Mafe Maria: Personal stories by autism parent mentor, Maria Stultz

Cat Sleep Sack The Third

Interrupting my recent rampage of jewelry making projects, about a week ago I discovered with horror that Joaquin’s cow sleep sack has become too tight for his 19–month–old growing legs.

As I free Kiki out of it and the crib, I tell him about the problem:

Sozo doesn’t make any bigger sizes of their adorable sleep sacks. In fact, they don’t even make the size Joaquin possesses anymore. I know it because, when it was time to replace the smaller Koi sack Joaquin had before the cow, I couldn’t find the supposedly existing XL designs anywhere. So I contacted the company directly and they confirmed that the larger sizes had been discontinued. They sold me, however, the last XL sleep sack they had in stock for boys: our cow.

But baby, you’re a lucky bollito because your mommy loves sewing, and given the lack of readily available super cute wearable blankets in the market, I will make one for you… [pause]… But what should we do? What should your next cow be?…

Joaquin looks at me, then looks away for a second (clearly thinking of his answer), then gets back to me with a meooow.

A cat, huh?… Joaquin wants a cat sack!

As the week goes by I start becoming a little lazy about the whole idea of designing and making a sleep sack as cute as the ones we’ve all gotten used to. Perhaps it’s not a good idea to perpetuate this sleep sack thing. I mean, I think the three other children in Joaquin’s playgroup are all on blankets by now. Joaquin’s cousin, Elise, was surely on blankets last year, when she was Joaquin’s age. Aren’t toddlers his age supposed to be sleeping with blankets like normal people? After all, if Sozo discontinued the larger sizes, maybe it was because they couldn’t sell them; because 19–month–old kids don’t sleep in sleep sacks.

But Joaquin still rolls out of blankets in bed. Will he freeze in his crib without his wearable blanket?

All this is going through my head one morning in bed, while Joey gets ready for work. He reaches to kiss me goodbye, and I announce: I’ll make him a quilt. A large quilt that we can tuck under the crib mattress. That baby needs to start getting used to blankets!. Joey laughs at the stern decision of frau mommy and leaves. I get out of bed and head to Joaquin’s room while I begin designing his new quilt in my head.

I open the door and cheerfully give him my daily Hola Pupulini! Joaquin greets me back with a smile and immediately says cow! and starts pointing at the cow’s spots falling on his tummy and legs, which I know he loves.

So the decision is made for me. It can’t be any clearer. That same day I open my dusty copy of Illustrator and design a cat sleep sack, The CatSack. It will be in jersey and it will be 100% cotton.

preliminary design for my Cat sleep sack

This weekend, thanks to Joey’s help taking care of Joaquin, I was able to work through the 22 hours it took me to make my design an actual product from scratch, and Joaquin wore it to bed this same night.

I was nervous that he’d protest the change and ask for his familiar cow, but the cat paw prints caught his attention immediately. Thankfully the cat was accepted and I can’t wait to see my sweet gatito in it in the morning light.

Oh well… One of these days Joaquin will stop rolling in his crib, and he’ll surely sleep under blankets by the time he’s 18. For now he’s still an adorable baby—a very tall one, granted—and his need for a sleep sack, who cares?

sewing the sleep sackJoaquin's sleep sacksJoaquin, in crib, wearing my Cat sleep sack
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10 comments:

  1. On , ksr wrote:

    YAY!!! You need to sell them too!

  2. On , Maria wrote:

    I’d love to offer it to the world, I really would (I’m so proud of it!)… But I suspect that children sleepwear is something subject to a lot of safety regulations in the US… Regulations impossible to comply with for somebody my size. I mean: I know there’s no lead on any of the components (well, maybe some in the zipper and snaps). And will the fabric burn if it touches fire? Probably… Just like the Sozo sleep sacks that are made in 100% polyester. At least I know my cat is 100% cotton and it wouldn’t melt and stick to skin… Are my snaps applied in such way that they’ll never fall off and become a choking hazard? WHO KNOWS!…

    I don’t want the CPSC on my butt, and I don’t have the money or interest to test my product for all kinds of things required in order to sell it LEGALLY in the US. Perhaps in Colombia? Ha! ha!

  3. On , Marla wrote:

    love it! I loved the sleep sacks when Olivia was younger. We graduated from those to footy pajamas. They make them up to big girl and boy sizes. she loves those even now.

  4. On , Maria wrote:

    Oh, I love those too. I don’t buy them for Joaquin anymore because he’s always getting so tall on me out of a sudden, and I hated it so much when those cute little jumper suits would not work anymore… I don’t want to suffer saying bye bye to cute designs, you know? At least with PJ pants I can have him wear them for an extra month or so until the mid-leg look gets so tacky, that I’m ready to retire them. HA! HA!

  5. On , Marla wrote:

    I know what you mean!! Olivia was always growing like a weed! Still is. I have given her my footy pajamas and she’s slowly growing into them!!

  6. On , GRETTEL OLIVOS wrote:

    HI MARIA, FIRST SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH I AM PERUVIAN AND I AM PLANNING MAKE THIS SACKS FOR MY COUNTRY BUT IN FLEECE AND COTTON.
    I DONT WANT ONLY SELL, MY BIG PORPOUSE IS DONATE SACKS FOR THE PEOPLE FROM PUNO, THE COLDEST CITY IN PERU. IF YOU ARE INTERESTING CONTACT ME BY EMAIL AND MAYBY WE CAN MAKE BUSSINES TOGETHER. HERE IN PERU DOES NOT EXIT THESE REGULATIONS. PERHAPS, JOAQUIN ES HANDSOME!!!
    BYE

  7. On , Shari wrote:

    I arrived here while trying to find directions to make a play sack for my cat. Obviously this is not the right spot for that – LOL! But I do have a 10 month old and think that these are the cutest!

  8. On , Maria wrote:

    Thank you Shari!
    Of course, I can only take credit for the cat. The other two are made by Sozo.

  9. On , abby @ thingsforboys wrote:

    haha…funny you mention that you think your Son is too old for the sleep sack. My son is 17 months and I am in the process of making him a Winter weight one to get him through the next 6 months. He rolls around so much I don’t know if he’ll ever graduate to a blanket. You sack came out great! Love the design!

  10. On , Maria wrote:

    Abby, I just saw your tutorial for the birdie sleep bag. Beautiful! Thank you for your comment :)