Today’s Highlight

People in my Montessori group seem obsessed with the sink that has real running water.  They almost got their hooks into me too, before I reminded myself that we already had a perfectly good set-up, and what’s more, we can use ours for washing hands and dishes.  (The other sink says not to use soap because of the pump.)  So I took the opportunity to focus on practical life a bit, and get things set up so that Bella could really start washing dishes.

The water bowl is filled up by us in the main sink.  When Bella’s older, she’ll be able to fill it up herself using the water dispenser.  The drying rack is our latest addition, a recommendation from someone else in the Montessori group who uses their kitchen for real-life activities like us, and it’s perfect.  It’s the right size, and more importantly, it’s easy to use.  You don’t have to put things in at the right angle, just stick it in and it holds.  Bella loved ‘cleaning’ in the water and then pushing the dishes into the tray.  A couple hours later when I saw her wander over and start playing with the plate, I asked her to put them away into the cupboard below, which she did happily.

It’s a lovely little set-up.  Obviously, it takes longer, because I have to wash the dishes with Bella after a meal, before moving on to the rest of them at the main sink, but it’s still a beautifully independent way for her to learn about this element of practical life.

The Low Point

Bella would not nap today.  She woke up late, really late, so I delayed her nap to account for that.  She still did not go to sleep.  We got her up, ate some food, played for an hour, tried again.  It took awhile but she eventually got there.  All these antics meant that we ended up missing out on a tour of a local heritage site that I’d booked tickets for ages ago.  Thankfully the tickets were free, so we aren’t out of pocket, but the site is only open to the generic public with tours one day a year, so I’m really sad to have missed out.  I struggle sometimes, to figure out whether it’s better to give her a new experience and see and do things, or whether it’s all about the routine and nap etc.  I know she won’t remember any of this in years to come, so the routine usually wins, but I hope we can still keep on fitting in more and more of the experiences.

Today’s Low

We left home at 9am and Bella was sick in the car, which I attributed to travel sickness, and then again after arriving at the venue.  It wasn’t until the evening, when chatting to my husband, that I remembered the berry that she’d picked up from somewhere in the garden and placed in her mouth.  It turns out it was a poisonous berry, and that explained it all.  Not a good start to the day.  (She’s fine, thankfully.)

The Highlight

I don’t know if this is Montessori as such, but I try to allow Bella to walk as much as possible when out and about.  These days, if we drive somewhere, she will almost always walk from the car park into the building.  If we’re on foot, then she’ll get to walk as much as she can before going into the sling or pram, and then she’ll walk again when she’s ready.

This does not seem to be the norm with my friends.  They’re either carrying their children from the car to the building (children perfectly capable of walking) or more likely exclusively using a pushchair.  The consensus seems to be that pushing a pushchair and dealing with a toddler is more effort than it’s worth.  I’ll agree, It’s not easy, but it’s totally worth it.

I get a lot of looks from other parents for going slow, and sometimes we get left behind, but I can’t think of a better way for Bella to get the gross motor practice she clearly craves, and also this amazing exposure of the real world.  Stop going to soft play and Tumble Tots and all those organised activities.  Just walk.

(Interestingly, people that don’t have young children love it.  Young children themselves think it’s adorable.  Elderly people in particular love it.  The number of them that stop and coo and wave and encourage her on is fantastic.)

I’m so proud of her slow but steady steps, the way she’s learning when we hold hands and when we don’t need to, her muddy fingers as she explores interesting things on the way.  I love walking with her.  Anytime I want to rush, I ask myself why.  Because really, there’s nothing that urgent going on in our lives.  And if there is, then the onus is on me to plan better and allow extra time so I can protect this time.  Toddler walks are beautiful.

Today’s Highlight

My husband bought me a beautiful leather box for our third wedding anniversary.  Bella has discovered it this morning, after much straining to reach it on my dressing table.  We have a busy morning ahead, so I intended to get both Bella and I washed and dressed after waking up, rather than getting ready after breakfast.  However, when I am just about ready to descend down the stairs, I see her immersed in this box.

She opens it, takes out the leather bracelet within, puts the bracelet on her wrist, closes the box, opens the box, takes the bracelet off, puts it on her head, closes the box, opens, puts the bracelet in… you get the picture.  After five minutes of this, she starts to really take the box in.  She touches the non-leather surfaces and says “soft” in response to the suede material.  She sniffs it curiously a few times.

I am itching to go downstairs, but I let her go on for as long as she needs.  And eventually, she puts the bracelet in the box, shuts the box, and puts it down.  I ask her to put it back to its place on the dressing table, and she does.

I often spend hours immersed in the wonderful world of Montessori blogs, reading about all the lovely pieces of work that you can DIY at home.  But at times like this, I wonder if they’re more for the parent rather than the child.  Surely the home environment is enough in itself?

The Low Point

We’re a screen free household.  This has been incredibly easy to maintain with Bella.  I literally don’t put the TV on all day long with her and it’s not a problem.  There is a problem though, and it’s me.  I struggle with my own screen time.  I struggle to put down my phone, to not check it over and over again.  The way I planned to deal with it was simple: leave it in my bedroom.  If it’s not with me, I can’t use it and problem solved.  It worked yesterday.  But today, I had a meeting and the person ran late.  I grabbed my phone at 9.20am and it stayed with me all day.  I don’t think it was the end of the world, I was hardly staring at it non-stop, but there were definitely moments here and there where I was looking at it instead of being with Bella and that’s what I want to stop.  So tomorrow, it stays in the bedroom.

It’s the first day of school.  I have a 16 month old, so it’s not really back to school for us, but I also have a husband who’s a teacher, so it sort of is.  It’s my first day alone with Bella in over a month.  It’s time to get back into our usual routines and do all of the exciting Montessori things that I’ve been researching.

Today’s Highlight

Every morning, I go into Bella’s room and pick her out of her cot.  I take her to the other side of the room, sign “open” and then draw the curtains.  Today, things are a tiny bit different.  I’ve laminated a weather chart to accompany our morning chats, which allow me to introduce the various weather symbols and also the concept of the day of the week.  Unsurprisingly, her interest is in the velcro.

She soon asks to be put down, and goes immediately for her lockbox.  My instinct is always to move to the next activity, but rather than head to the potty, I instead let her fiddle with the box.  The repetitive motion can’t help but make me smile, as she retrieves her prize when she opens the box, pops it back in and then promptly goes through the whole thing over and over again.

Follow the child, indeed.

The Low Point

My Monday ‘activity’ is always baking.  It’s for a simple reason: whatever we bake will be snacks for the week.  I also happened to be responsible for making dinner today, which is homemade pizza.  I’ve planned to do both at the same time, excitedly planning for all the parts that Bella can join in with.  Pouring, stirring, kneading.  There are countless Montessori blogs showing all these lovely practical life kitchen activities.

That was not our reality.  I discovered that in my haste, I had bought gluten free flour, which doesn’t make pizza dough as I know it.  It seemed like I didn’t have enough yeast to make a second batch of gluten-filled dough.  Bella ate raw dough.  I found 2 sachets of yeast which I’m sure materialised out of my sheer desperation. Bella decided to empty out her kitchen cupboard and dropped her ceramic bowl.  I did not handle it well, although I did order her her own cleaning supplies that evening.  Bella ate yet more raw dough.  Her only interest in the dough was to poke it, and then pick it up and eat it.  I fed her two snacks.  It did not abate her thirst for the dough.

By the time my husband came home, I had been standing in the kitchen for three hours.  Bella clapped and squealed while I nearly burst into tears.  We will need to think about how to improve our kitchen time.  I suspect making only one thing will help.