18 months- On the shelves

Okay I have to admit I've been totally slacking the last about 5 weeks.  We got out of our great routine and I kind of lost enthusiasm on making up activities.  In fairness though I have been working on another exciting project which I will blog more about after Christmas.

Poor LJ he actually asks me for work and says "roll,roll, roll".  Then I feel all guilty because he is desperate to do things.

These are some of the things he has been doing.

 

Matching.

This is great for vocabulary and matching.  I hold all the cards in my hand and give him one at a time.  He says what it is and then (hopefully) places it on the table.  Once all the cards are laid out I hand him the matching one which he has to find.  This is very easy for him now.  They are kept in a little wooden box and he loves to take them out and put them back in as well.

 

Simply posting little hearts through a slot.  Always fun.

 

Color tablet box one.  I made these out of paint samples using the three primary colors to start.  Once again the box is a big hit!  It's funny when I did this activity with L years ago she was so gentle with the cards.  LJs cards are all bent and twisted : )  I present a color and name it and then give it to LJ to place on the mat and say the name.  Once they are down I give him the other one to match.

 Sorting colored beads.  Once again only using the primary colors. 

 I filled this glass money jar with water and put a shot glass at the bottom.  Together we took turns putting coins into the slot and watching them sink to the bottom.  I also enjoyed trying to get them into the shot glass, however I don't think LJ even realised it was in there. 

 

 Thanks to Itty Bitty Love inspiration I sucked it up and got out the lentils to scoop and funnel.  I have to say I was way more enthusiastic about this one than LJ was.  Maybe we'll try it again in a month or so.

 

...and one of my all time favourite works.  First drop fluffy pipe cleaners into a maple syrup bottle.

 

 Then try to fish them out.  Very carefully!

 Oooh the concentration!!!

 

LJ just can't get enough of doing his work and I am the only one that is holding him back at this point.  In the new year I am going to try to get back into that good routine we had going in the fall.

Snow Bath = Awesome!!

One of the activities that L and LJ had in their advent calendars was a "Snow Bath"

This was in L's words "Awesome!!"

 

I got the inspiration from Growing A Jeweled Rose.  If you want sensory bath ideas this site has them all!

 

So here is what I did.  First off I put a drop of blue food coloring in the water and added a couple drops of peppermint extract.  I found the perfect foam snowflakes at the Dollar store and added in a little reindeer and polar bear to play with.  I set the mood by bringing in a bedside lamp instead of the bright overhead light and hung a few glowing icicles around the room.

 

For the snow I used shaving cream for them to paint the bath and themselves with and to make "real" snow I used baking soda with enough cold water mixed to give it a snow texture.  This is sooo cool as it feels and looks like real snow and just melts in the warm bath water.

 I cut out pieces of craft foam so they could make their own snowmen.

They played for ages and much fun was had by all. 

I think we may just do it again!!

Brown Bear Brown Bear-Toddler Story Stones

"Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?"

We love this book by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Eric Carle

 

I thought it would be fun to make up some story stones for LJ and L to play with.  It's been years since I made these Enormous Turnip story stones for L.

This was one of those projects that sounded fantastic at the time but after about the fourth animal I was seriously wondering what was going through my head.  Anyhow I pushed through and now we have these cute story stones to go alone with the book.

 

 

For those of you who are interested in making your own story stones I just used regular acrylic craft paint and then covered them with a layer of Modge Podge.

LJ's Montessori Toddler Room

We've been doing some re-arranging around here.  Both L and LJ have moved on to another stage of development and we needed to make some changes in their rooms to keep up with their needs. 

 

The first thing we did was to move the Ikea bunk bed frame that L was using into LJ's room.  A little modification and it makes the perfect toddler bed(and climbing frame)!  LJ is still able to enter and exit easily either by the little door or by just climbing over the edge but it is so perfect because it contains him while he is sleeping.  LJ watched the whole move and was absolutely beside himself when he realised that this was now going to be his bed!!

I love that he is now old enough to have blankets, stuffies and pillows.  It makes his sleeping space so much cosier. 

Beside his bed is a basket of books.

 

LJ's shelf area hasn't changed all that much.  I keep a few activities for him which he does when he wakes up or when he's not quite ready to sleep and sometimes he just spends time in his room on his own.  I've also moved the ball tracker into his room. 

 Although the ideal thing is to hang artwork etc. at your child's level I have tried time and again only to have it torn down and either ruined or risking an injury.  So in the end I settled on hanging this beautiful wool village scene I got from Ecuador just a little above his reach.  It is so colourful and vibrant and LJ can see it perfectly from his bed.

 

The other big change in LJ's room is the dressing area.  We have gotten rid of the change table and replaced it with this little shelf.  On the top we are trying out a little care of self area.  LJ can brush his hair and there is a little bowl that I put a tiny bit of water in for LJ to use for his washcloth.  I am trying out the mirror as well to see if he will leave it be or have it off the wall all of the time!

On the bottom shelves I put out his outfit for the day.  I will leave giving him a choice of two outfits for a couple more months or I know he will just try to put everything on!

Once again there is a tiny stool to sit on while getting dressed but at the moment he just uses it to jump into his bed!

He also has his laundry basket where he puts all of his dirty clothes.

So there it is.  Still very simple and uncluttered.  It is also still my favourite room in our house, so calm and peaceful.  Now if only I can get L's room to have the same feel.....

The Montessori Payoff

I wanted to write a post to record a special moment that happened in our house the other night. 

L has been helping in the kitchen since she was a toddler and has been a Montessori child almost from the start.  Sometimes it has been supremely challenging and exhausting allowing and including her in everyday events such as cooking dinner.  Granted she does not always help. Sometimes she just plain doesn't want to and sometimes I'm just way too tired and don't have the patience but for the most part she does something.

Over the past year I have tried to give her more and more responsibility when making meals.  The other night all of the hard work and perserverence came together.

 

One of L's favourite dishes to eat and help make is soft tacos.  In the past she has grated the cheese and carrots, chopped spinach and put the tortillas on the plate.  Recently I have taught her how to use the can opener and cook the refried beans on the stove.

This specific night I was super tired and just couldn't get my but off the couch to start dinner.  I asked L to get the beans and can opener out. She yelled at me from the kitchen that she's done it and I still didn't feel like getting up.  I asked her to get the carrots and cheese out of the fridge.  All I could hear was angry protests from the kitchen.  I relaxed for a few more minutes.

 

When I finally got my but off the couch and dragged it into the kitchen I was blown away.  L had opend the can and had the beans cooking on the stove.  She'd gotten out the grater and had grated all of the toppings and put them on a plate and had gotten the tortiallas ready.  In a nutshell she had made dinner for herself and her brother ALL BY HERSELF without being asked.  She took the initiative and just did it.

Ahhhh I was soooo proud and so was she!

Practical Life - 17 months

I'd forgotten just how wonderful this age is.  LJ wants to do everything for himself and I am trying to give him as many opportunities as I can.  I can remember L at this age being the same.  It must be so wonderful to have every experience be so new and novel and so exciting to realise you can now do so many new things by yourself!

 

Helping to prepare carrots from the garden.  LJ is scrubbing and taking his job very seriously and L is topping and tailing.  I find LJ is always much more focused when he is working with his big sis.

 

 

This used to be L's cupboard but she's now tall enough to reach everything if she uses her stool so it's been passed over to LJ.  I have set it up so he can set his own table.  On the top shelf are all of the items he needs for his table setting and the bottom shelf holds all of the aprons.  I have to admit that just like the Montessori shelves I only allow access to this cupboard at meal times and keep it closed with an elastic the rest of the time or he'd be in there constantly.

 

LJ loves to be one of the family and put his dirty dishes in the dish washer then push the drawer in and close the door.

 Now that Sweetpea is not with us LJ eats all of his meals at the big table with me or the family.  He is still able to set his table.  He brings over the items and at the moment I arrange them for him but soon I will introduce a place mat that he can put his setting on.

 

I got this super cute little laundry basket for LJ's room.  He can carry it himself when it is empty and he's been putting his dirty clothes in there for a while now.  So many times when I come in to his room after his nap he is in there trying to put on all of the clothes in the basket and has probably been awake for ages!

The going out area.  I set up this special area especially for LJ in our laundry room.  He can reach the hooks to get his jacket and is able to put on and take off his own boots.  I help him with his jacket and start the zipper for him and he is able to finish pulling the zipper up or down.  Every little bit he can do himself makes him feel so proud and confident. 

I just bought the super cute stool for him to sit on but he's still not quite big enough so at the moment he is more comfortable sitting on the floor.

 

Allowing LJ the opportunity to do so many things for himself really makes him feel like a part of the family and a capable human being.  I find that the only limitations he has are from me.  These pictures represent the "ideal" or the good days.   It does take a lot of work to keep the home environment "prepared" all of the time and sometimes it just doesn't happen.   I don't always have the cupboard neatly stocked ready to go and a lot of the time Daddy will get LJ ready for bed and all of the dirty clothes will be left in a pile on the bathroom floor(and cloth diaper for that matter!). 

 I think the important thing is to be aware of  our little persons needs and capabilities and try our best to let them experience that feeling of being able to "do it themselves" even if it isn't all of the time.



Toddler Art

It was high time to change the art in LJ's bedroom.  I was excited to try something with both L and LJ this time.

I first found a silhouette of a frog and seahorse on Google images and printed them out.  I cut them out and traced them onto black contact paper.  Once I stuck them on the canvass I let the kids have atter.

 

As I was browsing the Internet I saw a brilliant idea for toddlers and painting.  Instead of having them dip the brush into the paint pot and make a huge mess the idea is to just dab drops of paint all over the canvass for them to paint.

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It worked a treat and LJ really enjoyed painting the canvass with very little mess and stress for mom.

 

L of course chose her own colors and animal for the canvass.

 

After the paint had dried we peeled off the contact paper and were left with beautiful artwork!

LJ loves the new art hanging on his wall and is constantly pointing to his painting and telling me it's a frog!.