Some of what we have been up to

Sending off packages for the cultural exchange:
Mike made a Montessori object permanence box for Lucy:

She loves it. She concentrates so hard!

Lucy has been exploring a variety of treasure baskets with all kinds of goodies. Pants optional

Cam’s shelves at the moment:

Cameron started a Montessori-inspired kindy once a week and is loving it:

Mike also made a pull up bar for Lucy. She is pulling up to stand on everything but this is just a tad too high at the moment:

We have been doing endless activities. Cameron is at the point now where his attention span is really growing and he asks for activities often. He is loving everything Christmas related. Here he is sorting pom poms by size.

He is loving puzzles at the moment and is constantly repeating them. We have definitely found the learning sweet spot!

Matching alphabet bean bags to sandpaper letters. The letters here are the only ones he knows by name (some by phoneme) consistently. He isn’t very interested in letters at this point.

These 10-piece number puzzles (from 3 Dinosaurs printables & 2 Teaching Mommies printables – we are using some of the Christmas ones at the moment) are a massive hit at the moment. They are done several times a day.

All in all we are keeping busy and doing well. Cameron is 3 at the end of the month and Lucy is now 8 months old.

Lucy is clapping and vocalising a lot. She loves music and bops along to everything. She still has no teeth (Cam had teeth at 5.5 months! – he was working on his 7th and 8th teeth by now ) but boy can she eat!

Cameron has adjusted so well to kindy. Next year he will be doing two 5 hour days in the preschool room.

I hope to update after Christmas with my birthday plans for Cam.

Head over to Kylie’s blog How We Montessori (my all time favourite blog – a must read for Montessori mamas and non-Monte mums alike) for my review of the eco-friendly Glob paint kit.

More Space Updates, Activities and 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.

Our Evolving Spaces

We were going to be moving but Mike’s job wasn’t the right fit for our family; which was so disappointing. And as a result I really felt like I was stuck in a rut with this house. We have rented this house for over three and a half years now and have accumulated too much stuff. Everything felt cluttered and disorganised.

So, I have been simplifying and re-organising every room (still have much to go!) and trying to create more Montessori-inspired spaces.

We switched the play and living rooms so that the play areas are on tiles. This has freed up lots of space because I also pushed our dining table against the wall where the 6ft fish tank was (it’s now in the living room).

The space above has had a few changes and more to come. I finally found some appropriate sized glasses for Cam (he had grown out of the espresso one’s that I purchased after he grew out of shot glasses) and bought some proper smaller bowls and plates for him (up until now he has had plastic ones). Cam now sorts his cutlery and puts away his own dishes from the dishwasher. He loves sorting our cutlery too now and puts them all away while I put away the rest. We also purchased another step for him (Ikea 2 step stool) so that one can be out here and the other in the bathroom.

These smaller shelves now hold our instruments and Lucy’s toys are on the bottom shelves. The black box at the top is full of her other toys. The light table is to the right for now and (not pictured) I have bought a coffee table with a shelf under it to hold his sensory tub (which is currently space themed with mini rockets, rocks, homemade moonsand and various scoops/cups/tweezers/etc).

Here are Cam’s shelves. The top four are storage (mostly art supplies and practical life activity items). His 12 shelves hold his dough & materials, collage/gluing/stickers box, cutting practice tray, nature basket, puzzles, more puzzles, Montessori cylinders and sandpaper letters, a blank spot which will house his nesting boxes which are on their way, his farm & animals, some duplo, play silks and play foods.

Cam is just about ready, I think, to start using regular kids scissors. He has truly mastered these beginner ones.

This box gets a lot of use. Not all of the art supplies fit in the boxes up the top of these shelves; I’m only storing the things we use regularly (different types of paints/mark makers/stamps/papers/contact paper/etc). The rest is now neatly stored in a chest of drawers in our spare room.

I’ve added more helpful things for Cam as his abilities & interests have evolved (i.e. a laundry hamper, writing materials, appropriately sized soap to wash himself before I thoroughly clean him, etc)

Cam asked to do all four mini-cylinders at once. It was a bit too challenging & asked for help after finishing a little over half the pieces, but he put them back on their shelf without prompting. I am going to need to purchase a smaller work mat for him, he can’t roll this one independently & I’m going to try to get him using one now. Up until now I have only used it with him a handful of times.

Lucy is loving batting at toys and likes this handmade organic crocheted rattle (from etsy) for grasping practice.

Stay tuned for more. Please feel free to ask questions and/or make suggestions!!