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!!

Toddler Yoga, Organisation and Fun!

I purchased the book ‘Little Yoga’ by Rebecca Whitford (after seeing it on one of my favourite blogs – An Everyday Story) for Cameron as he really likes imitating whole body movements lately.

It was an instant hit! He asked us to re-read it several times and surprised me with some of the poses he tried.

I have been finding little ‘lists’ and ‘notes’ from Cameron like this one lately. He has become very interested in letters and numbers and the written word.

Cameron adores ‘helping’ me with everyday tasks. I have created this board for him. It is at his level below his clock next to the kitchen.

It has each of our daily tasks with a drawing (poorly drawn, but hey – he guessed them all aside from the table cleaning one) laminated and magnetized so that he can see what we need to do & remove each task as the day progresses.

I am in the process of re-organising everything in our home and changing the playroom in particular to make it more Montessori-inspired. I will post photos when I’m done!

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)

2012!

It seems I took a bit of a break from blogging over the festive season! I can’t believe we are 11 days into 2012 already!

Christmas & Cameron’s 2nd birthday both were amazing and we were left with full bellies and a serious toy overload. I have been trying to re-organise his playroom but it looks as though we will have to take up some space in our spare room for his massive Thomas the Tank Engine collection!

I can’t believe my son is 2! Well, I can, if I look at him and how much of a little boy he is and how far he has come since he was born.

I’m 28.5 weeks pregnant with our daughter and all is going well. I have my first psychologist appointment tomorrow, alongside another doctor appointment. My medication has been increased slightly after several depressive episodes. It feels strange to be battling depression more than anxiety. I have all that I want and yet my mind is my own worst enemy!

Part of Cam’s birthday present from Mike and I was meeting Thomas the Tank engine and friends – at our local railway museum! There was a fun bumpy mini train (on wheels) ride, songs and stories from the Fat Controller, he got to go inside Thomas (and Donald – a new fave) and see various other trains from the books/show. We have been again since and plan to a couple more times before the Thomas set up finishes at the end of the month.

The museum itself is full of awesome, interactive, educational fun with train simulations, science experiments, various themes throughout the year, a playground, a huge model train set up (big with my hubby who is working on his own model train set!), a cinema and tonnes of big trains and information. We got an annual pass – Mike is really looking forward to their annual model train expo later in the year!

We were lucky enough to have a photoshoot with a friend who is getting into photography and is really talented. It was such a lovely shoot and the images are amazing! I’ll do a separate post with a slideshow of some of the images! My belly bump sure is growing! 

We sent off our cultural exchange packages just after Christmas and we received our first package the other day! And from non-other than Rachael herself from Little Red Farm (who set up the cultural exchange and has a post about the contents of her parcels here)

I honestly wasn’t too sure about Cameron’s interest level on the packages at this age but I was pleasantly surprised! I should have known, Cam loves flags, money and little novelty items. He immediately loved the flag and we talked to him about it coming from somewhere far away from a little boy who is two like him (he’s very facinated about being ‘two’).

His favourite things were the soccer items and the chocolate money. Now he sees the real coins and asks for chocolate I loved the idea of making the postbox and we will soon. All of the information was so detailed and great to read! I’m so glad we participated in the exchange and hope that the recipients of our package enjoy their parcels!

 

Racheous

Montessori Cylinders – mini set

YAY! We got our mini wooden Montessori cylinder sets this morning! I’m very pleased with the quality for the price. We got them off ebay from this store.

Cameron was excited because he had just seen Tyler using them on Jen’s “Peaceful Parenting” blog.

I can already tell that these will be a favourite on our shelves!

This picture shows how each set varies in height and diameter. The set that only varies in diameter is definitely the easiest for Cameron.

He kept saying “I did it!” when he fit each piece in it’s correct spot. This is our first semi-proper Montessori material (we have sandpaper letters and a moveable alphabet but we are yet to use them very much).

This set is perfect for the cost- and space-conserving mama.

‘Bud’ is a….

As you may have seen on my 20 week pregnancy vlog, Bud = Rosebud

Keeping Busy

With the hubby away every evening doing Tafe work (gaining more qualifications and endorsements for his trade), Cameron and I have been keeping busy.

Aside from the usual hum of the day, from caring for pets, to singing and reading or outdoor play, we have filled our days with new engaging activities.

We went back to our local nature centre. Last time we went there Cammy was quite a bit younger. This time it was such a more interactive experience. It’s so great to have ‘real’ experiences like this; so much more is absorbed by a toddler when they can see/smell/hear/touch things up close!

Cameron even learnt some new words (goana and wallaby amongst others) and loved the big lazy sleeping wombats and the noisy dirty pigs. We will definitely have to return one day soon.

We brought some new shelving for Cam’s playroom. Now I feel much more organised with a place for everything and everything in it’s place. The bottom two cubes on the left even have Bud’s things ready for him/her.

It has been HOT here lately too so we popped down to our closest water park to cool down the other day. Cameron really got into it this time and got soaked & played for ages.

I posted a couple of short, cute clips of Cammy being his adorable self up on my Youtube channel. I plan on doing a gender reveal video and pregnancy vlog this weekend.

Cam loves interacting with my bump & Bud.

ther excitement has been my sisters new puppy! My nephews birthday is coming up and Cam’s Aunty Vicki got a bulldog x for him. She is only 8 weeks old and very sweet.

We have still been playing with the water beads frequently but the other day I switched things up and added paint (watered down, non-toxic acrylics) and paper and invited Cam to go wild bouncing, squeezing, rolling and painting with the water beads. This was a hit!

This afternoon after Cameron’s sleep we went to the lakes armed with some bread to feed ducks. This was such a relaxing experience and we got to see some other critters (turtles, lizards, native birds, fish and an eel!) too.

Only 2 sleeps until I get to see ‘Bud’. I’m nervous and excited… I just can’t wait. Here’s to hoping time goes fast!

Activities – 21 Months (Photos)

From the top:

Impromptu tiny block towers. Cameron decided to use the coloured blocks from a sorting activity to build tiny towers. Very cute and great fine motor work.

Tonging transfer (corks). This is a great step up from tonging pom poms as it requires wrist rotation to orientate the tongs to get the corks facing different directions.

Letter and shape recognition. I drew the letters and shapes that he knew at the time in white beeswax crayon and gave him watercolour paint to reveal the ‘hidden’ messages.

Planting seeds. This was a hit with all the littlies at Montessori playgroup! They planted broad bean seeds which are ideal as they sprout super quickly and are easy to see.

Ripping paper. He loved ripping the tissue paper to make his Grandma a sun catcher. Nudity optional

Ocean themed, different coloured items (one-to-one transfer) sorting in muffin tin. I bought a whole heap of these pebbles from the pet section at my local discount store for only $2. Cameron has well and truly entered the sensitive period for order and really enjoys categorising items. (I’ve found him lining toys up lately too).

Introduction to funnel work. He wasn’t keen on the funnel. I think I need to get a narrow-necked vase to demonstrate how a funnel helps. I coloured the water for interest.

Colour sorting stacker. Self explanatory and fun for Cameron as it is easy for him.

——————

I’m currently waiting for my copy of the book Montessori at Home (I purchased a hard copy. It is very affordable!) which will hopefully mean you will see many more activities and ideas on my blog. I’m a bit excited.

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!

Sunshine, Helicopters & My Belly

Amber necklace from Mumma Rocks thanks to a beautiful friend

Spring has well and truly hit and with temperatures of close to 30 degrees on some days we have been enjoying some fun in the sun at our local water park.

Speaking of fun in the sun, we are going on a little holiday up the coast with Mike’s family next weekend. We are really looking forward to the break!

Two helicopters used our local lake to fill up with water to put out a nearby fire. Cameron was so excited and it was such a neat opportunity for him to see them up close!

I’m 12 weeks pregnant and the nausea is subsiding (lucky!). I’m showing so much although it is yet to feel real. I have my scan on Monday and my first antenatal appointment on Thursday.

I’ll update after the scan!