A Tour

I have seen so many lovely Montessori-inspired children's spaces through the many blogs and pinterest boards I follow. They are always an inspiration to me. I only began learning about the Montessori approach about a  year ago when my son was just over a year old. I was looking at children's rooms on ApartmentTherapy.com when I spotted a Montessori floor bed and wanted to learn more. A single picture has led to a complete change in how I view my son, my role as a parent and the environment we provide for him. Before then, I have to admit that I did not realize there are so many different approaches to early childhood education. I went to public school as a child and never studied education so I was completely in the dark. A year later I am still learning, but I have fallen in love with Montessori and get daily inspiration through books, blogs and Facebook groups.

At 3 weeks old, a lactation nurse called my son strong-willed, and it's still a great description of him at 2 years 4 months. The Montessori approach has taught me how capable my son is. It allows me to put his actions as a very independent toddler into perspective, and it reminds me to slow down, follow his lead and support him as a person rather than caring for him as a dependent child. So while I am still a Montessori novice, I am pretty proud of the environment I have created at home for my son. Here's a quick tour of his spaces.

Our home has been on a gradual change over the last year to better accommodate our son. This change started slowly with his playroom by editing what toys were in there, then my husband and brother-in-law built these wonderful shelves and finally the finishing touches of color and inspiration to make it what it is today:

T completes most of his activities at his table in the center of the room. His materials including some art supplies that are out all of the time are kept on the shelves. His window is decorated with a collage of tissue paper and paper packing strips ("grass") on contact paper.

My son's artwork decorates this wall. He loves adding each new piece he creates to the wall. The empty corner here will soon be my baby girl's area. If you noticed the acrylic mirror leaning up against the wall in the last photo, it will be mounted in this area with a shelf on the small wall and a mobile overhead. This will be her area at least until she's crawling. 

Once my son crawled out of his crib (well, technically only on top of his crib because I happened to spot it on the monitor and go running like a crazy woman to save him!) at 17 months, we switched him to a floor bed. His room has been progressing since then to better meet his needs as a growing toddler. T loves playing in his closet. We typically keep a couple shirts on the lower rack for him to play with and choose between when getting dressed. He likes to relocate them from the closet to other places in the room where he can hang them. He plays with his hats, admiring himself in his mirror and generally just loves to hang out in there.

My son's toy box was his father's as a child, handmade by his great grandfather. His stuffed animal collection is kept there, but they were all taking a nap in my bed when this photo was taken. :-) The art on the wall to the right are laminated prints from calendars featuring works by Kandinsky, van Gogh, Klimt and Escher.  The hooks next to his door allow him to hang his hat or clothes from his closet.

We don't keep a lot of toys in T's room. We want him to be able to play before he falls asleep but for the room to be restful. He has an abacus, a basket of books, his workbench and tunnel in this corner. We bought the tunnel when T was just crawling, and he still loves to play in it.

T's floor bed is a twin mattress without the box spring. He has never liked being under the covers so he sleeps on top of his blanket, generally between the two pillows. Over his bed are large pages from one of his favorite books, Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle. 

One area where I am most proud of the simplicity of our enhancements is T's bathroom. By using a 2-step stool, a faucet with good reach and a pump foam children's soap, T can wash his hands by himself whenever he needs, and he has access to his toothbrush and small towels to wash his face. Of course, he also enjoys playing in the water and will occasionally wash the unexpected like his shoes or mine if they are left laying around. 

In our kitchen/dining area, T has a small table and chair. Next to the table is some more art inspiration. Behind the table is a small mirror where he frequently watches himself eat, play and make silly faces. This table gets used for everything from meals to play to art to food prep. He eats about 50/50 at this small table and at our adult-size table, where he will stand in a chair either on his feet or knees and frequently hangs from the table as he is always on the edge of a chair or hanging from somewhere. Our future rock climber! We do not have a learning tower, but T will pull up a dining chair to the kitchen sink to wash dishes or to the counter to prepare food whenever he wants. 

In our kitchen, T has two cabinets. The first one stores his glasses, bowls and silverware. T almost exclusively eats out of small bowls. He seems to prefer them, having frequently taken his food off of a plate and put it on the table in the past. This cabinet is kept intentionally clutter free to make it easy for him to get what he needs. In the second cabinet, T has all of his food prep tools and other miscellaneous items in the front of the shelves. We store infrequently used items in the back to make the most of our kitchen storage so this one is much more visually cluttered even though T's stuff is organized. Here you can see he has serving pitchers, a cherry pitter, a couple different graters, tongs/spoons, a small vegetable peeler, a crinkle cutter and small cutting board and an egg slicer on the top shelf. On the bottom shelf we keep towels for him and extra sensory materials and such. 

That concludes my tour of T's spaces in our home. With his sister arriving any day now, they will continue to evolve to meet both his needs and hers over the coming months and years, but at the moment, they work quite well for him. There's always more that I would like to do, but I am pleased overall at how much he can accomplish on his own and how much joy he seems to get from these spaces. What suggestions do you have for how I can continue to improve his environment? What's your favorite space for your child in your home? Leave me a comment!

Helping Around the House

My son doesn't have any assigned chores at 26 months, but he definitely has passions for specific housework. Since he learned to walk, he has been obsessed with trash and recycling. Trash and Recycling days at our house are major events. In fact, this past trash day my son pulled a chair up to the window and waited for his Grammy to arrive so they could take out the trash together, a weekly ritual. He cannot leave the house or take a nap until the trash truck has come by, and on pretty days Grammy takes him out to wave to the driver, who kindly waves back. He has a recycling truck he loves using for pretend play and even a trash/recycling book. One of the first compound instructions that he understood was to put object 1 in the trash and and object 2 in the recycling. More recently, he has started emptying our small trash cans from around the house, carrying them to the laundry room where our primary trash inside is located and dumping them into the larger trash can.

T also loves sweeping and mopping. He has his own tools handy and will get them most of the time when he spills something.

He is quite fond of the dishwasher, and we are quite fond of its child lock feature as he has more than once started a load on us when the dishwasher wasn't ready. Sometimes he will put his dirty dishes in the dishwasher himself, which is great when the dishwasher is empty or contains dirty dishes. In our house, that's not always the case so we have to watch out for dirty dishes being mixed with clean dishes. He loves to help unload the dishwasher and has performed this task for many months. Only recently has he began to unload the dishwasher without us starting this activity. Seeing my toddler placing glasses on the kitchen counter from the dishwasher still gets me running to the kitchen.

This is part of an overall change in his level of independence. I have always tried to give him as much freedom to do for himself as he could/wanted, but lately, he has taken this to an all new level. For example, he didn't want the windows open, but when we closed them and allowed him to help open them, it was okay. Needless to say, I'm learning an all new level of patience as well.

His new favorite activity as part of this increase in independence is laundry. It is now not uncommon to see him go running by with his small laundry basket in tow headed to the laundry room to take clothes out of the dryer or move towels from the washer to the dryer. He sometimes gets the order confused and mixes the clean wet linens with the dirty or puts clean clothes back in the dryer. He also creates laundry when there is none, such as throwing hangers into the washing machine. Luckily, we have always caught this before he turned the washing machine on as he knows how to operate both the washer and dryer button/dials. He also likes to empty the lint trap in the dryer, an activity that's always identifiable by the presence of dust/dirt in the dryer tub.

T has also been learning to fold and put his clothes on hangers with some success. With my step by step guidance, he can fold clothes but frequently ends up scrunching them together like an accordion. He can put pants on a hanger but not in a neatly folded way yet. He is great at obtaining hangers from his closet and hanging his clothes back up for us.

Certainly the level of access and independence T has creates obstacles. There are moments we go running to the laundry room to figure out what he's done and correct it when we hear the chimes of our dryer being started or the door slamming shut. There are moments we are frustrated by him un-doing our own progress. There's also an inherent feeling of amazement and pride that comes with watching my 2-year-old son achieve what his heart desires.

Baking: Precision Not Required

I love cooking with my son, but at 25 months there are still plenty of meals that don't have a suitable task for him or at least not enough to keep him feeling involved the whole time. That's why I love to bake with him. Even though I know we don't need sweets in our house because we both really love them (especially while I'm pregnant!) and Husband does not, meaning there's more for me and T to eat than we should. The process, the time with my son doing something we both enjoy, is worth the extra willpower (okay, really the extra calories) that comes with baking. 

21 Months Old

T helps from the first line of the recipe until it's time to put the cake/cookies/bread in the oven. All I have to do is ask if he wants to bake with me, and he grabs a dining chair from around the table and pushes it into position at the kitchen island. As we measure the dry ingredients like flour and sugar, I show him how much we need on a large measuring cup, pointing to the line we are trying to reach and telling him the quantity. Then he uses a smaller measuring cup to scoop the ingredient while I hold the container for him. He scoops flour, and we end up with a light (or sometimes heavy) dusting on the floor, the chair, the counter and us. He knows we have to shake the big measuring cup to level it out and then check if we hit the target amount. Once we have enough, he pours the ingredient into a bowl. Sometimes he wants to sift the flour either with his sifter or a mesh strainer. As he sifts and pours the measured ingredient, some of the ingredient always ends up outside of the bowl, and so I eye-ball a little extra to throw in the bowl. Then, we start with the next ingredient.

19 Months Old

He loves to stir or whisk the ingredients together, to pour the dry ingredients into the wet and generally to be hands on with the whole process of mixing together our batter or dough. He stirs vigorously at times and likes to spoon clumps of the batter and hold it up high. At every step along the way, we lose some of the mixture or raw ingredients. 

25 Months Old

When it comes time to add the eggs, he cracks them into a bowl, one at a time for me. He previously tried to complete the whole process himself but lately has been cracking the eggs and then allowing me to remove the shell. I'm trying to re-encourage him to complete the whole process. Still, he cannot get enough. After each egg, he enthusiastically calls out "MORE!" If he had his way, we would crack a whole dozen into every cake. 

I try to keep all the ingredients out of his reach except the one we are using; otherwise, he will make his own recipes when he feels I'm taking too long getting something ready for him. He does have favorite ingredients like salt and baking soda, but he will even try to throw a bulb of garlic into the dough if it's within reach. 

This is not precision baking like we are so often told by the professionals baking must be. There's not an exact ratio between ingredients that is carefully measured and perfectly executed. This is fun and messy and a great series of practical life activities... oh yeah, and it's delicious. Even without the precision, our baked goods are yummy!

I'll post soon about the many other activities that T loves in the kitchen when we are not baking. How do you get your kids involved in the kitchen? Do you have favorite recipes to make with them? 

Toilet Learning Part 1

When T turned 2, we started focusing on toilet learning. This was not T's first exposure to the potty. At around 18 months, he started showing interest in the potty and signaling sometimes when he needed to pee or had a bowel movement. We purchased a BabyBjourn potty, placed it in our bathroom and encouraged him to sit on it. He would sit there, sometimes with clothes on and sometimes off. He also watched us use the toilet. He would signal to go to the restroom at restaurants and stores, but this quickly seemed to become more a ploy to go explore than actually use the potty because he stopped wanting to even sit on the big toilet. I felt that we were in his sensitive period for beginning toilet learning, which is defined in the Montessori method as 12 to 18 months, but we did not switch him to training pants at that time. Why you may ask? Well, I am not a stay at home mom so major decisions about my son are made with my mom, or at least with my mom in mind. She takes cares of my son while I work. I try to find middle ground with her although I'm not sure she would always agree with that statement. :-)

So at 2, we agreed to really focus on toilet learning. Our first phase was to switch T to wearing training pants when he's at home and awake. We frequently asked him if he needed to use the potty, and he generally said no. We would try unsuccessfully to lure him in there with books. He wet/soiled his training pants just like a diaper. He also fought us about putting on his training pants. He would cry, kick and scream unless we distracted him with what we were going to do after he got dressed. On a side note, I don't consider this an award, just a statement of fact to refocus my child's attention. This is not really new behavior for my son though when it comes to dressing. He tends to put up a running fight about diaper changes and getting dressed. While I try to encourage him to dress himself, he would generally prefer to run around naked... and so that's what we did. 

Our next phase of toilet learning, which began around the time T turned 2 years 1 month old, was to skip the training pants completely. He now spends his awake hours at home without any underpants or pants on. We also relocated his potty to our kitchen so that it's really convenient to where he plays. 

Next to his potty, we have a chair where we sit to read to him, a basket full of books, a flushable wet wipes container and a basket of his training pants for when we do need them. The first day we tried this new approach, T went to the potty on his own and used it multiple times. Once he has used the potty and we help him wipe, as needed, he carries the potty bowl to the bathroom, dumps it in the toilet, turns on the water for the sprayer we have attached to the toilet and sprays out the potty bowl while we hold it. Then he washes his hands. I should note that the distance from his potty in the kitchen to the bathroom toilet is significant, probably close to 50 feet. I am always a bit nervous watching him carry his potty, but he is very careful. 

We do encourage T to sit on the potty regularly. We have the most success with this if we simply sit down and start reading a book next to the potty. Then he will usually come over and sit on the potty. He does not frequently use the potty in these moments yet though. 

This bare bottom approach to toilet learning has not been 100% successful, nor would we expect it to be in the first couple weeks. We have had accidents. Sometimes T starts to pee and then goes to the potty to finish. Sometimes he pees completely on the floor. Other times, he goes to the potty before he starts. Thankfully, he has been more aware  of his bowel movements. While this approach has been much more successful for us than using training pants, it comes with a lot more stress for the obvious reason of wanting to maintain a clean, sanitary house. You can say we are always on edge. 

We also need to transition to an approach that will work outside of our home. If we take T outside to play or to run errands, we are back to square one. I have purchased a portable potty and a waterproof training pad for his car seat. My next step will be to put him in training pants when we go out and take him to the restroom as soon as we arrive anywhere. Of course, I'll also pack plenty of extra underpants and clothes.

I'll share more updates as we have them. If you have suggestions, please share them in the comments!

Gardening at 24 Months

T has been gardening with me since he learned to walk. Last Spring at around 14 months he picked his own strawberries off our plants. Last summer at around 16 months he loved to help water our pots and pick tomatoes, which he then promptly ate. In the fall at around 19 months, he started digging in the dirt with his own tools, raking leaves (a favorite as long as we had them) and repositioning my small flower pots on our front steps. That is still a favorite as you can see from these pots lined up on my front door mat. 

Now at 24 months, he helps plant larger seeds like peas, removes plants from their plastic containers for me to plant and transports anything in his wheelbarrow. He loves helping, and I love having his help. Gardening with a toddler requires a lot of patience, as almost all things with toddlers does, but it also requires the right perspective. It can be difficult to make that mental leap between wanting a super productive, perfectly planted and cared for garden and the reality of gardening with a toddler. T has pulled out plants, broken asparagus ferns, stepped on newly planted flowers, soaked me with the water hose and just about anything else that he could do that wasn't my intended result. 

It's easy to get frustrated, to remove him from the garden or try to limit his involvement in those times, but I try to always remember that he's learning, exploring and generally trying to help. For example, when he pulls out a plant, he's mimicking our weeding of the garden and simply cannot differentiate between weeds and garden plants. To remedy this, we chose something easily identifiable that he can pull from the garden - the "helicopter" seeds from our neighbor's tree and some small pieces of wood that were in our garden soil. While this doesn't 100% solve the problem, it helps and allows him to contribute to our garden maintenance. 

Working hard to shovel mulch.

By far, T's favorite activity in the garden is hauling anything with his wheelbarrow. We bought this one from our local Lowe's store for significantly less than I saw at other online retailers. It was his 2-year birthday present and has been one of our best purchases for him. 

Great for balance and coordination. 

Filling his wheelbarrow. 

This year we added 2 more raised beds to our backyard garden for a total of 5 beds. T helped move the garden soil into the new beds.

With a lot of plants to add to our raised bed gardens in the backyard, T hauled our plants back there in his trusty red wheelbarrow and even tried to plant a marigold on his own. He found it a bit frustrating. After letting him struggle a bit, I helped him make the hole a bit bigger, and we finished it together. Unfortunately, once I step in to help, he tends to give up completely. So I try to let him struggle and hopefully accomplish it on his own before I help. He literally screams out in frustration, but it's such a distinct scream that we know he isn't hurt, scared or otherwise in need of immediate attention and therefore can react accordingly.

After we finished planting, I was labeling some potted plants using popsicle sticks. T was helping stick them in the pots once I wrote the plant name. When I was done with the pots that needed labels (my daffodils and tulips that will go in the ground this fall), I had two popsicle sticks left. T decided to label those himself and stick them in some pots. These moments put a big smile on my face.










So what's next for gardening with T? Giving him his own small garden to play in - whether that be growing plants or just digging in the dirt. I want him to have a space where he can do whatever makes him happy without the limitations that come with our gardens in order to keep them growing. 


How does your child garden with you? What are your secrets to keeping your garden growing while your toddler is exploring? I'd love to hear your stories. Leave a comment!

My Journey, My Life

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I dream of things that I know would not make me happy (is that just me?). I dream of things that I may never achieve (like a truly organized house ;). I dream and plan and analyze and sometimes over-analyze and generally let my thoughts run wild. I also love the life I have and try to live in the moment, to focus, to truly be present. I am a daughter to a wonderful woman who reminds me everyday what being a mother is all about. I am a sister to two women who I know are always there for me. I am a wife to a man that I have loved since I met him. I am a mother to an amazing 2 year old boy that brings joy to my life every day and expecting a baby girl in August. I am an IT professional by day and a hard working mom trying to make up for lost hours by night/weekend. This is my journey. These are my experiments. This is my life.