Stream of Consciousness Post about Montessori, The Kid's Development, And Moving

Saturday was a crazy day. We went everywhere. We were in and out of the car like crazy. All in anticipation of a rain storm that never happened. But we were able to pick up a lot of new tools and supplies for our Montessori-fying the apartment quest. Between a 'liquidation sale' on the edge of DC's bad side, Ikea and Home Depot, we were able to get some serious deals on some makeshift Montessori stuff.

The most important thing we purchased this weekend was by far the kid-sized table and chairs from Ikea. The kids are loving it so far. Saturday and Sunday were both full of test driving some of the new stuff. I'm starting to feel more confident that this idea is going to work.

And in order to facilitate the New World Order in our family routine, I've kicked off a mad Ebay/Craigslist sell-athon. With the move to NYC fast approaching, we've been meaning to downsize anyway, and the sooner it happens, the better, I think, because this belly isn't getting easier to deal with.

Speaking of which, I have got the worst heartburn in the history of the world. It is bad. It starts around 4 o'clock and doesn't let up. Doesn't matter what I eat. Doesn't matter how I sit or sleep. There's nothing I can do but deal with it and pop the Tums like candy.

Mission 1 with Karol is going to be teaching her some preliminary skills - basically teaching her the Montessori Method procedure for approaching (school) work. This is stuff like, how to get out and unroll your mat before you start an activity, putting an activity away before taking out a new one, carrying trays properly so things don't topple, etc, etc. She's very quickly picking up on practical life skills like pouring water or milk from a pitcher into a cup. She and Patrick are both drinking out of a regular cup at dinner time (teeny tiny ones). They are also obsessed with tasks like handwashing and teethbrushing because it means they get to stand at the sink and 'play' with water.

Patrick's big lessons are going to be things like stacking blocks, nesting blocks, and beginning to learn to count. He's in an amazing language boom right now, picking up words faster than I can keep track. Just this weekend he probably said five or six words we hadn't heard him say before, completely out of the blue.

He's starting to show an interest in the potty too, although it'll be a while before he is even tall enough to sit on the training potty. He totally gets that the word 'pee' is associated with it (that's one of his new words!) and likes to pretend-pee by sitting on the edge of the potty and bouncing.

Speaking of bouncing - Patrick has a hilarious morning ritual. Typically Karol will wake up and be talking to herself or calling for Mommy or Daddy in the morning when Matt and I walk in. Inevitably we hear a bright "Good morning, Mommy/Daddy!" from Karol and Patrick starts jumping/bouncing on his bed, with a smile from ear to ear like he's so thrilled to be starting a new day. It really is a great way to start the day and puts a smile on my face every time.

Meanwhile, on the apartment hunting front, Matt is scouring the market for the (probably impossible) perfect apartment. It's almost hilarious that he's trying to find an apartment that would be cheap even here in the most expensive neighborhood in Manhattan. I have a feeling we'll be living in a shoe box at this rate. Which brings me back to the need for downsizing our stuff.

So far I haven't had a whole lot of success, but this is just the end of Day 1, really. Still, when I posted like 8 things on Craigslist this morning, I was hoping to have at least 1 less thing by the end of the day. Although there have been a couple of bites, nothing solid yet.

And books! We've got more books than the closest branch of the public library, I think. I looked into donating them to the library today, and - it figures - they just had one of their bi-annual book sales and therefore aren't taking new donations until May 10 or so, so I have to stare at these boxes that much longer, I guess.

My next downsizing task - which I plan to attack as soon as I'm done with this post, since Matt's at school until late tonight - is the White Thing. Really it's a white Rubbermaid rolling 3-drawer filing tower that I've had since college. But we've always just called it the White Thing. And now it's in our bathroom. Pretty soon it will be empty. It's already for sale on Craigslist, although Matt thinks it'll probably have to be given away (guess I'm okay with that), but it's worth at least a shot at selling it. I'm checking my email like mad, just to see if there are any new takers on our unwanted stuff...ugh.

My Son's Amazing Motor Skills

So for a little distraction/treat, we went out to eat tonight at the Cheesecake Factory. Since I didn't think to bring sippy cups, the kids got milk in cups with lids. Karol rocked the cup with a straw, but Patrick practically poured it down his shirt. It's hard to mentally switch from sippy cup - where you tilt the cup up - to straw - where you keep the cup down.

So Matt asked the waiter for a small glass or plastic glass, like a shot glass. You see, Patrick has pretty much mastered drinking from a cup - taught Montessori style. Check it out:

Yes, I was totally paranoid he would drop the glass and break it. But I think he does this very well. In fact, he's better at it than Karol is right now, I think because 1) we started teaching him the skill at the right time, when he was mentally prepared to learn it, and 2) he's generally a rock star at gross and fine motor skills.

When it comes to climbing, using a spoon and fork, etc. he's doing the same things as Karol. Since Patrick apparently didn't get the super-cautious gene that Karol did, he usually is doing more running, jumping and climbing than Princess Karol is.

Karol's Development Right on Target...

I just finished reading through a Baby Center update on where Karol should be right now. Developmentally, that is.

"As your toddler becomes more self-aware, he'll likely want to do more things for himself. Setting limits is important, of course, but you can let your toddler take the lead sometimes, like choosing which clothes to wear (even if it means he leaves the house in mismatched colors), wetting the toothbrush, or turning the bathroom light on or off. By encouraging his independence now, you'll help your toddler grow into a confident preschooler down the road."

For Karol, she's definitely picking a lot of her own outfits (which is fine except when she wants to wear a winter sweater in July), feeding herself with a fork and spoon, and did I mention she can work the DVD player all by herself? I swear I'm not a TV-is-the-babysitter parent, but Karol's trying to convince me to be.

"Now that your toddler can communicate using both words and gestures, you can expect him to become quite bossy. Mostly he's experimenting with how his ability to communicate affects the people around him. Some children go through a standoffish phase around this age. They have many feelings but they can't always express them with words."

Karol's taken to pushing away peers. She must need her personal space. She does this to Sarah during the day and I've even seen her do it to children on the playground. I'm a little worried that she's exhibiting (her mother's) anti-social behavior, but I guess maybe it's too early to tell. If her kindergarten teacher wants to hold her back for being anti-social, I guess we'll know. On the flip side...

"Your toddler may delight you and a few other special people in his life by showering you with affection. He will freely hug and kiss you, and (usually) come to you when called. He doesn't totally understand what it means to cooperate, but he recognizes that it makes you happy when he does. He may even be willing to help with some chores, such as putting away books and toys when you suggest it."

Karol has started showing affection to Patrick, especially, and to Daddy and Mommy as well. She's wonderful at saying "I luff you too!" Patrick loves to collect his 'sissy kissies' and he's a great hugger, so every once in a while I convince them to get together for a hug and smootch.