Kids We Love – Daniel

Choosing a particular child to write about from the sea of sparkly, vibrant and adorable faces that come to Buddings is no easy task. All the children have such different personalities and ways of expressing. They could each have a book written about them.

That being said, for this particular segment of ‘Kids We Love’, I’ve chosen to share a bit about our good friend and a long-time Buddings regular, Daniel. Although our days tend not to overlap anymore, I’ve spent many delightful afternoons at Buddings with Daniel. The afternoons often (though not always) offer a luxury of a bit more space and more opportunities for one-on-one play. This one-on-one time can lead to some pretty epic adventures…

Meet Bow Wow, Daniel’s pet stuffed dog… (okay you got me, this is just my rendition of Bow Wow).

Now, if you haven’t already heard, Bow Wow is a pretty special dog. Daniel is in that stage where imaginative play is everything, and Daniel has a BIG imagination! And when he has an idea, he’s really clear about what he wants and is very persistent when it comes to making that idea a reality.

For many afternoons, Daniel’s big idea was a Bow Wow house. Bow Wow is a special dog after all, and of course he deserves his own house! 

So I suggested first we design a Bow Wow house, as any good architect would.

 

What shape will the house be? How many windows will it have? Does it need a ramp? Will the front door be square or round? Architects have a lot of design (and no doubt also functional, though this was not so much our focus…), considerations to take into account.

Et voila! I wish I had some photos of Daniel’s renditions, which were much better than mine. 

However, the blue print was just the preliminary work, as the real work would happen with mega blocks and big wooden building blocks, that required a lot of heavy lifting, drilling, hammering and safety-checking. These are all things that Daniel does very well, so thankfully I got to take on the assistant role in the building portion of the project.

What I loved about these afternoons with Daniel, was the journey and the adventure of the whole process.

And it all started with something so simple: Daniel’s big love for his little stuffed friend. It just goes to show that love and enthusiasm are really all you need. Add a dash of imagination, and you have yourself one (or many) afternoons of joy and creativity! 

Thanks Daniel, for being such a fun adventure buddy, and for being one of the many Kids We Love!