Blogs I Love

I have created somewhat of a blogroll at the top of my page. We’re in the middle of moving home (feels like limbo) at the moment, & I thought I would show you which blogs I frequent & get inspiration from.

Lately, (aside from the usual parenting and organising the move) I have been working through and drawing tons of inspiration from the Playful Learning Ecademy. I have been a big fan of Mariah’s and have her book. Needless to say I was over-the-moon when I found out that I had won a giveaway on her blog which included free access to her Ecademy.

I can’t wait to move homes for many reasons but a big one right now is so that I can use all of the ideas I’m learning through her course.

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Lucy is now 10 months old. She is a handful! It’s amazing how different your children can be! Lucy is determined and more than happy to voice that she isn’t pleased with something you are doing. By voice, I mean grunt and throw baby tantrums. Yes, really.

We have made the venture back into cloth diapering.

Lucy is constantly pulling up to stand, standing without support and scaling furniture. She’s a climber too and makes her way onto our mini trampoline, the couch and anywhere else she fancies.

She is still only signing ‘milk’, ‘food’ and waving (Cam knew 6 signs at this stage, Lucy is too busy exploring to sign anything beyond food hah!). She’s only just started to give kisses. She says Mum, Dad and ta, and understands a bit more.

Cameron is doing great. I’ve decided to keep him home this year (I was going to take him to a Montessori-inspired kindy two days a week but decided – for various reasons – that it can wait). Hopefully when we find a new rental, move home & settle in, I will be able to get him into kindergym & do more fun out-of-home activities.

Cameron is currently loving duplo. He’s always building and playing out scenarios. It is his go-to thing to do inside. He is so proud of his work too, asking me to take a photo as he is constructing a piece.

His artwork is developing and he often tells stories about his work.

Cam still adores books. Our bookshelves are constantly being added to (with early childhood education and parenting books for me, and various children’s books for him). We currently have been adding relevant Australian children’s nature guides (alongside anything by Steve Parish. Cam loves seeing animals/plants/insects that he knows and finding out a bit more about them.

Cam is still obsessed with riding his bike (with training wheels at this point) and has been very interested in tools (thanks to his new workbench and tools & his Dad of course).

Hopefully next time I update, we will be in a new home!

Lucy Snapshot (6.5 months old)

Lucy is a delightful baby and is growing up too fast!

She is a real mover. She sits herself up with ease and strength. She shuffles to get wherever/to whatever she wants. She rolled early and was rocking on all fours super early; so I should have known.

Lulu has started vocalising a lot more. She is often babbling away, a favourite being “dadadadad” just like Cammy at her age.

She is content to do whatever is offered and is not fussy. She adores her brother and really likes being around her cousins too. You can see how badly she just wants to be doing what they are doing.

She can get a little attitude about some things. Primarily food. She will also yell at you if you take a toy/item from her or leave the room without letting her know.

Her fine motor skills have come a long way in the past few weeks. She is keen to feed herself and she really loves and gets engaged with treasure baskets that I make up for her.

Her favourite toys are her Skwish, Cam’s playsilks & rainbow taggie. Other toys she will sometimes pay an interest too are her Haba trix toy, little wooden cars and her puzzle ball.

Mike is in the process of making a Montessori object permanence box and a pull up bar similar to these:

I will share photos once they are complete I have bought her a Montessori advanced ball return for Christmas. I’ve asked Mike to make some other materials too.

I will hopefully do a “Cameron Snapshot” soon

More Space Updates, Activities & Developments

Cameron is very very involved with practical life activities at the moment. I don’t really have to create any specific ‘activities’ because he wants to do everything and help with everything.

He is now pretty much toilet trained and I’d say 70% night-trained. He is getting better at brushing his own teeth, washing his hands thoroughly, washing himself (I have bought mini bottles to hold his shampoo and bodywash, which has helped). He likes to help with changing Lucy and is getting more successful with dressing himself (he can undress himself completely and put on hats, socks, underwear, some pants and shoes).

At 2. 5 years, these are the practical ‘chores’ he typically partakes in daily (I don’t expect it or ask him to, he really wants to):
- feed our cat
- help unpack & pack dishwasher
- help round up washing, put in powder & push button on machine
- help sort washing
- help put out the rubbish
- collect the mail
- help prepare meals
- get own snacks/drinks
- helps to sweep

The only thing that I ask him to do is tidy up his toys with me, otherwise everything else is just natural and usually he is the one asking.

Cam’s love for ‘writing’ and ‘lists’ hasn’t stopped and I will always encourage this sort of thing so I have set up a mini desk next to his Daddy’s one with pens, pencils, coloured pencils, alphabet stickers & stamps, envelopes, lined and unlined paper, coloured paper and a personalised return address stamp (all inspired by Playful Learning Spaces – I own and thoroughly recommend the book!). I’m hoping to set up a stamp & address system inspired by Sew Liberated – except smaller, with a business card holder (I will update once I have done this).

This space has been the inspiration for many spontaneous art/pre-writing adventures already. I’m sure it will evolve and grow as Cameron gets older.

Lucy is almost 4 months old and growing up way too fast. She is a master roller, has found her feet, loves grasping toys and is very strong (doing bubby push-ups and trying to get up on her knees already). Lulu is a very sweet natured baby. She is almost always happy and a very good breastfeeder.

Cameron adores her and she adores him right back. It’s so beautiful to see them together.

Also, I have added a pinterest button over to the right on my blog –>

Unfortunately I have been struggling mentally again lately. Hence the lack of updates again. Thank you to my new subscribers and readers, I truly appreciate it.

Rambling about my almost-2.5-year-old

Cameron’s play has really evolved in the past few months. I hear the loveliest stories from him and it is fascinating to watch his imagination unfold and flourish.

The importance of open ended toys and play has been clear in this house. For example, Cameron played with a jug (pretending it was a blender, making all kinds of concoctions) for over half an hour today.

The thing that I love about his play now is that it is often a glimpse into how he views the world and how he is processing things.

My favourite thing is experiencing how he views me. Through his play I get to see him impersonate things that I do and say. It is a real eye opener, and makes it all the more clear what a profound influence we have on our children.

Cam helps me see that I’m doing a good job; when my mind is accusing me of the opposite.

Manners have been a biggie lately too. I had been getting frustrated by Cameron interrupting conversations when I realised that it was my fault. He has never been expected to wait, or taught how to excuse himself.. So what could I expect?

Now it is something that he almost always does well. We do need to work on whether the reason for the interruption is important, however

Cameron has been very keen to be involved in food preparation. Until recently it was more of a novelty. He has started to work on or perfect – buttering toast, peeling an egg, cutting a banana, helping make smoothies and omelets, etc. he gets such pride from it.

Other practical life activities (sweeping,cleaning windows and surfaces, pouring a drink, spooning, brushing his teeth, removing his clothes, and more) have always been of interest to him. But it’s only in the past few months that he has shown any interest in putting on clothing, washing himself properly, helping with the washing and folding, feeding our cat (he used to enjoy it.. But as a game rather than a proper task) and fish, as well as more, I’m sure, that I can’t think of now.

Cameron has also started to show an interest in writing (writing ‘o’ and ‘m’ – his 2 favourite letters) and his pencil grip has matured too. His love of art hasn’t lessened and he now names his drawings as he draws them.

Cam has also found a newly sparked interest in numbers. He used to count sporadically.. I would often hear him saying “1, 2, 1, 2, 1- yayyy”. Every effort to include numbers & counting into our play was met with disinterest.

In a clear display of toddlers learning what they want, when they want; Cameron counted to 9 one morning when getting dressed for the day. I was counting his buttons and he took over from 3 and counted to 9! “you can count?!” I questioned him with surprise and he answered me with a full belly laugh. Along the same lines, he now likes to ‘trick’ me with colours. Pretending he doesn’t know or hasn’t heard what I have said is extremely funny, apparently.

So Cammy now counts to 12 and counts backwards too (exclusively for rockets, which he is obsessed about). He likes to count things in books that we read now as well.

Speaking of books, I purchased a second hand book sling for the playroom and have been amazed by the positive response from it. I knew it would make reading more accessible for us, but I had no idea how much so. Until now his books were all on his bookcase in his room.

It also seemed to coincide with a change in Cam’s attention span and ability to follow a narrative. I would never turn down reading a book to him so some days we will read ten or so books in a row. He now asks questions as  we read (“is she sad?” “where did it go?” etc); it makes it all the more enjoyable for me.

Cam & his cousin with a wild wallaby

So much of what Maria Montessori believed in has became so clear in my observations of Cameron. I have always believed in much of what Montessori stood for, but as I’m moving along in this parenting journey I’m finding myself so passionate about it.. Because I’m watching the magic of Montessori (even in a less than Montessori-pure environment, within our home) with my own eyes.

I will be back to talk about and share some photos of Lucy (who is almost 11 weeks old).

(Sorry about the poor quality photos guys, and the lack of posts. I have become more of a blog reader than a blogger, hah)

Lucy Violet is here!

Lucy Violet entered the world at 6:25am on the 25th of March after a 17 hour labour. She weighed a petite 6 pound 8, was 51 cm long and had a head circ of 34cm. I pushed her out in one push!

We are all in awe and in love with her! She is just beautiful and such a dream baby. Aside from a post-dural-puncture ‘headache’ (so not a headache, as those in the know would know!) & the consequent visit to theatre for an epidural blood patch, we have been doing beautifully. I am so blessed and this is such a different experience to last time!

25 Months – tot school and where we are at..

Cam is almost 25 months old – 2 years old!

I saw this on a blog that I follow & decided that I want to record how C is doing developmentally before we start our tot school units (more on that later).

Brush Teeth, with Help – C is great at putting the toothpaste on and imitating the brushing action. However, I always brush them after he has a go because I want to make sure they are clean. 
Wash and Dry hands – C loves getting onto the step himself and dispensing the soap on his hands and rubbing his palms together. But  I still offer assistance on parts of the process (turning on the tap, rubbing the soap all over his hands) but he can rinse them and dry them well (I have a towel on a low hook for him to do this independently)

Should be able to:

Take off an article of clothing – C can completely undress himself (nappy, shoes, socks and all) with some outfits. Shirts prove to be the most difficult and he is yet to master zips and buttons consistently.

Feed a doll – he has done this on occasion.

Build a tower of 4 cubes – Easily

Identify 2 items in a picture by pointing – Most definitely. More than I could possibly count.

Will probably be able to:

Build a tower of 6 cubes – Yes. 

Throw a ball overhand – yes, not with accuracy though.

Speak and be understood half the time – C speaks a lot and pretty well but is quiet. I don’t think many people can understand some of what he says yet (aside from myself, my husband and sister).  He mostly expresses needs and narrates what we are doing and/or seeing. His speech isn’t conversational yet.

Identify 1 item in a picture by naming – Definitely. More than I can count.

Identify 4 items in a picture by pointing – again, yes. He can do this for most every noun he knows.

May possibly be able to:
Jump up - he loves to jump (or ‘pump!’ as he calls it) and succeeds half the time but sometimes it’s more like bouncing…one foot leaves the floor but not both.

Put on an article of clothing – Cam can put on a hat independently and some shoes. He attempts other clothes sometimes with limited success.

May even be able to:

Draw a vertical line in imitation – yes, he draws vertical lines and circles when I ask him to. 

Build a tower of 8 cubes – He has done this before.

Carry on a conversation of 2 or 3 sentences – He is speaking pretty well.  His speech isn’t conversational yet; although he can narrate 2-3 simple sentences in a row.

Other milestones:

Colours
Can always name and point to – blue, yellow, red, pink, orange, black, brown
Can sometimes name but always identify – white, purple, green, gold

Shapes
Can always name and identify – circle, star, moon (crescent), triangle, square and diamond
Can often identify – rectangle, pentagon, hexagon, heart

Letters

Can name the phonemes for – s, b, m
Can sometimes name the phonemes for – f, a, c, t, r, o, h, u

Numbers

Can say/read – 1, 2, 3, 5, 8
Can say 1-10
Can count to 6 without prompting (has only done this twice)

Body Parts

Can name and point to – hair, eyes, eyelashes, nose, teeth, tongue, mouth, cheeks, chin, toes, fingers, feet, hands, arms, belly, belly button, bottom, privates, nipples, head, legs
Can often name and identify – knees, ears, neck

Potty Training – he is no where near potty trained. Until recently he kept cutting teeth (which means runny poo for him) so we haven’t focused on this. He is aware of his bodily functions and I feel that he has been ready for some time. He has successfully weed on the toilet (with padded inner seat) several times and often tells me he is going to wee or poo.

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Sorry for the boring post update! I just wanted to keep record of this and thought I would share! We are starting our own little tot school at home tomorrow (more info on tot school ideas/printables/packs/etc here – http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/TotSchool.html)

I have been organising fortnightly themes (with coordinating sensory tub, dough activities, letters (2 per unit), number, shape and colour) for the next 5-6 months. I am using free printables from around the internet, some cheap books/toys and library books. I will be using Montessori-inspired printables when possible.

I will do a post reviewing our first week, this weekend and list of my resources and thoughts. Hopefully that is something interesting to some of you? I will also try to do a pregnancy update, I’m 31.5 weeks and had a midwife appointment today!

Thanks for reading!

Birthday Boy!

My Babies

*sighs* It’s so lovely to say/type/think ”my babies”…

Today I am 15 weeks pregnant! Most of the more unpleasant symptoms are gone (goodbye nausea!) but I’m still always tired and the reflux has begun. These things pale in significance to the wonderful things… like my belly button starting to pop out (yes, already!) and teeny flutters below my belly button. Hi Bud, Mummy feels you!

Cameron is 21 months old! This is a busy age where I can literally witness his development daily.

New developments include: drawing lines and circles. Pointing out shapes (circle, crescent, star, diamond). Doing rolly poleys! (too cute!) and his colour sorting skills are evolving. He also expertly kicks a ball with the inside of his foot (much to Mike’s delight).

He is eating so much more. He has cut some new eye teeth and since then his appetite is crazy. He starts most days with two weetbix and loves snacking all day (cashews, berries, sultanas, crackers and apples feature heavily).

Cameron can now undress himself (shirt, shorts, nappy and all!) so I have to watch him in public! I encouraged undressing himself for bath-time and toileting so now it’s time to teach appropriateness of timing

Speaking of toileting, toilet learning isn’t going so great. With a combination of a busy toddler who only vaguely is interested half the time and a Mum who is equally as wishy-washy with enthusiasm, we have a recipe for little progress. We have only had a couple of potty successes. Although he enjoys the routine – running to the toilet, taking off his pants and nappy, getting up on the seat (with trains on it!) and asking for tissues… and he looks mighty cute in teeny ‘big-boy’ undies!

Next weekend my Dad is getting married so you can expect some super-cute photos of Cameron all dressed up in a mini-suit! I also have several posts in drafts that I’ll hopefully get around to finishing soon

Thank you for the lovely comments on my last post!

I’m Still Here

Sorry for the delay in updates! We all got sick & the nausea and exhaustion was getting the better of me.

But now I’m doing heaps better. I’m booked into my hospital and have a scan booked for a weeks time. My doctor has been seeing me regularly since my anxiety attacks and I’m now medicated again on a low dose SSRI and feeling like myself.

The stigma associated with antenatal and postpartum mood disorders is hard sometimes. Particularly if medication is concerned.

I struggled at first with the idea as I’m someone who takes every risk very seriously concerning my children.. But I have to remember the risks associated with untreated anxiety and depression. & I have learnt to give myself a break – if it were another illness that I had to be treated for, I doubt I would hesitate. I talk about it because I know that it is more prevalent than we realise.

I also have struggled recently with the fact that all these factors have meant that I haven’t been mothering like usual. Poor sleep from anxiety in the evenings and at night meant that mornings were hard and I’m not overly proud to admit that a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD got a work out at any time prior to 7 AM.

Our days weren’t filled with well-planned activities or outings. Instead they were spent mostly in pjs and we often went to my sisters house where Cam could be entertained by his cousins while I lounged. My ‘sanity-kit’ has included his dough kit (minimal Mum-input activity), books, his train set (which he will play with for decent periods of time without me), crayons, his magnadoodle, and his little nursery rhyme CD player. Oh, & a willing hubby who takes over when he gets home.

1.5 weeks ago. C said “my baby”

This pregnancy my nausea has been the kind where it helps to eat (hello weight gain) but I still feel ill even after food. & it is constant, even upon waking at night. But I keep all the food down, which is fortunate. I’m exhausted almost always even if I sleep for 10 hours.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I tell it like it is. I must admit that I haven’t been like I was with my previous pregnancy. I loved every part of my previous pregnancies, especially Cameron’s (aside from the fear of course). This time I’ve been more reserved, although I still feel very blessed. I can’t wait for Mike to see Bud next Monday (although I’m also very nervous as the dates are all so similar to 3 years ago).

Cameron has been doing great despite all. He talks about the baby often and he speaks in little sentences a lot now. At 20.5 months, he is currently loving - the letter ‘m’ (spotting it everywhere), planes (still), circles, getting powder in his nappy, eating cheese, helping wash up dishes, and telling me if something is ‘mean’ or ‘nice’.

He makes me so darn proud and I have been so lucky with how sweet and helpful he has been while I have struggled. For example, he patiently and happily waited for over an hour at the doctors the other week. & the other day he asked Mike “is she sad?” when I was resting and came over to give me a kiss.

 

Teething, Talking and Toileting

Oh Teething, how I hate you!

My poor mite is teething. It’s super-duper obvious and seems to be paired with a developmental leap this time so we are in the thick of a not-so-pleasant phase.

 Cam enjoying a calming camomile tea (known as the Flower Tea, to him)

Cameron is constantly knawing on his fingers, refusing some foods, demanding others, whinging in general and feeding more frequently.

Only up side to teething is that he sleeps better than usual during the day. He’s often down for 1.5-2 hours (which isn’t normal for him!)

Cammy has always managed to get 2-5 teeth at a time and I’m pretty sure that we are in for a few this time too. He is getting his fangs and boy are they red and swollen. He even got one cut through then go back up. Not fair!

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On the topic of ‘developmental leaps’, Cameron is amidst one now. He is getting increasingly frustrated with his inability to communicate himself well. He even tantrums at times and I hate having to tell him “I don’t understand what you want”.

In the past 12 weeks his vocabulary has tripled. At 16 months he frequently used 50 words in context and now, at 19 months he is using over 150 words and he is adding to that daily. Toddler development amazes me.

There is no wonder that he struggles sometimes when so much is going on in his growing body and mind. He is suddenly interested in numbers, letters (phonics), colours (he loves to point out anything red and blue), shapes (especially circle and diamond) and naming everything.

He looooves to read and will bring books to me, ask me to read them ‘again’, and ‘read’ to me too.

He has gone from simply expressing himself with one word to making simple sentences more often to describe things, and to ask & answer questions (e.g. “there is [the] car”, ”bee mug [with] flower tea?”)

He really loves to sing and will say “Rachel!” (he calls me both Rachel and Mummy, switching between the two) to get my attention to show me that he is dancing to the music while I’m driving. He sings along to Bruno Mars “Marry You” by singing the ‘no no no no no’ and ‘yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah’ bits. Too cute. Hah!

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We are transitioning Cameron into his own bed during day naps and it is going well. He carries one of my pillows to his ‘special bed’ and picks a book to read before having a quick feed before nap time.

He is definitely ready for toilet learning now. I have been reading online articles about “toileting the Montessori way” (google to find tonnes of great resources) and think that Cameron has been ready for a fair while now and I have been resisting.

Cameron can tell me when he is peeing/pooing and is keen to put his (Thomas the Tank Engine) padded seat on the toilet, to use a stool to sit on the toilet  himself, and imitate wiping, he likes to flush and will wash his hands (we have one of those automatic soap dispenser thingees… I was so annoyed when Mike begged for one but it’s handy for Cam!)

So really all that Cam is missing is a patient Mum who is willing to give him the opportunity to learn and make mistakes.

I have some organic bamboo training pants coming in the mail and I have cut up some old towels in halves for accidents and got a couple of toileting board books from the library. Wish us luck!