Nooks and Crannies

Have you ever noticed how much kids like tiny little spaces? I've been discovering "nests" throughout our house mostly created by our two-year-old. She'll stash a small pile of books and a few "friends" (this is what she calls her stuffed animals) into the three-square-foot triangle behind the overstuffed chair in the corner of our living room. I've also discovered that she loves the one foot-by-two foot rectangle formed by the corner of our smallish TV room, the short side of the couch, and the end table next to it. She's padded it with little blankets and created an apartment for herself as a guest and for a large teddy bear as a permanent resident.

Then, of course, there's the fort phenomenon. What kid doesn't like to build forts with sofa cushions and blankets? Tiny personal spaces are an essential part of childhood.

I suppose that a small child doesn't often get "a room of one's own" given that she is under fairly constant adult surveillance, so burrowing into a womb-like space gives her both privacy and security.

As a mom, I suffer the same lack of private, cozily sized spaces to call my own. I guess that's why I like the bathtub so much.