As I mentioned last time, I had all kinds of grand giraffe plans in my head.  The one I tried to implement yesterday involved a tall, regal giraffe made out of pantyhose, and EJ would color spots on him with markers, and he would be called “George, the Gentle, Giant Giraffe,” and he would forever serve as a gentle reminder to EJ about… well, gentleness.

I meant well – I really did.  I even took step-by-step pictures of the process, even after I could tell that it was going to be a flop, just in case it turned out well and I could post a little tutorial.  Ah, well…

Since I had cleaned out my sock drawer to find an actual pair of pantyhose, I also knew I had some spare socks that I could use, so I whipped up a sock puppet giraffe.  I cannot believe I have never done sock puppets with EJ before!  He was enthralled!

I popped another spare sock on my hand and let EJ go to town with some googly eyes and some Sharpie markers.  Yup, you heard me – I let a toddler go at me with Sharpies.  Amazingly, not a dot got on me!  The sock, on the other hand…

EJ took his responsibility of decorating this guy very seriously.  Even the inside of the puppet’s mouth was colored.  Then I cut some slits in the top of the sock and pushed a pipe cleaner through (for ears, or antlers, or whatever those little nubs are on the top of a giraffe’s head).

We then played with those sock puppets for a full hour.  They had names, they played every type of ball known to man, they ate 34 different things in a row, and they touched everything in the house…

But most important, they were gentle with each other.

Related posts:

1. Go, go, go, go for G!
2. You don’t want to know what “G” is for this week…
3. Fabulous Fall…
4. A tutorial: how to make a drumset out of formula cans
5. Terrific T’s!