Last week's shenanigans

We've been spending a lot of time outside lately... OBVIOUSLY... so regular themes/lessons have been put on the back burner. Mommy's been working on a great summer schedule for us that'll allow us PLENTY of outside exploration time along with a very short Montessori lesson. BUT until then, here's what we were up to last week.

Mommy made me a worm habitat. We collected a few worms from the garden and placed them in a jar alternating soil and sand, so we could see their tunnel trails... it was awesome... until Daddy discovered yesterday they were dead... oy. For the record there were holes in the lid.
Mommy decided to clear out some of our toys... we still own them... but weren't playing with them. We now only have one toy per opening on our shelves... this has prompted us to actually play with them... Our new rainbow music that Mommy made a la her frapaccino bottles. :)

Water play begins!

Our strawberries are poppin'. We've gotten at least this many everyday for about a week now from our little garden... AWESOME.

Miss... Chief....

Rachel here. Oh my Reese... how I love her. I love her with all my heart and soul. BUT... sometimes the girl drives me bonkers. :) She's starting to act like a stinker butt once again. If the child has 1 minute of downtime all hell can break loose. She's not a BAD kid, but the child can be super naughty... if that makes sense. Emma Grace is hitting her terrible two's stride with vengeance, and unfortunately Reese can feed into that. It can make for a pretty ugly scene... especially in the evenings... when I attempt to make dinner. If I keep Reese's little hands busy, she's the most amazing child you'd ever lay your eyes on.... easy peasy... except for that whole EG thing. I've never been the mother of a 3.5 year old and a 2 year old at the same time, so we're learning as we go. EG wants to do everything Reese does, and Reese wants to do everything. If Reese is doing something, her hands are busy, she stays out of shenanigans... then I can focus on EG and her constant shenanigans. OY VEY! So my attempted solution... give Reese more freedom/responsibilities. I'm slowly turning each room in the house into a more Montessori/child friendly room... which I won't lie... is super fun and makes me nerdy excited. I'm starting with the kitchen, since most of her downtime is while I'm fixing meals. The idea is to make things accessible to her, so she doesn't need any of my help. "Teach them to do it themselves." Reese will now be responsible for 1) getting her own snack in the morning and afternoon after quiet time, 2) pouring her own juice/milk, 3) setting the table for herself and sister for mealtimes, 4) and I may even have her do some of her own dishes (SHE LOVES TO WASH DISHES... SHE'D BE IN HEAVEN!).

This afternoon I worked on clearing out a couple of drawers for her.

BEFORE

AFTER

Here is the beginning of a shelf for her in the fridge. The basket is for her approved refrigerated snacks, and the green container has her watered down juice in it. My hopes are to get small pitchers for her to use or another container like the green one for milk.My next projects for mealtime independence are making her and Emma Grace place mats that show where each dish/utensil goes (so she can set the table), and I need to create a shelf for her in the pantry of approved non-refrigerated snacks. They have these great containers that have easily clickable flaps for little hands to open... and you can get them at the dollar store to boot! Yay for Reesie growing up and learning... boo for Reesie growing up so quickly.

Prepared environment

Rachel here. Our home is not large by any stretch of the imagination, but I won't lie to you, it's pretty adorable. One of the main ideas in Montessori is everything has a place in order to respect your environment (please remember I'm still learning... A LOT, but we're all really trying to understand this whole process). That's definitely something we struggle with. There is not nearly enough time/space in the day to make sure our home is spotless, and honestly I've given up trying to be perfect. HOWEVER... I'm trying. I'm trying to organize and make sure things are in their proper home before bedtime. One thing I've really tried to work on is the girls' stuff. And by stuff... I mean everything they own. Because our home is two levels, the girls have NO toys in their rooms. Reese has her ponies and Mr. Potato Head up in hers because the pieces are too small for Emma Grace, but in general they are still too young to be out of earshot/eyesight from me while playing. This by default means all toys are downstairs. Oy. This is our main living area... and Emma Grace's playground.

I've taken some nesting baskets we got for Christmas a few years back and turned them into "shelving" for EG's Montessori-like toys. She has more m. toys in that latchable basket and "regular" toys in the trunk in the top picture. She can see what everything is and can reach it on her own, which makes my life a lot easier. Much less grunting around here.
This is her music nook.

And some blocks. Under the blocks are her bracelets (which she is gaga over), and her tub of fabric. I nixed the basket of fabric because she was leaving it all over the place. I instead put them in the babywipe box and made the slits larger, so she could get her hand in it. She LOVES it! She loves putting the fabric in the slot as much as she likes taking it out and playing.

I hoped that by making EG's prepared area, she would stay out of one that I wanted to do for Reese. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't. This shelf used to be in the playroom, then got moved to the garage, and now it's home is in the dining room. The more "dangerous" items are on the top shelf.

We also dragged this out of the garage. It's a sweet little table and chairs a la Nana and Pop. It's Reese's little working spot. She does some of the larger puzzles/projects on the dining room table still, but she LOVES this little work area.

Getting their lives in gear has inspired me to do the same for us. As Reese learns to do more of the practical learning type things, she can begin really cleaning up after herself and putting her belongings where they go, and she'll by default be teaching Emma to do the same. Yay for positive change! :)