Chopsticks and Pom Poms

Today I set Pooks up with some pom poms, a bowl and some kids chopsticks.  I showed her how to pick them up and put them into the bowl.  This is the third time we have done this.  At first I thought it was too difficult but today she did several the "correct" way.   She was so pleased with herself when she picked up all by herself.

She also worked on the latch board, the ball banger, and scooping beans from one bowl to the other, which turned into pouring the beans from one to the other.

It was really neat today when I told her to go sit on the mat and she did.  Then I asked her not to touch something while I got another bowl and you could see she REALLY wanted to but she stopped herself.  

Montessori Shelf

Since Pookie has never slept in her room I decided to put away the crib and turn it into a Montessori-inspired room.  So far all I have is a shelf.  We bought a table for it but I decided to use it in our dining room instead.  

Here is her shelf.  We got it on craigslist for $25!  It is perfect.  I have set up some of her more "Montessori" toys.   She really enjoys taking the toys down and setting them down on her mat.  She also seems to take a lot of pride in putting them away... most of the time! 

I want to set up an art corner and have her markers and paper accessible as well as her playdough.  Eventually I would like to get her an easel but right now she is way too short for any of the none plastic ones I have seen.

Our EC Story

 Today Pooks and I went to the mall.  I put her in a diaper but I could of taken her in underwear.  I took her to the washroom after we had been there for a while and she peed in the huge public toilet.  A few months ago she would go near those big toilets but now she will happily go on it.  I think I will start taking her out in underwear with waterproof pants overtop.  I find she knows the difference between underwear and diapers, so it seems like it is pretty important to keep her in underwear as much as possible.  I am really hopeful she will be totally diaper-free in the day by the time she is 2.  My goal has always been to have her potty learned by the time we have another baby.  

She is around 8 months in the above picture.  At this point she was going quite frequently on the toilet.  She seemed to prefer the potty insert. The way I approached it (we were "late" starters at 7 months), was to put her on the potty when she woke up from sleeping, or anytime I thought I could get her to sit there.  I tried to catch one pee a day.  While she peed I would say "You are going pee pee".  Sometimes I would catch no pees and I felt so discouraged.    Eventually she started to make the connection and would release her bladder if it was full when she was on the toilet.  I just kept up-ing the amount of pee's I tried to catch.  I remember it was Boxing Day when I caught the first poo, and something really must of clicked because since that day I have probably only cleaned about 10 poopy diapers.  Things just got easier and easier.  The best thing I did was to stop putting so much pressure on myself, and not aim to be "perfect".  Once I did that we became so much more successful.  

My first entry

I was inspired to start a blog after finding "Chasing Cheerios".  I love reading her blog, and thought it would be fun to start my own.  My daughter "Pookie" is now almost 18 months.  While pregnant with her I did a lot of reading over at mothering.com and my eyes were opened to natural parenting, which I knew was right for us.  We hardly used a stroller in the first year, instead we used various baby carriers, which she still enjoys riding in.  We co-sleep which I love.  I am planning to let her self-wean from breastfeeding when the time is right.  We had such a hard start.  It was extremely painful for the first couple of months, but we stuck with it and it has been wonderful every since.  

Elimination Communication 

When Pooks was 7 months I was so fed up with her horrible diaper rash.  We mostly used cloth, and changing to disposables didn't help.  I had read about elimination communication before but thought it was only for really crazy hippies, so I never considered doing it.  With the diaper rash being so bad I knew she needed more diaperfree time.  I decided to give "EC" a whirl.  It was really frustrating that first month.  I didn't try very hard and it was next to impossible to get her to pee on the potty.  Then something changed and suddenly she started peeing on it when she would wake up.   We did the sign for potty and by 1 year she would sign "potty" when she needed to go... some of the time.  In the summer we really slacked because we were so out of schedule, but once September came around I decided to put her in undies during the day.  We had a few accidents the first week, but since then she has been so amazing.  If we are home all day, or just go to the play centre she is in the same underwear come bedtime.  The first time I took her out in underwear was a little stressful but now I can safely take her out for short errands.   She has 5 squat potties around the house and is really good at using them.  For the record you can get ones just like the Baby Bjorn little potty for $2.99 at IKEA!  She is able to pull her pants down now so we are definitely entering a new phase.  It will be interesting to EC our next (and last) baby from birth!  Here she is at the free Play Center, not that you can see but she is in underwear. 

Thoughts on Toys

Before Everly was born I never put much thought into toys.  I knew I didn't like some... like toy guns.  Now after doing lots of reading I have a different perspective.  First of all I really don't want to have a huge amount.  Luckily I am pretty frugal (to a fault my husband complains), so we don't buy her much.  Sometimes I see something I just have to get her.  I recently bought her the Melissa and Doug Latch Board, which she really enjoys, and JJ (my husband) got her a wooden pull toy from Plan Toys.  I try to keep as many of her toys made from wood as possible.  Most of the plastic ones are hand-me-downs.  Before Pookie I didn't even realize plastics were bad.  We only have one toy that I can think of that is battery operated and it plays music.  I have avoided toys with all the whistle's and bells.  I guess I want toys that stimulate her creativity and curiosity.

 I am hoping excited that this blog will inspire me to take pictures of our daily lives.  I think tomorrow I will post about our Montessori-inspired home.