Blog Book

Way back last October I ordered a book of my blog from Blog2Print for my birthday.  I was going to blog about it then but totally forgot.

This is the finished product.  I love it!

This book also totally changed my outlook on blogging.  After flipping through it I realised how much stuff L and I had actually done.  I also realised what an amazing priceless record this book is of our early time together.  From that day on I decided that although I love the connections, ideas and many friends I've made through blogging my number one priority for my blog is to record mine and my daughter's journey.

This has taken a lot of pressure off me as before I was feeling like I had to post something "for my followers".  Now I only post if it's something I want to record for future reference.  One day I hope L will be able to use them for her children.

I highly recommend turning your blog into a book.  It's an amazing feeling being published and being able to flip through and see all that you've accomplished!

The influence of Daddy and ......

As many of you know the Montessori Method is all about keeping children in reality.  I am kind of on the fence on this one I guess.  I really like a lot of the ideas in the Waldorf philosophy as well and the former blog Childhood Magic really helped me see the benefits of children having fantasy and imaginative play in their early lives.

So like I said I'm on the fence.  L doesn't watch TV or cartoons.  We do however have a few DVDs that she watches such as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and The March of the Penguins.  Some reality based and some not.  We also read her a variety of both kinds of books.  I think L has a pretty good understanding of real animals and pretend cartoon ones.  We also watch a lot of videos on Youtube.  I think this is a fantastic learning tool.  We've watched Kookaburras laughing, African dancing, children's songs and many other things.  I do however preview all of the videos before we watch them together and am very strict on what she can watch.

My husband on the other hand really doesn't understand why I don't want L watching TV and any video she wants.  After a long battle I think I've finally succeeded on the TV thing.  Youtube however is another story.  Somehow he thinks if it's on Youtube it's not the same as TV.  Hmmmm.

Anyhow the other day when we were leaving our music class about Australia and didgeridoos L said next week I'd like to do music from Antarctica.  I said well since nobody lives there there isn't really any music from Antarctica.  L replied "Yes there is Papa Pinguin!".

ARRRRGGGGG!!!  DADDY!   I admit it is a catchy song and we've danced to it before but I wouldn't show her the video.  I tried to explain that it was just "pretend" and that there is no real music from Antarctica and as we were driving away I heard her say "I'm sure I saw snow there."


Check out this great article by Pilar Bewley on Keeping it Real Montessori Style
What do you think?

Must read post

This post from Pilar at Montessori Matters is a must read for any parent. 

All in Good Time

Most of L's friends right from the beginning have been about six months older than her.  Since moving to Canada L has had two close friends (both girls) who are six months older, one who has been immersed in the Montessori Method since birth.
I think because L's language and communication skills developed so early I often tend to forget how old she really is.  Only 31months.  Over the past few months I've been struggling with the fact that she just didn't want to get dressed or put on her shoes although she was completely capable.  Now just a few months later it's like a light has been switched on.  L loves to pick out her own clothes, put them all on by herself, get undressed, put her clothes in the laundry basket, put away her clean laundry and put her pajamas on all by herself.  This just happened.  
I am a first time mom with little to no experience with toddlers before L so I really have nothing before her to go on.  I just find her personal and natural development astounds me and constantly reminds me to just chill out.  It will all happen when it's supposed to.  No wonder her friends all wanted to put their clothes on independently.  They're six months older!  It has nothing to do with skill it's the time in their development when they naturally WANT to do something on their own.

I think sometimes being a mother trying to incorporate the Montessori Method into our everyday lives I try to get L to be too independent.  I have no training and I find it's a very fine line between letting a child do it themselves and trying to get a child to do it themselves.  With things like getting dressed I just didn't know it would happen like that until it happened.  I guess with me it's all a learning curve and it's all about observing and reacting.  Wow just think of all of the benefits a second child would get from my knowledge!!

On the other hand I would also like to say that I believe in giving L activities that will help her develop skills she hasn't yet mastered. A natural progression of activities. For example reading. I know people have different opinions on early reading etc. but if a child has learned all of her letter sounds by 24 months then the natural progression is to move on to letter sorts and then when that is mastered on from there. I think if a child masters a skill they should be introduced to the next step whatever age they are and they will show you if they are ready to take it.


Pilar from Montessori Matters just wrote a wonderful post along the same lines and there is also a great post over at Real Life Montessori.

Problem

I was just checking out The Artful Parent and she's got some great art activities that I want to try out with L. That brings me to the point of this post. There are so many amazing blogs out there. Too many amazing blogs!! Does anyone else feel totally amazing blog overloaded?

I'm finding I just can't decide if I should follow or bookmark. How many blogs can one follow? How many bookmarks can one have? I'm already getting confused with the ones I have. I'm trying to keep everyone straight (who has how many kids, where they're from, if they're teachers or homeschoolers etc. ) and then I go and stumble across yet another amazing blog that I just have to follow in fear of loosing it again in cyberspace oblivion!

I can't believe that I've only just come across such blogs as Adventures of A Rainbow Mama and DomesticallyBlissed. Hello where have I been? Then there's the fantastic new blog Sunrise Learning Lab and the lovely Anne at itty bitty love who's posts always put a smile on my face. Of course there's also my all time favorites, Making of a Montessori Mum, The Wonders Years and Chasing Cheerios who I'm always excited to read new posts from. That's only the tip of the iceberg. There's soooo many more!

OK I think this has ended up turning into a bit of a blog love fest! Anyway just wondering if anyone else is amazing blog overloaded and how they are dealing with it?

Consuming Kids

This is really an extended comment that I felt I wanted to write after reading a post about Consuming Kids from Making of a Montessori Mum.

I'm so glad that she wrote about this topic because I find it is a very challenging one. Before L was born I had strict ideas about toys and what I wanted to expose her to. I was very firm on the fact that I didn't want her to have anything that was branded or had advertising on it. Well that may be easy to do if you live in a bubble! I forgot to factor in gifts from friends and relatives and the fact the she has to leave the house at some point!

As L has gotten older I've tried to keep her away from most things but she hasn't been kept away from everything. I find in some ways my husband is my worst enemy. He doesn't have the same views on TV watching as I do and if he has gotten up early with L (letting me sleep in, bliss!) I have come downstairs to see them watching Thomas and In the Night Garden and all sorts of things that make me feel completely guilty for taking that extra hour of sleep. I've asked him time and again to not put those programs on but at times I feel like a warden. It's not just him though it's all of society that is on his side it seems.

Making of a Montessori Mum talks about having felt a bit silly sometimes for trying to stick to her guns. I feel tired. It's a constant battle going against the grain.

Having said all of that I do feel that in the most part we have been successful. My husband is coming round and L's TV watching is down to only the Jungle Book. (I had to give in somewhere). She has one Iggle Piggle ball and In the Night Garden book that she got from an aunt and some Peppa Pig books that were given to her for her birthday. That is it when it comes to brand names. Needless to say she loves them both. I don't feel that it's right to take these away from her as they were gifts and I don't really think they are doing her any harm. Most of our relatives know about my approach to parenting and consult me before buying any gifts.

When we go round to most of L's friends houses I can see that we are certainly not the norm. Almost every toy is from one TV show or another and I can see where my friends have bought in and sold out to commercialism.

One way that I have gone about slowly introducing L to the mass media market is by sometimes taking her down the toy isle when we go shopping. I let her touch and look at any toy she wants and talk to her about them. When she has explored them we put them back. At the moment she is completely happy with this. When she sees Iggle Piggle on tops and clothing she points him out but is perfectly happy to move on. Thankfully Thomas is still just a train.

I don't feel bad for taking such a "radical" approach I feel good (and quite tired!). As you can see by my past posts most of L's things are home made and she loves them just as much or more than her Iggle Piggle ball. I'm happy to say she also has a red ball and she plays with that one just as much. As she gets older I know that I will be more strict, not less and will try and face all of the challenges that the global mass media try and bombard us with head on.

I am happy and comforted to know that even though I don't have a lot of support from society I have lots of kindred spirits in the bloggers that I follow and I take strength from them daily : )