The Kavanaugh Report

Let's talk about Nora for a minute. There are signs starting to creep in. They don't happen everyday or even every week. They don't all happen at once. But they are there. Signs that things are changing - signs of the second plane of development. See Nora is now just four short months away from turning 6! How is it that my first Montessori from birth baby is already so big?! I don't know. But we are entering new and uncharted waters with her.

In our Montessori home, we use a floor bed with our babies from a pretty young age. Immediately after birth, our babies sleep during the night in a smaller bassinet in our master bedroom, then take naps in their floor bed after a couple weeks. But, for both Gus and Teddy around 3 months we noticed that our close presence was starting to disrupt their sleep patterns. At this point we moved them both to their floor bed for night sleep as well. 

Montessori education is unique because it gives children certain freedoms. These freedoms are the cornerstone of Montessori education. They enable children to be active learners in the classroom and can also be adopted at home to create a Montessori environment. The three most important freedoms found in every Montessori classroom should be: the freedom of movement, the freedom of choice, and the freedom of repetition. 

At 5 months, Teddy is really starting to explore the world around him. Over the last couple weeks, he has gone from rolling occasionally to rolling around in search of things to explore. It's been really fun watching him and seeing which things he finds interesting and engaging. I thought I would share a few of his favorites at 5 months. He has other options available to him which we rotate in, but these are the few that he gravitates towards the most.

Can I let you into a little secret? We've had an art easel for awhile but I had been a bit too afraid to add it to our home so it was a strictly outside material! 😬😳For a long time, we used only for painting outside and then during the winter, it was packed in our shed. The kids can paint inside but only on small sheets of paper at the table. I just wasn't sure we were ready to add the potential mess that was larger scale painting to our home.  But, when we rearranged our playroom, I added the easel to our indoor space. And, I completely underestimated my children and their ability to safely paint without making a giant mess. It honestly hasn't been a big issue, and has led to some fun art exploration in our home. But, the kids love painting outside so much that I know I will move it back once the nice weather returns.  But, a couple tips that have made painting with an easel a bit easier have been: keep the paint and water near the easel so it doesn'...

It's been a hot minute since I've shared any of my bigger kid spaces. Part of that is because Henry typically chooses not to participate in my social media/ blogging activities and part of it is because they just don't look that different from a traditional kid bedroom. 

When I was pregnant with Teddy I came across this fun looking material on Instagram called a flip fingers. Another Montessori family was using it with their infant and I was intrigued. I hadn't personally seen it in a Montessori environment before, but it seemed like a very interesting and engaging material. I didn't think much about it until Christmas came around and my mom asked from some ideas for Teddy. I put the flip fingers on his list and he received it as a gift. 

Yesterday, Henry's school invited parents to come spend the day at school with their kids. I got to spend a few hours at the school working with Henry and talking with other parents. It's a rare opportunity for me to get inside his classroom and I love every opportunity I can get. While I was there Henry was able to plan his morning by freely choosing work from his work plan. I got to see the exciting buzz of his lower elementary classroom. I watched children answer the classroom phone, choose work, problem solve issues, chat and laugh, clean, and learn all within a busy little community. It is such an amazing sight to see children learning in this way, to see Montessori in action in a PUBLIC school.  Sometimes Montessori education is often associated with expensive and exclusive private schools. But, public Montessori schools are a thing! We are fortunate and privileged to live in an area that has several public Montessori options. According to the National Center for...

As human beings our hands are the most amazing tools we have. Yet, at birth, we don't even know that they exist. Slowly over time our brain and body start to become more and more interconnected and we realize not only that we have hands (amazing!) but that they can do some really fantastic things. However, as far as baby milestones go, I think the discovery and use of the hands is particularly underrated in the parenting world. Maria Montessori was very aware of the importance of the hand, and of babies she said, "The first movements of his small hand toward external objects should thus be eagerly awaited."

Concentration has been on my mind a lot lately. Not only because it's a super important Montessori concept, but because there seems to be nothing better than a baby concentrating to attract small children. Seriously, if you want all of your children to come find you at any given moment, just let the baby settle into some work. It's like a moth to the flame. Whenever Theodore starts to deeply work, children come out of the woodwork to try and interact with him.