Saturday 19 January 2013

Slow and Steady

In the past when I've seen pictures on other Montessori blogs I have marveled at what the infants and children are capable of doing.  It's easy to compare my children or get discouraged.  When I was doing research on infant Montessori while I was pregnant I read something on a blog that really rang true to me.  The mother said "Nobody said it was going to be easy".  Yes light bulb moment. 

We see the pictures of the children doing whatever impressive, independent thing they are doing but rarely do we see the pictures of the days and hours of lead up to those pictures.
Baby J can now pick up his own glass and drink out of it.  He has just turned 8 months and has been doing this for a month now.  He did not start off this way.  The first day we started giving him food we also started giving him a tiny glass with a tiny amount of water in it.  At first we brought the glass to his mouth and let him practice drinking.  It was messy and wet but after a few days he got the hang of it.  We then offered him the glass and helped him put his tiny hands around it to hold it while drinking while we still supported the glass.  When he was confident holding the glass by himself we let go and just offered it to him and then took it from him when he was done.  Once he had mastered that we put the glass on his table and helped him to pick it up from there.  He is now able to do all of this by himself and we are working on the last part of him returning his glass to his table.


So when some people see this picture they may think it is remarkable however Baby J has been working toward this every meal of every day for two months.  Slow and steady brings results.  It just takes time, patience and persistence.  Thanks to that Montessori mommy blogger my new mantra is "Nobody said it was going to be easy"  and then I think but oh the payoff in the end is so worth it.

Another example is that after Baby J eats his meals I take the food away and give him his wet cloth.  This signals that the meal is over and also that it is time to clean up.  He takes the cloth and wipes down his tray(as well as playing peekaboo with it if his sister is around!).  Of course he messes about with the cloth and explores with it but he is also quite serious about cleaning his table. Usually he does a thorough job and wipes all of the edges.  It is really so cute.  Once again this took time.  At first I did the wiping of his table while he watched and then gave him the cloth.  Eventually he started to experiment with wiping and moving the cloth about and now he seriously cleans his own table! 


It truly is remarkable what the smallest infants are capable of if we just give them the opportunity!

Speaking of slow and steady I brought an old work mat of L's upstairs for when I am ready to use it with the two babies.  The other day I came across L doing this......


Ahh I love Montessori!

Saturday 12 January 2013

Help!!!

Can anyone help me.  I don't seem to be able to upload any pics from my computer to my blog any more.  When I go to try and upload it doesn't give me any options to select any files.  The other options such as from a phone or URL are still working.  Does anyone know how to fix this?

Thursday 3 January 2013

A New Addition for 2013

No I am not pregnant!  However I am getting another baby.  Five days a week that is!  Starting on Monday I will be looking after adorable little Sweet pea Monday to Friday.  She is almost twelve months old and will be the perfect little companion (partner in crime) for Baby J.  I am so excited to have the opportunity to look after her and the best part is I am able to try out the infant Montessori approach with two infants now.

Sweet pea is the daughter of L's Montessori teacher wich is fabulous as she is obviously totally on board with Montessori and will be able to give me suggestions and advice along the way. 

I couldn't wait to take down all of our Christmas decorations so I could start preparing their environment and work area.  I have been busy making materials as well as ordering some online.  Sweet pea's mom is happy for her to be part of this blog so I have the honor of documenting the progress of two infants now, as well as the occasional update and activity from the five year old of course!

Coming up in 2013 I will start to document our journey together, posting about our environment, materials and of course the whole experience of looking after two infants using Montessori inspiration.  Hopefully you will join me for the ride!

Happy New Year!
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