A desk for a doll

Katelyn is quite creative. She has always been interested in any artistic project, but this is one that she did all on her own.

On Saturday, Katelyn came in from the garage with a jigsaw and two 8x8x2 pieces of wood. She was wearing oversized gardening gloves and ski goggles. She asked me, “Dad, if I cut one of these in half will you do the other one?”

How could I say no?

She ran out in the garage and started working. I came out, sawed mine in half pretty quickly (hint: I didn’t use a jigsaw) and I asked what she was creating. She explained her plans to make a desk for her doll.

Katelyn loves her doll. She saved up for months, working hard babysitting and doing extra chores so she could buy a real American Girl doll, which she named Sammie. They play often with other girls in the neighborhood and their dolls.

After explaining her plans, she went back to sawing her wood. She sat on the garage floor holding the wood between her legs, sawing away. She was still wearing the gloves and ski goggles—safety first!

She was almost finished, but the saw blade got stuck and while trying to pry it loose, the blade snapped in two.

After some fiddling around with alternatives I suggested she ride her bike over to the Ace hardware store and buy a new blade. She ended up riding back and forth to Ace four times before she finally got everything right, and it wasn’t just for the free popcorn. She’s a determined one, that Katelyn.

She finally finished her sawing, then started painting and decorating. This was in her wheelhouse, so it went pretty quickly. To assemble everything, she had to learn how to drill pilot holes, and then used screws to secure the legs to the top of the desk.

Finally, late Saturday night, the desk was completed. Katelyn was pretty happy with the finished product, and we were all impressed with her tenacity and dedication. Not many other 10-year-olds would devote an entire Saturday to such a creative project, and my guess is even fewer would have stuck with it after encountering a few of the obstacles that Katelyn eventually overcame.

Great job Katelyn!