Salt dough handprints

We finally got around to making salt dough hand prints.  I have to say this was much easier than baking!  I quickly mixed up the dough using 1 cup flour, 1 cup salt and about 1/2 cup water and then let the littles play with it.  Baby J seems to love salt and kept trying to eat the dough.  Sweetpea had more sense and after one taste she concentrated on other things.

 

 

 Having the baking treasure basket on the shelves has really made a difference since the last time we baked.  Sweetpea can now use the rolling pin properly after repeated experimentation on the carpet!

 

 "Oh look there's our hand prints cooking!"

 

The final product.  Super cute!

Baking with Babies

Okay I guess at 14 months Sweetpea is technically a toddler but Baby J did help out with this and it just sounds so much cuter!

 

On Friday we made gingerbread cookies.  While Baby J was napping in the morning Sweetpea and I made the dough.  Once again I brought the highchair up to the counter.  I sooo wish I had that Learning Tower.  Anyhow we made it work.  She helped me to pour the dry ingredients into the bowl and stir them up.  Quite a bit ended up on the floor and some on her face which made for some really cute photos.

Next we moved on to the wet ingredients.  I measured everything out on the counter and then moved the bowl to her table to let her stir and put things in.  She was super good at the stirring! 

After it was all mixed together Sweetpea got to explore the new texture and of course sample it!!

 Wiping up her table.  Sweetpea is not a huge fan of using her cloth to wipe up after meals, however she seemed to really enjoy using the sponge here.

 

 We put the dough in the freezer, waited for Baby J to wake up and had lunch.

After lunch it was time to make the cookies.  I had them sit at their table and gave them each a bit of dough.  I just have one little rolling pin so I took turns showing them how to roll.  The pic looks good here but neither of them totally grasped the concept and kept wanting to hold onto the middle bit.

 I helped Sweetpea to push the cookie cutter into the dough and she pulled it out.

 The pictures make it look all calm and like they are proper little bakers but the whole thing lasted less than five minutes and it was of course mostly for exploring.  I let them explore with the dough and utensils while demonstrating how to use them until they both ended up just eating it.  That's when I knew to call it a day.  I put the finished products into the oven and Sweetpea brought a batch of her first cookies home to Mommy and Daddy. 

 

Over the weekend I made up a treasure basket of all of the things we used in the baking process.  On Monday when Sweetpea discovered the basket she kept coming into the kitchen and showing me each of the items with great delight!  It was like she was trying to say to me "Hey I know what this is for!!"

 

I just want to put a disclaimer here to say that of course although this was tons of fun it was also super messy and took lots of patience on my part.  I really prepared myself ahead of time to focus on the process and not the product.  Sweetpea is also a very calm, appeasing little girl and does not throw things or mess about with them which makes doing things like this much easier.  I'm sure it with be a whole different experience with Baby J!!

 

I have linked this post to Montessori Monday over at Living Montessori Now.  Press the link to check out other Montessori activites.



Baby J 9 1/2-10 months

Month 10 has been full of changes and major leaps in development for Baby J.  The major thing for him is that he is now on the move!  In one weekend he went from only being able to sit and reach for things on one knee to crawling, pulling up and cruising.

I was just starting to think that this pull up bar was not really worth the time and money making it when Baby J totally proved me wrong.  At around 9.5 months he started showing an interest in pulling up.  He was too short to reach the bar from sitting so I put the stuffed elephant below the bar for him to sit on.  It totally did the trick and he was able to pull up and have a soft place to land.  Now he can pull up on the bar no problem and he loves to do squats and cruise along it.

Baby J loves to use his walker waggon.  Although Sweetpea is not really interested in it anymore since she started walking she all of a sudden wants to use it when Baby J uses it.  Here they were working together pushing it which was so cute but most times she will push the other end and bowl Baby J over!  She better do it while she can because soon Baby J will be as strong as her!

Although he is moving now and can get to whatever he wants, Baby J has still maintained his focus.  He will move over to the item he wants and then spend time interacting with it.  These two materials that I originally put out for Sweetpea he loves to do.  He is definitely in a sensitive period for putting things into containers and small openings. 

I was surprised that after a demonstration and some experimentation he is able to now easliy put the stars into this slot.  He is also now able to put the rectancluar prism into the imbacure box.

We are still working with feeding himself at the table and most times I am able to put the food onto the spoon and he will take it out of the bowl.  He is starting to put the spoon back into the bowl but this happens about 50% of the time.  He is pretty excitable and we usually end up with the spoon on the floor several times throughout a meal.  If I find that he can't handle the bowl on his table I will remove it and just hand him the spoon for a few minutes and then let him try again.  This seems to work.  I will leave his glass on the table and offer it to him by asking him if he would like a drink and then putting it in front of him.  He will lift it and take a drink and sometimes return it to the table gently.  Sometimes though he will smash it down onto the table with gusto like he's just finished a shot of Tequila and he's all proud of himself!

 

Baby J is a super potty pooper!  Since starting him on the potty at 9 months he's done about 5 poos in his diapers which is pretty amazing!  At this point I'm not concerned with catching the pees and anything he does I consider a bonus.  He has definitely made the connection though which before having done this I never would have believed a baby of that age capable of doing.  It just blows my mind how much infants are really capable of doing if we just give them the right environment to do it in!!

 

Baby J continues to delight us with his extreme excitement and joy for everything!

Extensions?

I set up a new activity mainly for Sweetpea this week. I cut a hole in the side of a large milk jug and popped some clothes pegs inside.  The object is to drop the clothes pegs down the top and retrieve them from the bottom to repeat. 

I introduced the activity to both Sweet pea and Baby J.  Sweet pea could do it with some concentration but the container is a bit too high for Baby J. 

Throughout the morning many things were being done with the "material" besides what it was intended for.

 

Bringing the clothes pegs over to the vent and trying to drop them through the slits, carrying them and dropping them all over the house, trying to eat them,

 

holding as many clothes pegs in your hand as possible and carrying them everywhere, dropping them in the walker waggon, trying to drink out of the milk jug.

 Baby J even managed to get one of the sensory bottles inside the milk jug!

And then just when I'd given up hope.....

With these littles the possibilities are endless!

Our day-Life with a 9 month and 13 month old

I thought I would write a post about what we do all day and our schedule.  Maybe some of you might find it interesting and I would also like to record it to look back on.

This is what a typical day looks like at our house.  Of course the times are approximate.

7:45 am  Sweetpea arrives and her mommy takes L to school.  The littles have a play and explore the shelves.  I will introduce any new activities on the shelves.
8:10  Breakfast.  I prepare breakfast while they are playing.  I tell Sweetpea it's breakfast time, pull out her chair and give her her place mat to put on the table.  She then sits down ready for breakfast.  Baby J usually squawks wherever he is and I pick him up and place him in his chair as he's just starting to move now.
8:25 Finish breakfast.  Littles wipe their table and Sweetpea gets down and goes on to play.  I help Baby J down and he plays while I clear the breakfast things.
8:40 Potty time.  Both littles on the potties reading books and playing with animals while I do a quick tidy and put things back on the shelves.
9:00 Get ready and go out for a walk in the double stroller.  Baby J usually has a nap during the walk
10:00 Return from walk.  Baby J is usually still sleeping so I wheel the stroller into the hall and take Sweetpea upstairs.
10:15 Sweetpea has a snack and then we read books and sing songs with actions.  When Baby J wakes up he has his milk.
10:45 Potty time
11:00 More play time
11:30 Music time.  Usually Sweetpea will already be heading over to the instrument basket waiting for me to put on the CD player
11:50 I prepare lunch
12:00 the littles sit down and have lunch
12:30 Finish lunch and have a play while I clear up the lunch
12:45 Potty time
1:00 Sweetpea goes down for a nap.  Once she is down I usually put Baby J in the highchair with a small snack and I have my lunch.  He is super loud and vocal so I have to try to occupy him to keep him quiet to not wake Sweetpea
1:30  Play with Baby J, read books and sing songs.
2:30 Sweetpea wakes up some time around here.  She and Baby J have their milk and then onto the potty.
3:00  More playtime, sometimes I will work on an activity with them or sing songs.  We usually end up doing more music, read books etc.  Most days Baby J will take a nap around 2:30/3:00
4:00 Sweetpeas mom comes home with L and all hell breaks loose!  L is so wound up and excited to see Sweetpea that they chase each other around the house and dance and she whips Sweetpea into a frenzy. 
4:15 Sweetpea goes home.

That has been our approximate routine for the past two months.  When my mom is here we try to take them swimming on Wednesday mornings.  Sometimes we will change things up and have a play date or go into town.  I find that having a daily routine to follow is best for all of us.   The littles feel secure knowing what is going to happen next.

Of course as people with children know as soon as you get a good thing going they go and change everything up on you!  That is what is happening now with Sweetpea.  I think she is transitioning into wanting a later nap so we are experimenting with moving everything back a bit.  It also throws things way off if she falls asleep on our walk like she did today.  It was good though because the weather was nice and we ended up going to the park in the afternoon.

As the weather is starting to get better I'm hoping to spend a lot more time outside and at the park.

Potty Party

 

It's a potty party over here at the moment!!

Sweetpea has been using the potty for several months now.  The great thing is that she is very regular and if she goes on the potty after breakfast and lunch there is usually a "result".  She is really good and will not try to get off.  I put a basket of small animals out for her to entertain herself.  She loves to transfer them between containers.

I decided to try Baby J on the potty at 9 months.  He had been watching Sweetpea for a month and was super excited to get his own potty.  The first time I put him on after his bottle.  I asked him if he could do a poo and then made a grunting noise.  L joined in.  He caught on right away and low and behold he produced a poo!  It's been like that ever since.  He totally knows the potty is for pooing and does one almost every time.  I honestly didn't know one little person could produce so much poo!!

 

Baby J and Sweetpea are great on the potties together and super cute! They love to play with the animals and hand them back and forth.  A lot of the time I will sit with them and make the noises of the animals and name them.  They both make the roar sound of the tiger and they know that the shark bites their knees with a chomp, chomp, chomp.  A rather annoying trend which has come up lately is dropping the animals into the potty while sitting on it.  I'm not too impressed with that one when I look down to see one poo, one pee and one badger in the potty!

 

 

 

I have the potties by the wall on the other side of their activity area.  I find this easier than the bathroom because I can see them from the kitchen as well as the living room and it is easy to put them on after their meals.  I usually will put Baby J on after his milk and meals and also after a nap.  I also do the same for Sweetpea.

 

At the moment neither of them make any sign that they have to go and Sweetpea does not move to the potty if she has to go.  It really is a "catching game" at the moment but I know that at some point they will make the connection on their own.

I think a MAJOR motivating factor in early pottying is cloth diapering.  It is soooo much easier emptying a potty of poo than cleaning it off a diaper!!

 

So far I am loving the potty party and long may it continue!

 

On a side note Sweetpea's potty is a Beco Potty which is a completely compostable potty.  You just plant it in the garden when you are done with it and it will completely biodegrade.  How cool is that!!!

Meal time with the Montessori weaning table

I have been using this Montessori weaning table and chairs with the babies since the first day Sweetpea came here.  It is working amazingly well.  Both babies are well supported in the little chairs and they are able to concentrate on the task at hand which is of course eating and learning to feed themselves.

The table is left bare when we are not using it and once I have prepared breakfast or lunch I put the place mats on the table.  We have been doing this for five weeks now and I can say to Sweet pea "It's lunch(breakfast)time and she sees me putting on the place mats.  She will shuffle her way over to the table, pull up on it and make her way into the chair that I have pulled out for her.  Baby J who is still not on the move is still lifted into the chair.

As I mentioned in a previous post I decided to put the table in the Infant area instead of the kitchen because we just don't have enough room for it in there.  I put down four foam play mats underneath it to protect the carpet and they work really well.  I can easily wipe and sweep up any spills.

Before I call the babies to the table I make sure that I have everything I need so I don't have to leave them while they are at the table.  I put everything in a little basket shown here.  At this meal they each have their own little ceramic bowl of red lentils, a spoon, small plate for pita bread and cucumber and a small glass for drinking.  I also include a pitcher for refilling their glasses and a small bowl with two wet cloths.

Sweetpea and Baby J are almost 3 and a half months apart so are at very different stages in their journey of independent eating and drinking. 

If I was a gold star giving kind of gal Sweetpea would definitely get one for eating.  She is a fantastic eater both in the fact that she will eat almost anything and also that she can feed herself.  She loves to eat and is very focused at every meal.  Her mama began offering her a spoon around 11 months I think and she would take it and feed herself and then give it back so her mama could get another spoonful of food for her.  She has now developed so that she can completely feed herself with the spoon.  She does an amazing job of picking up the food in her bowl with the spoon and getting it into her mouth.  For Sweetpea I just leave her the bowl on the table and also give her a side plate with a finger food on it.  She alternates between feeding herself the finger food and the spooned food.  The one thing I do have to watch out for is that she will just keep putting the finger food into her mouth until it is gone no matter how full her mouth gets.  What I do is for example just put one small triangle of pita bread on her plate and don't give her another until her mouth is empty.  If we have smaller pieces of food I will bring another plate that I keep and just keep giving her about three pieces at a time until she has finished the ones in her mouth.

She drinks out of a glass but is still getting used to the feeling of it.   As I mentioned before Sweetpea is very focused on eating and will almost never mess about with the plate or utensils.

 

Baby J is another personality altogether.  He is quiet a little joker and loves to try and do things to "impress" Sweetpea.  She takes absolutely no notice whatsoever but he still tries.  He will blow raspberries in his drink or make funny sounds which he thinks is hilarious.  He is quite rambunctious while eating and still loves to explore his place mat and side plate.  I will give him a side plate with his finger food on it but if he starts messing about with it I take it away.  Once he has calmed down I will put it on the table again with a piece of food.  I keep his bowl on the table closer to Sweetpea and spoon out a helping for him.  I give him the spoon and he feeds himself and then gives me the spoon to get another helping.  He does this for about half the meal and then usually looses interest and I will feed him another few spoonfuls before he is done.  I keep his glass with me and will offer it to him several times throughout the meal.  He will pick it up and drink out of it and then give it back to me.  He is so confident (or cheeky) now that he just holds it and drinks with one hand just like the big people.  He usually doesn't last at the table as long as Sweetpea before he starts playing with his place mat.  That is when I know he is done and I give him his cloth.  He also tries to take off his bib.

The whole meal usually lasts about 10 to 15 minutes.  Once I have wiped them off I pull out their chairs and help them down from the table.  I then take all of the items back to the kitchen and wipe down the table and mats. 

 

They are both so used to sitting at the table that they never try to get off their chairs or move around until they are finished.  Sometimes I just die of cute watching them eat their meals and have their little conversations.

That mats that are in the picture have now disintegrated so I have to get some new ones.  Once I have them I will start to give one to Sweetpea to help me to bring to and place on the table.  Once she is walking confidently she will have her own little basket which will have a few things she can use to set the table and I will have her help to clear a few things as well.  I am also going to attempt to make bibs that they can start to put on and take off on their own.

So what happens after the meal?  Well the potty of course......

Check out Living Montessori Now's Montessori Monday for more Montessori inspiration.



Infant Music Time

 

Having been a professional musician music has always been a huge part of my life.  One thing I am trying to do as a mother is to instill that love of music in my children.  With both L and Baby J I started basically from birth.  We listen to all types of music in our house and the children were given instruments from the moment they were able to hold them.

 

As part of our routine  Baby J, Sweetpea and I have our daily music time.  Every morning before lunch I  go over to the instrument basket and say time for music.  The babies bob up and down with excitement and Sweetpea scoots over to the basket.  They both look at the CD player in anticipation.  I play a variety of different music from classical to African marimba.

 

This is our music basket.  It contains a set of symbols, a rainmaker, xylophone, egg shakers and castanets.  I have also recently added a tambourine, jingle bells and a clapper.  This basket is on the other side of the room from their shelves but is still available to them at all times.  Baby J has been using these instruments for a few months now but they were relatively new to Sweetpea.  At first she had no idea how they worked and just went from one to the next.  It didn't take her long however to catch on and now she will pick up the mallet for the xylophone to play it and hold the symbols by the handles to play them.  It is very rare for them now to misuse the instruments. 

Sweetpea also does the cutest thing.  She can't quite consistently make the sound on the castanets but she knows what they sound like so she holds them up and makes the clicking sound with her tongue instead! What a smart little cookie!

We have a wonderful time jamming out to different styles of music and going from one instrument to another, passing each other instruments back and forth to try. 

The other day L had a day off and was excited to participate in music time with us.  She got out her marimba and we all jammed together.   Our favourite CD is one of a local Marimba band who play African marimba music.

L left out her marimba and Sweetpea made a b-line for it.  She knew exactly what to do and even got the mallets facing the right way. 

We also sing and dance.  This is so easy to do and children love it.  You don't need to even buy any instruments.  You can make a rainmaker out of a paper towel roll and some rice, shakers out of bottles and drums from pots and wooden spoons!  I haven't met a child yet that doesn't love to get down and jam to some groovin' music!

Our Montessori Infant Environment

Okay here is the new environment I've set up in our home for the two infants 9 and 12 months.  This space is also shared with L.   It is simple and spacious and easy to keep "order".  

 Starting on the left I have set up a little cozy reading area with pillows and a quilt.  We sit here to read books or the babies can choose their own books from the little brown basket.  Baby J also does his works on the quilt at the moment as he is not quite mobile.  Next is the pull up bar.  My husband made this for us.  It is 45cm high.  We have tucked the left support under the couch for more stability.  I am hoping to also get a mirror to go behind it.  

In the middle is the eating area.  This was Baby J's table from the kitchen and my husband made another chair for Sweetpea.  I used four foam play mats to protect the carpet.  Beside that is a little stool I use when the babies eat their meals.  As I mentioned above this space is also shared with L.  She has her desk there that she uses for crafts, writing and other activities.  The lowest box on the shelves is also hers for her craft supplies.  

Moving on are the shelves which hold all of the works.  There are 9 spaces and I usually have one work in each space.  This is actually a lot of choice but as there are two infants of very different ages there are works for both their stages. I will be doing another post on all of the works on the shelves in detail.  On the top of the shelves are L's globe, marimba and pan pipes.

An up close view of the eating area.  The picture is at eye level and will be changed every month.  We also use place mats at every meal.  I will also be doing a post on how the meals go.

Of course the environment will be constantly tweaked and updated as the infants needs change.

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!

Treasure Baskets

When I first decided to do Montessori from the start with Baby J I was impressed but also a bit intimidated by the simplicity of it all and also the lack of stuff!  When I was pregnant and explaining to my friends that the only thing the baby would have to entertain himself was a series of mobiles and a string with a ring or bell on it they raised an eyebrow or two and even I was slightly concerned.  Would this be enough for the baby?  I decided to trust the Montessori method since it hasn't failed us yet and really it's just based on common sense. I also thought if it didn't work we could always make a trip to BabysRUs! 

I needn't have worried.  As I have documented in previous posts Baby J couldn't have been happier and more perfectly stimulated.  He LOVED his mobiles and also the ring and Takame ball for kicking.  These things were perfect for each stage of his early development.  He didn't need anything else!  No bouncy chair, no swing, no entertainment saucer, no jolly jumper or flashing buzzing things......you get my point.

 

Now as Baby J has moved onto another stage of development and has been sitting up on his own I have enjoyed introducing Treasure Baskets or Baskets of Known Objects to him.  Once again soooo simple and inexpensive.  They are just made up of objects that you already have around your house.  This enables the infant from the very earliest stage to become familiar with his real environment.

 

Our first basket contained an egg timer, metal braclet, wooden spoon(the ultimate favourite and now has to be included in all baskets!) and a toy elephant which L wanted to contribute from her collection.  Baby J explored this basket for about two weeks and then I made him another one with a small shampoo bottle, loufa sponge, teething beads and something else I can't remember at the moment .  At first he was not impressed at all!  He emptied the basket and then started crying.  I quickly brought him the wooden spoon and he was happy once again.  He then explored the rest of the basket.

 

This is our latest basket with a kind of Christmasy theme.  It contains a Christmas hand towel, wooden nail scrub brush, a red wooden piece from a stacker and a bean bag.  Of course he also has the spoon which isn't shown here.  When I am considering items to add to a basket I really have to think if there is anything that may be dangerous for Baby J as of course he instantly puts everything in his mouth.  

These baskets are awesome.  He doesn't need toys and can entertain himself for sometimes half an hour exploring all of the items.

 

Since he has such a love affair with the wooden spoon, I brought out one of our large pots for him.  I demonstrated how to hit the pot with the spoon to make a noise and then gave him the spoon.  He caught on right away and now this is his all time favourite activity.  He can also turn the pot over and we will put some of his objects inside it for him to take out.  With the new basket L also loves to show Baby J how to scrub the bottom of the pot with the brush and then wipe it with the towel.  Baby J follows suit!  Too funny!

 

Ahh the beauty and simplicity of Montessori!

More baby art and butterfly mobile

 

L and I made these leaf prints back in October for the space above Baby J's change table.  This picture is not the best but they are made up of a rainbow of beautiful fall colors.

 

 

I decided I wanted to make a butterfly mobile for above Baby J's bed like the one in the Micheal Olaf catalogue.  When I started doing some research on the computer I came across this SUPER COOL idea.  These butterflies are all made out of a recycled milk jug!! All you do is cut out pieces from a washed milk jug and tape them on top of the butterfly templates found on this blog.  L colored in the colors with permanent markers and then I traced the outlines with a black marker.  We cut them out and wound a thin pipe cleaner around the body using a couple beads for the abdomen and head.

 The super tricky part was trying to balance them to hang.  I ended up cutting four small pieces of invisible thread and glue gunning them to the top side of each of the wings.  I tied the four pieces together and then tied a longer line on to hang them.  Super complicated but they balance perfectly and are really stable.

The milk jug butterfly mobile was a hit with both L and Baby J!  

Montessori weaning table and chair

At five and a half months Baby J was more than ready to eat solid food.  For a few weeks before he started we had him sitting up at the table at dinner time to be part of the family.  He watched intently at all of us bringing the food to our mouths and made chewing movements with his mouth.

 

One thing I've been really excited about trying out with Baby J is his Montessori weaning table and chair.  My husband cut the legs down on a side table we had from Ikea and he made the chair out of some wood from an old shelf.  It always helps to have a handy husband!

We use the table usually for breakfast and lunch when it's just the two of us and he eats at the big table with the rest of the family for dinner.

Here he is having his breakfast.  We use real china for all of his dishes as well as little metal spoons.  He has his own little glass and pitcher as well.  Sometimes he likes to have his own spoon and other times he just enjoys helping me move the spoon to his mouth to get the food and then lets go so I can get another spoonful.

Looking at this picture the only plastic on this table is the cup holding my morning smoothie! Eventually Baby J will be able to get to his table himself and we will have his dishes and place mat on a nearby shelf for him to set his own place. Check out The Full Montessori to see the weaning table and chair in action.

Baby J's Activity Area

 

Things have been absolutely manic here lately with L's birthday, Halloween and Baby J's not sleeping.  I've been collecting pictures and have tons of posts I need do find time to do!

 

Here is Baby J's work area as well as L's work space in our living room.  These pictures are a bit old.  This environment was ideal for when he was 3 to 5 months.  Now he has just turned six months and is sitting up so I'm modifying things a bit. 

 It's a bit hard to see but the first mat is his movement mat.  Above it hangs the dancers mobile.  This is where he lies and watches the mobile, has tummy time and plays with his toys. 

The second mat is used under his tripod.  This holds his hanging ring on an elastic which he used for practising batting and catching as well as hand to hand transfer.  There is also an elastic holding the Takane ball which you can see sitting on top of the tripod.  He uses this for kicking and now he can bat at it while lying on his belly as well.

 As I mentioned L and Baby J share this space so it also includes her easel, table and gnome home as well as the dresser which we use for her craft drawer, games and the top as our nature table.  Obviously once Baby J is totally mobile we will be seriously modifying to suite his needs and safety.

This is the little unit I found to store Baby J's toys for the time being until I find an appropriate shelf.  On the top is his basket of known objects, Art ABC book which he looks at when on his belly.  Starting from the top left are his interlocking discs, Squish and teething beads.  On the bottom row is one of my favourite bits.  A cubicle with a door which we can later use for the idea of object permanence.  Then there is his teether and another Takane ball.  I have placed these toys in the cubicles because they are developmentally appropriate for Baby J right now.   Eventually he will be able to move over to the shelves and pick his own toys.

I love this space because of the order and simplicity.  There are not too many objects to clutter the space and there is a sense of order(usually until L has gotten in there!!).  I also love the natural light.  I as mentioned above Baby J has pretty much outgrown this set up now so I will be posting about our modified activity area in a future post.  If you would like to read more about how to set up a Montessori infant activity area check out this great post over at The Full Montessori.

Dancers Mobile

The next mobile in the Montessori Infant mobile series is the Dancers mobile.  I was originally going to just eyeball all of the dancers and draw them myself but then I found a pattern and instructions here.  It made life a whole lot easier!

You are meant to use holographic paper for the dancers.  I used different coloured gift bags from the Dollar Store.  The whole thing cost $2!  I have to say it was a pain in the neck trying to hang and tie all of the pieces with the invisible thread but totally worth it in the end.

 

I introduced this mobile around three months and once again the little guy totally loved it!

 

At four months he's still enchanted by it.  Although there is another mobile in the series called the Flowing Rhythm mobile I think I'm going to call it a day!



Baby J's Montessori Room

So this is Baby J's Montessori room.  I only came to the Montessori method when L was around 12 months so she had your typical adult oriented nursery (crib, change table, pretty decorations which appeal to adults!).  I was super excited this time around to be able to fully apply the Montessori approach right from the beginning.  So here is the tour...

 

View from the door.  The room is not very big but seems a lot bigger because it has only the necessary items in it.  I love this room so much!  It just radiates a sense of calm and order as soon as you enter it.  It is my little sanctuary from the chaos of the rest of the house and sometimes if I need a break or to de-stress I'll come into this room. 

This is how the room is now for Baby J at 3 months but it will constantly evolve and change with his ongoing development.  For instance once he starts moving I will remove the rocking chair and we will do something about the baseboard heater (any suggestions on baby proofing this?)

We use the rocking chair for just settling Baby J or spending quite time singing. I nurse him in the living room or on his floor bed at night.   I love how he is able to look out the window at the trees and sky.  On the window shelf are toys he will be able to use when he is older.

The floor bed.  This is an essential part of a true Montessori room.  The floor bed gives the child the freedom to move and explore at will.  Baby J has just started to move a bit when he sleeps so I've put a thick folded blanket at the side of his bed so there is less of a drop to the carpet.  I researched a lot of Montessori rooms on line before creating this one and was torn on whether to have the mirror and mobile by the bed or to just leave them for the work area.  In the end I decided I would like to have them beside the bed so that Baby J could entertain and engage himself when he wakes up or before he goes to sleep.  I have made a work area for him in the living room where I hang the more vibrant mobiles. 

I decided to use an acrylic mirror for safety reasons as Baby J will be in his room unsupervised at times.  This was much lighter than a real mirror and easy to put up.

 

The shelves.  I asked my husband to make this simple shelf for the room.  It is just the right size so that when Baby J starts pulling himself up he can hold on to the top shelf.  On the top shelf is a wooden rainbow stacker which Baby J will use much later but it is still beautiful to look at.  A canvass painting that L actually did when she was two and an ABC book of art work.  I like to prop up this book for Baby J to look at when he is on his tummy.

 

The bottom shelf holds items that he is using right now or will be using very soon.   Starting from the left are wooden teething beads, a crocheted rattle with bells in it, a basket with a wooden ring teether, a cloth rattle and a knitted fish rattle.  At the moment while Baby J is not moving I have put several of these items in a basket and keep them by his work area for him to use which is in the living room.  It's not practical to spend all the time in this room when L is around all the time.  Once school starts up again for her we will change things up a bit.  The items on these shelves will also change as Baby J gets older.

 

The changing area.  I debated on whether to get a change table or not but in the end decided that with the state my back is in it would be a good idea.  We got this change table second hand and just painted it white.  I like how it is so solid and heavy and also the storage shelves which work perfectly for all of the cloth diapers.  At the moment we are lucky enough to have six months of diaper service which is amazing.  Above the change table are two pieces of artwork.  I decided it would be nice if these could be L's contribution to Baby J's room.  We keep changing them as he develops but I always get L to participate in making them.

The closet.  At the moment we keep the doors open for convenience but once the Baby J is moving we'll keep them closed.  There are two shelves for his clothes.  I wanted them both to be low enough for L to be able to reach them to help pick out clothes and also the bottom one is low enough for Baby J to access when he starts walking and dressing himself.  The blue organiser holds socks, bibs, hats, blankets and towels.  I will also change this up once Baby J is able to get his own cloths.  I will be able to put things in the bottom two cubicles for him to access.

On the floor is the trash can for wipes, the charcoal filter nappy bin and the laundry basket.  There is also a top shelf where we store toys and clothes that he will use when he gets older.  At the moment the closet is set up for my convenience but I love how it will easily adapt to his needs when the time comes.

 

So there you have it.  It seems so sparse and simple, especially when I show it to other people but that is the beauty of it.  Nothing that doesn't have a purpose.  So far I absolutely love it and can't wait until Baby J is mobile and able to explore the room himself.  Then we'll see if I still love it! Ha ha. 

Please leave a comment if you have any ideas of how to baby proof the heater or if there are any other things you can see that may be a hazard once he is moving.