Sippy-less Baby

One of the things *B* and I decided on when thinking about how we were raising Miss F is not to "baby" her too much.  We believe that kids can and will be more responsible than we imagine them to be if we give them opportunity and guidance.  One of the things I had heard about but never seen personally was babies using glasses rather than sippy cups.

We started to introduce a glass at about 6 months.  It just so happened I had some miniature Coca-Cola glasses that were just the right size for her hand.  But we realized that she didn't understand how to tip the glass back to get the liquid near the bottom.  So instead, we gave her a shorter Pyrex measuring cup that looks exactly like a shot glass.

At first, we held it for her.  There was a lot of modeling.  We'd drink and have her watch, then we'd get her to drink.  There was a moderate bit of choking, but we always took it slow.

Then, we seemed to forget about giving her water.  She needed to gain weight (according to the pediatrician), so she just nursed a lot.  But in the last month, we've made a concerted effort to give her a little bit of water after each meal.

At eight months, Miss F spent a lot of time biting the glass.  She clacked her little teeth against the rim.  Good thing it's fairly thick.  I'm not quite sure when, but she's stopped doing that.  

 

She did get good at holding it with just one hand, though we still encouraged her to use two hands.

 

Now, at nine and a half months, Miss F chokes a lot less when she drinks. It's more common for her to suck down most of the water, then sing into the glass.  She also likes to put the bottom of the glass in her mouth.  Obviously, that doesn't facilitate drinking very well.  But I think that she'll get to a point where she drinks more than she plays.

 

I've now started putting her water into a child's pitcher to pour into the shot glass so that she can see how that works.  As she gets older, she will be pouring her own water.

Miss F's Baskets

Sorry about the occasional unfinished posts.  I'm experimenting with scheduled posts, and they don't always work out right.

 

The Down Side of Montessori

*B* and I read Montessori from the Start after a coworker gave it to me as a baby shower gift. We love most of its principles, and were excited to institute them right away when Miss F was born. We made the first mobile for her to use a week or two after she was born.

I've been trying to do more research on Montessori for the under three age range, but I haven't found much. I found Chasing Cheerios, How We Montessori, and Feeding the Soil. For now, it seems I only need to consider mobiles, rattles, and room arrangements. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it's been stressful and frustrating.  I want someone to explain how and when I can implement these things, but usually I'm just pointed to a catalog.  Everything in those catalogs is so expensive.  Luckily, we've been able to make the mobiles.

Miss F's second mobile will be three octahedrons: red, blue, and yellow (gold).  I got mirrored scrapbook paper and this template to make the octahedrons.  I taped the template down to the plastic surrounding the paper, and traced it with a mechanical pencil without the lead.  

 

Then it was easy to fold down the sides.

I still have to decide how I'm going to hang them, but that will be the easy part.

 

The next mobile in the series is a Gobbi mobile.  It should look like this:

 Photo from How We Montessori

Easy, right?  So I thought.  I bought some papier mache ornaments from Michael's.

I also bought some felt because A) five skeins of yarn was expensive and B) I didn't want to have to wind the string around the ball and deal with it getting messed up.  I should have bought the yarn.  The felt ended up squaring off the balls and no amount of trimming made it fit well.

I used double sided tape to put on the felt, so nothing is lost.  I'll just run out and get some yarn.  Maybe I'll find something to knit with the remnants of each skein.

I started to make one more mobile, but it really doesn't fit in with any of the development milestones. 

I might finish it and put it over Miss F's cradle because, though it's not ideal, it's better than the blank wall she stares at now.

Montessori Mobiles

For the past week or so, I've been somewhat concerned that we haven't been helping Miss F's development along.  When she wasn't sleeping or nursing, she was staring off at nothing.  We were given, read, and loved "Montessori from the Start" by Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jensen.  In it, they talk about different mobiles to engage the little one.  *B* is pretty good at creating geometric designs, so we created a mobile.  I started to make one piece, and he took over.

 

He even sketched out his designs before drawing them out.  The mobile doesn't look like anything special from our perspective.

But from Miss F's perspective, there are some interesting designs:

It's amazing how much more engaged Miss F is since we put the mobile up.  She stares at the patterns pretty intently, though for relatively short periods of time.  As she grows, I'll make more mobiles according to her development.

I've been reading more blogs about Montessori methods, namely Chasing Cheerios and How We Montessori.  In some respects, I really like them because they demonstrate activities for young children.  In another way, it's difficult because Miss F is so young that there's not much I can do with her.  I feel like I'm neglecting her, though I spend probably a few hours a day with her in my arms without distractions.  But for now, I think that successful nursing, cloth diapering with minimal leakage, sleeping up to four hours at a shot, and what little I can do to keep her occupied will be sufficient for me.