I wanted to write about it, and I think I can handle it now.  There probably is a lot that I am going to write that is too much information, so stop now if you don't want to know, but I think some mother's out there might find my experience useful or at least interesting.

I spent exactly three years of my life nursing my two children.  I nursed Selena for 20 months and Allie for 16.  I spent a lot of time nursing, it was a pretty important aspect of my life.  I truly think that children should be nursed longer than they typically are.  The World Health Organization recommends at least two years but I think even longer than that.  I know people think it is weird, and I did before I had children as well, but when you nurse them every day, and you research the benefits for both you and your child, that continue even when they are older, it just doesn't seem as weird.  The strongest  (but not the only) evidence I've seen for longer nursing is that breastfeeding causes amenorrhea and works as a natural birth control.  The more often a child suckles, the more hormone is produced that suppresses ovulation.  This is also the evidence I believe shows that babies and young toddlers are not supposed to sleep through the night, because if a child goes too long without suckling, especially at night when hormones levels are higher, then menstruation will resume.  I believe that humans were designed to nurse frequently and for a long time.  Doing so would ensure natural child spacing, which would result in less pregnancies and healthier mothers.  I know that on-demand breastfeeding does not result in amenorrhea for all women, but in general that is how it is supposed to work, and it did work very well for me.  Anyways, due to this belief I feel some guilt that I did not nurse either of my children for at least two years.  I truly was expecting to nurse Allie for at least six months possibly a year longer, and there are times when it makes me so upset that I am not still nursing her.

Allie had a ceasarian birth.  Right after she was born, she was being suctioned and was crying, and I was crying too.  One of the nurses asked Floyd why I was crying.  He said, "She wants her baby."  And I did.  I desperately wanted to nurse her.  Luckily I ended up at a hospital that was fairly nursing friendly and I think I was able to nurse her about 30 minutes after she was born.  When I was able to, I finally felt that all was right in the world.

She got off to a good start, but the first night was a bit rough.  She cried and cried and got frustrated trying to latch on.  Floyd had to walk around and bounce her and calm her down and then quickly hand her to me to latch.  I have an inverted nipple and a flat nipple so latching wasn't easy.  I had brought a manual breast pump to aid in getting my nipples out.  It helped somewhat.  From experience with Selena I hardly even bothered trying on my left side.  Various nurses and lactation consultants came to help with breastfeeding.  They all had different advice and different opinions, which I'm sure would be very confusing to a new mom.  My favorite was the lady who came in and asked how long I nursed my older child and when I told her 20 months, she smiled and said, "You probably know more than me"  and didn't say anything else.  But even though I did know more than them, I ended up using a nipple shield to appease the nurse who was making me record every nursing session and how long.  Allie would only nurse for 5 minutes, the nurse felt like she should be nursing longer.  So I put on the shield, which slowed down the flow, and she nursed longer.  But I hated that thing and did end up getting rid of it within a couple weeks.  I wish though that I had simply lied on the recording sheet or just ignored her.  I hate how I feel obliged to obey an authority figure even if I know what they are asking is wrong or doesn't make sense.  

On the second night of our hospital stay I kept her unwrapped after a diaper change (against the nurses advice) and did some skin-to-skin time.  Allie did a breast crawl and nursed and nursed a lot.  After a while I could feel there was less colostrum so I ordered a tuna fish sandwich (that was the one great thing about being in the hospital.  I was able to get food and water delivered at 3am).  That gave me more energy and I could feel an immediate boost in my "supply."  

The next few weeks were a bit hard.  I had some overactive let down and that frustrated Allie.  She would scream and cry while trying to nurse and it really hurt my feelings.  I felt like she hated me.  It took a while, but by 5 or 6 weeks we were doing well.  Thankfully she was the opposite of her sister and never really nursed for longer than 5-10 minutes.  She usually wanted to eat about every 2 hours.  At night she would go 3 - 5 hrs without nursing, but for the most part she nursed every 2 hours during the day until she was about 6 months old.  I also pretty much only nursed her on my right side.  It is possible to provide enough milk with just one breast.  Unfortunately this did have the side effect that I was noticeably, sometimes very noticeably, lopsided.

Nursing was a lot easier with Allie than it was with Selena and I think the biggest reason was because I was 90% comfortable nursing in public.  I didn't use a cover and I didn't really care if Allie latched, or unlatched.  For the most part I'm sure if anyone was looking they wouldn't be able to see much, but even if they could I didn't care.  I had decided that nursing is a feminist issue.  Our society has deemed breasts sexual and make women feel shame for feeding their baby "in public" in the way babies are supposed to be fed.  (Mom's are also shamed for feeding their children formula.  I swear a mother cannot win.)  Some people are so uninformed that they say that women should feed in bathrooms (gross), or feed before they leave(inconvenient and you aren't always able to know, and even if you do they might want to eat again 20 minutes later), or pump and bring a bottle (really inconvenient and many times really inefficient), or give them formula while they are out (destroys your supply and is highly uncomfortable).  Facebook removes pictures of breastfeeding babies, but allows completely more revealing sexual ones.  The hypocrisy of that angers me to no end.  It is horrific to read comments people write on articles about women who were denied their right to nurse in public.  Since I feel it is feminist issue, I figure nursing where people can see, is how to normalize it, and people will stop freaking out about a baby eating in they way that God/Evolution/both (whatever you believe) designed.  I can honestly say that the two women I saw breastfeeding before I had kids had a notable impact on me.  But isn't it odd that I only saw two women feeding their child before I had mine?  (Sorry for the rant.)  

As Allie got older nursing became my parenting tool of choice.  If she was whiny--I nursed her.  If she wanted attention, but I wanted to be on the computer--I nursed her.  If she was bothering her sister--I nursed her.  If she was tired-- I nursed her to sleep.  I she'd wake up in the middle of the night--I nursed her back to sleep.  If I wanted to keep her quiet and from fidgeting and running away when we were out--I nursed her.  I honestly milked it for all it was worth, figuratively and literally.  I wonder if that is where the saying came from?

So when she was 16 months old she was still nursing often enough that I couldn't tell you how many times, maybe 6 -12?  I think she got about 75% of her nutrition through milk and that was fine with me.  She only had 7 teeth so while she was good at eating, I think it was kind of hard for her to eat a whole lot of food.  Immediately after weaning she did frequently gag on her food which made me worried.  Thankfully more teeth came in and now she seems to be okay.

Then I had seizures and purportedly need to be put on medication.  There are lots of anticonvulsant medications available, most are newer and don't have a lot of long term data on them (and most of the data is only for newborns), so most are not recommended for breastfeeding mothers.  Some sources say that the risk is low, and the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks of the medications.  I tried one anticonvulsant that was deemed safe, but I didn't react well to it.  I think there were others that may have also been considered safe, but I was allergic to one, and since my doctor didn't recommend the other one I figured it wasn't right for my type of seizure (now I do not think that is the case, but I was not feeling well so had a hard time advocating for myself).  But I decided that in our case the risks probably didn't outweigh the benefits in that Allie was old enough to subsist off of regular food, and I felt that I would be hypocritical in that I buy all organic, avoid plastic containers, use all natural soaps and cleaners because I don't want the toxins in my child, but I would willingly feed her my milk which contained traces of brain altering medications.  If she had been younger, I might have decided that the benefits of breastfeeding were greater since the ingredients in formula contains all sorts of strange chemicals so either way I would be feeding my baby unnatural things, but I don't know, it is hard to say.

So Allie was weaned cold turkey.  I nursed her to sleep and told her that this would be the last time she would be getting milk.  I cried.  When she woke up in the middle of the night I told her that the milk wasn't good anymore.  She cried a bit, but not for too long.  I think she understood.  She ended up sleeping on my bare stomach for part of the night, and for about a week afterwards as well.  She didn't really ask much the next day.  Just before nap, and when she was tired I could tell she wanted to nurse, but I think she was too proud to ask.  It was really hard for me, because she would cry, and I would be engorged and wanted to give her what she wanted, but couldn't.  But after a week she stopped asking.  Thankfully children, are extremely adaptable.  Selena's pediatrician had recommended cold-turkey as the best way to wean, and I was doubtful in that advice, but in this case it went okay.  I guess as good as it could due to the circumstances.  I do think that it helped that Allie had an older sister who did not nurse, so she knew that when you got older you didn't nurse anymore.  She hasn't asked to nurse since we weaned, whereas Selena asked for months after she weaned, granted Selena was a bit older.

So I am done nursing.  We do not plan to have any more children.  It makes me sad.  Allie was sick today and throwing up repeatedly.  I really wanted to nurse her.  It would have made her feel better.  It would have been gentler on her tummy and she probably would have been able to hold it down better.  I wouldn't have had to worry about dehydration as much.  Having those seizures really screwed things up.  

Heidi & Finn Urban Unisex Hoodie

One of my online friends made some sweatshirts for her children from the Heidi & Finn Urban Unisex Hoodie pattern and they were so cute I wanted to make some too!   I saw a link on another blog that there was a buy two get one free sale so I bought this pattern plus the Girly Cardigan, and the Chic Everyday Coat patterns, which I haven't tried yet.

This pattern was great.  This was my first time making clothes from an independent pattern maker and I am really impressed.  I have had not too great results using Simplicity, Kwik Sew, McCalls, etc. The directions given aren't always the best way to assemble the garment, and the patterns tend to be ill fitting. But this pattern the fit was perfect.  The sizing was perfect. The instructions are clear and include color photos.  It goes together fairly quickly (considering it is completely lined) and the sewing is fairly simple.  The pattern comes in a pdf file so you have to print it out and assemble it, so the downside is it takes a bit longer, but the upside is quick "shipping" (it took one day for her to email the pattern to me).  The sweatshirt is completely lined so it is warm, and no seams are showing, so the finish is professional looking even if you don't have a serger.

I've made three of these sweatshirts so far.  The first I made was actually Selena's Halloween costume.  I made it with a weird poly minky type fabric for the shell and a dark green non-stretchy cotton knit inner.  I added blue spikes and a tail.  The second I made of some nice 100 Polartec fleece on the inside, and a cheap waffle knit print on the outside.  The third I made from some 200 weight Polartec Fleece on the outside and a gray Joann's cotton knit on the inside.  (I am on a mission to use significant amounts of fabric from my stash.)  I used poly-resin snaps instead of buttons.  The instructions give two options for the sleeve cuffs.  I chose the simpler method of not adding a cuff because sewing cuffs on really tiny sleeves is hard.  My only tips that were not included in the instructions are to machine baste the hood onto the outer shell, and to machine the bottom trim together before attaching to the main body.  In both cases there are lots of layers and it made my life a bit easier.  Also the pattern is not reversible.  I initially thought it was.  When I realized it wasn't I thought I could make it reversible by using the snaps, but you can't.  The overlapping front makes it not work.

Selena loves the sweatshirts and only tells me how snuggly warm they are.  She also brags to people and tells them that I made it for her. 

 If you are wondering, Selena chose to wear shorts with leg warmers that day. :) 

** This recommendation is purely my own opinion.  I  paid for the pattern and am not receiving any compensation for this review.