Category Archives: Montessori

indoor fun – Busy!

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Let’s begin by sharing that I’m not a fan of mindless activities for children that simply keep them “busy” and out of our hair. Sure, I’m guilty of putting on a show from time to time so I can get something done without Wren needing something from me for twenty minutes (or two hours). But as far as our every day activities, I want them to mostly be meaningful, thoughtful, and creative. I felt I needed to preface this post because of the name of this activity book we are loving with all this indoor time on our hands these (short but LONG) winter days.

Introducing… Richard Scarry’s Big Busy Sticker & Activity Book! We picked it up at our local JoAnn store several months ago as an impulse buy for Wren. It seemed a bit expensive at almost $13, but in the cart it went. Well, I’m here to tell you that it was worth more than $13. Although she can’t do all the activities in it yet on her own, she can do a lot of them and a lot of them we happily do together.

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There are a lot of stickers (over 900!) so there are a lot of sticker-based activities, dot-to-dots, mazes, counting and letter work, etc. She loves it.

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The book itself is obviously not a Montessori-inspired book. But I have to give credit to Montessori’s focus on allowing the child the time and space to immerse herself in an activity and stay focused. It’s incredible to see this develop. I think Wren spent about three hours of the morning buried in this book today. Three hours!

Anyone else have any fun indoor activities you’ve been enjoying this winter? Taking recommendations on favorite games, books, crafts…

drinking like a Montessori, revisited

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cup

I have such a vivid memory of the time Wren learned to drink from a real cup (instead of a sippy cup). I don’t think I had even considered it, but she was going to enroll in a Montessori school a couple mornings and she had to know how to drink from a cup. I was surprised at how quickly she learned to drink from it and I was thrilled to see how proud she was of herself. It was one of the first times that the basic idea of Montessori hit home: independence promotes confidence.

Now that the second child is here, parenting is a lot more intuitive and involves a lot more watching and learning from her. Phoebe has been putting a cup up to her mouth and drinking in the bath a lot lately, yuck. When she’s in the kitchen, she’ll often reach for a cup and pretend to drink. Today Wren and I decided that she would help Phoebe learn to drink water from her cup. They both were so proud! And wet.

I had an “aha!” moment today with these two. I’ve been struggling to find things the three of us can do together. Usually it involves Phoebe getting into Wren’s stuff (paint, stickers, puzzle, book) and Wren screaming at Phoebe. Fun! And then I listened and watched and quietly directed, but it didn’t take much from me. Voila! Birdie number two begins to drink from a cup, thanks to her sister.

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I’m so excited to explore this more: empowering Wren to help Phoebe explore the world in a meaningful way. Nothing is forced, just a natural relationship that needs a bit of nurturing from Mama.

an amazing little girl

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We received Wren’s first “report card” from her Primary Montessori class. The teacher diaries were full of comments that made me cry so I wanted to share them with you too. So proud!

“Wren is a wonderful addition to our room. She makes us laugh and brings such joy to our days. She enjoys “writing,” artwork, practical life, getting snack ready, and the sensorial area. She is beginning to learn to share her friend Maddie with others. Wren demonstrates great excitement and passion for life that is contagious! She is an amazing little girl.”

She has “mastered” the following areas:

  • demonstrates self-confidence
  • demonstrates curiosity about the world

Proud Mama. Sniff, sniff.

first day of Primary

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Big week! Wren started her first week of Primary at our public Montessori school. It’s mostly been full of smiles, but a few chants of “I want to stay home with you!” come out half-heartedly every morning. She says it like she thinks she’s supposed to say it, but not like it’s 100% what she thinks and feels. There have been no tears. Yet. Bittersweet!

We’re slowly getting into our new routine and I think it’s going to be great for us. We have every morning together before she goes to school in the afternoon for a few hours. Because I know our time is limited and we don’t have the entire day stretching out ahead of us, we’ve been having fun-filled, unrushed, messy, creative mornings. Plus lots of time for snuggles and books upon waking up. I’m not ready to give up my mornings to school yet!

The afternoons are a little crazy with either a late nap that pushes the bedtime into the late evening or no nap that makes for a long evening with the tasmanian devil sometimes making her appearance… Ahem. We’ll get there and the darkness at 8:30 is helping to push the bedtime up a bit and for this I am very thankful.

It sure is quiet around here in the afternoons though and I think Phoebe is really missing Wren’s energy… and so am I.

stepping up

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Next fall Wren will move up to the Primary class at her Montessori school and they honored the adorable graduating toddlers with a Stepping Up ceremony. There was lots of singing and waving. Ahh, toddler energy!

There were also some serious moments. Wren took her work during the ceremony very seriously. She also comforted her buddy by holding her hand. These kiddos really know how to tug at their Mama’s heartstrings.

Onward and upward to Primary we go!

water painting

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One of Wren’s favorite activities is painting. She loves to paint when she’s at school and in the basement of our nest too. She refers to the entire basement experience as “weasel!” because of her easel. I don’t dare correct her because it makes me laugh every time she stands at the top of the stairs and yells, “weasel!”

But when we’re upstairs, away from the bottles and tubes of color, she loves to paint with water. My brother and his family gave this Japanese water painting set to the little birdie for Christmas and it’s proven to be quite a hit. It’s quite popular with this Mama too because all you need is water. Easy clean-up!

So how does it work? It’s simple. Just dip the brush into a small amount of water and paint a stroke on the “magical” surface. The brush strokes become black and then disappear within a few minutes, leaving the canvas clear for a new painting. Voila!

P.S. I’m amazed at the little birdie’s fine motor skills: the way she holds the brush? Wow. We have Montessori to thank for this.

birdie 1, egg 0

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Where oh where did my baby go? Just recently (yesterday?) she rolled over for the first time and now she’s begging for another hard-boiled egg so she can crack the shell, peel it, cut it in half, put a dash of salt and pepper on it and eat it. All by herself. Makes this Mamma so proud! But oh, so bittersweet. Sigh. How many eggs can one little birdie safely eat in one day anyway? Yesterday’s total egg consumption: 3. Any food obsessions in your nests lately, lovelies?

drinking like a Montessori

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This week started out with me sniffling in the car while trying to distract myself with the book Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects. Recipes for crackers, marshmallows, strawberry jam and even limoncello couldn’t quite make me stop thinking about my little birdie’s first (partial) morning at “school.” I knew she would be fine (well, at least part of me did) and I knew in my heart that she would thrive in the Montessori environment, but I still had a hard time leaving her. Someone could’ve handed me a million bucks and I still would’ve been sniffling in the car, checking the clock every few minutes until the two hours had passed. It made me think of what Wren’s Grandpa Jon likes to say about parenthood: once you have children, you wear your heart on the outside. Sigh.

So how’d she do? Well, according to her Guide, she did OK for the first hour and then another baby started to cry and that upset her. Babies. They can be so empathetic! So for the next (almost) hour, she was sniffling too. Never full on crying, trying to hold herself together, be a big girl and all. Egads, that didn’t make me feel any better. So she goes back again today for another round and with a work meeting on my agenda, I won’t have the opportunity to sit in the car and sniffle so things WILL be better, right? I’m not exactly sure what Murphy’s Law of Parenthood has to say about that logic, do you? Don’t answer that.

Two mornings a week didn’t sound like much, but it’s been weighing heavy on my heart. Eventually, I know she’ll love it and I’ll be sad because she’ll cry when she has to leave school one day. Can’t win, can we?

So in the meantime this week, we’ve been having a very fun, wet week with a cup. Who knew that learning to drink from a real cup could be so much fun!? At school, the kiddos only drink from real cups. No sippy cups allowed. But she’s only 13 months old?! Yes, a cup. It’s been amazing and hilarious to watch her progress this week with the cup. It’s empowered her; she is so proud of herself with a real cup just like Mamma and Dadda. In the beginning of the week, most of it ended up on her lap. Like a bath at the dinner table. But now, more of it ends up in her mouth. So very cool!

And how cute is a baby drinking from a real cup? SO CUTE. Right?

By the way, if you’d like to find a beverage option that’s suitable for all family members, I recommend to check this out!

I’m sending lots of good karma into the world today, hoping it will bounce back (is that how it works?) and make Wren a happy little birdie today at school. Will you send out some good karma too, dear readers? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

I hope things are happy and healthy in your nests. Have you been enjoying the first real week of summer?