Life with Sophie

update:  I emailed with Russell at Nota-Bene again and he’s informed me that he can order the 3.15mm pencil, but it will take 1-2 months for it to come in, which is just fine with me.  So Nota-Bene it is!!  I just can’t applaud their customer service enough!! 

I never did address the whole fountain pen thing in my last post.  Sophie has become quite fascinated with my pen.  So much so that I’ve been letting her write with it and she’s actually doing quite well.  Her handwriting has greatly improved but the Phileas is a little too “advanced” for her.  So I did some research (God Bless the Fountain Pen Network!) and found the Lamy ABC pen and pencil.  Apparently these are the school pen and pencil de rigueur in Europe and are for all intents and purposes not available in the US.

Bummer.

I did find a company in Canada, Papeterie Nota Bene, that carries the fountain pen and the 1.4mm pencil.  I want the 3.15mm pencil, but they do not carry that one.  I found the 3.15mm pencil at Skripta-Paris. 

That’s Paris, as in France… the country.

If I get the pen and pencil (with a pack of extra lead) from Skripta-Paris it ends up being just over 28 Euros.  Which is about $42. 

BEFORE shipping.

Just shipping is 22 Euros.  Which is nearly $33.  So a total of $75.

Grrrr.

If I order the pen and the pencil that I don’t like as much from Nota-Bene, it ends up being something like $55 CAD which is about the same in USD.  Shipping is like $12.  So a total of $67.

I’ve emailed with Russell at Nota-Bene and he’s impeccably nice, but I’m leaning towards ordering from the French company as it’s not appreciably more (Damn that shipping!!) in the long run and I’d get the pencil I think will be better for her hand.

Why me?  Why do I care?  I mean… why don’t I just get a big fat Ticonderoga and wrap tape around it to make it fatter?  Why don’t I do, as M suggested, and just buy her a graphite pencil and wrap the shaft so it’s less likely to break?

Because….

Sophie’s like me.  She’s enthralled with the “neatness” even the “beauty*” of the thing and that’s the thing she must have.  So if spending a ridiculous amount of money on a European pen and pencil will help her write, or make her want to write, then I think it’s money well spent.

* OK, so I realize the ABC isn’t a particularly pretty pen/pencil, but you must admit it’s an awfully neat looking thing!  The 3.15mm pencil can hold crayon “leads” too so I think it would be excellent for Sophie’s art work as well.  Russell at Nota-Bene counselled me against the 3.15 as it’s considered an art pencil in the US, not a writing pencil, but knowing Sophie that would be the better pencil for her.  My research also indicated that the European schools use the 3.15 because there’s much less lead breakage and it leads to a nicer (read distinctive) hand writing.  Whatever, we like it.  Now I’ve just got to rationalize spending the money on it.