Somebody was just a little bit excited about starting “school” (mother’s day out) today.

He wanted to put his shoes on last night in preparation for the new school year. It isn’t the first year he’s gone to MDO, but this year we’re at a different school, and I think I was nervous about how the transition was going to go. When I dropped him off, he didn’t even look my way, just plunged on ahead into his room.  I’m happy to say that it was a super successful first day, and Jude happily chattered the whole way home about “MY NEW SCHOOOOOL!” His little report card of the day’s activities said that he was “an A+++ precious angel baby.” Haha. Love it.

In anticipation, I did a little upgrade to Jude’s nap mat. It was pretty dirty from last year, so I just tossed it into the washing machine and it came out fine. I had covered it last year with fabric from an Ikea kids’ duvet cover that I loved the print of.

This year, I attached a pillow and I made a duvet cover for his favorite blankie, this super-soft mini-comforter. Every time he drug it to school last year, I was semi-embarrassed because it’s just so stinkin’ huge. But it makes him feel happy and secure, so okay.

I tacked down the pillow onto the nap mat so it wouldn’t be an extra piece to keep track of.

I have leftover washable care labels from my days in the apparel industry, so I sewed one onto the mat upside down and wrote his name on the back of it.

Once you’ve got the mat wrapped up, it’s kinda bulky what with the pillow on top, and then with the blanket folded on top of that. I felt a little silly dragging it all into the school building today until I saw EVERY other mother lugging in even larger sleeping bags and nap mats. I mean serious fluffy contraptions. I didn’t feel quite so bad then.

The good news is that I have a ton of fabric left over to tackle other fun little projects with. My only gripe with this fabric is how thin, and slightly rough, it is. I know it’s IKEA and all but it just isn’t super high quality (surprise, surprise). But even for Ikea, you know?

Thankfully one of the reusable totes I designed for Uptown Kids is the PERFECT size for his nap mat w/ attached pillow and blankie!

All in all, an excellent start to the year. Now summer REALLY feels over!