• Uncategorized

    Henry’s New Toys

    I’ve often mentioned the process of rotating toys in and out of storage in a Montessori environment to keep the space orderly, decluttered, attractive, inviting, and stimulating. Aside from Discovery Baskets, we don’t use big baskets to corral huge piles of toys. Instead, every item has its own spot on the shelf and we rotate the activities/toys out every couple weeks with items that are stored out of sight. 
    The truth is, I haven’t done much rotating. Matt and I don’t buy a lot of stuff, so by the time I put toys on the three shelves in the living room and the shelf in his bedroom, I
    Read More
  • Uncategorized

    Building a Support Network

    When I was preparing myself for conception before Henry, I was worried about my lack of a solid support network in Houston, since our families are more than a 1,000 miles away in opposite directions, and most of our friends did not have children. I speculated that I would be able to build a network over time, once I joined the neighborhood list-serv for families and started prenatal yoga. 
    And boy did I ever fall into a network! My prenatal yoga class was the most amazing thing. Once a week, we did yoga for an hour and then the instructor served us a vegetarian meal as we sat in a
    Read More
  • Uncategorized

    Toilet Training in Earnest?

    Have you been reading Kylie’s posts about starting toilet learning with Otis who is about a month younger than Henry?
    Around these parts, we definitely starting putting Henry on a baby toilet at a young age (sporadically), but we were never really good about reading his cues and therefore never became Elimination Communication gurus. Now at fifteen months, he mainly wears training pants when we’re home, but they still primarily work like diapers. We try to take him to the toilet at regular intervals, but he only uses the toilet about half the time. We’ve still been putting him in his cloth diapers for naps, traveling, and daycare. 
    I think
    Read More