Video: 14-Month Update
Hello Moms, Dads and Montessorians!
Sorry I ‘ve been remiss in updating my blog. Why? Well, I’ve been spending my free time writing a book! Or a booklet, rather. Moms don’t have time to read, as I can attest, so the shorter the book, the better. With that in mind, I’m writing a short, but hopefully thorough, book on raising your child the first year the Montessori Way. I’ve written most of it, but it still needs editing. Watch out – it’ll be coming soon!
Meanwhile, I have so many photos, videos and stories about B and M from the last two months, I don’t even know where to begin!
The girls are now 14 months old – walking, talking and so much more grown up than the last time you heard about them.
Brooke has become a pro at using the spoon. She can eat entire bowls of oatmeal, yogurt or rice by herself. All those months of letting her feed herself (and the endless cleaning up that went along with it) is finally starting to pay off! A couple days ago, I decided to up the ante and give her some cereal and milk to eat on her own. It takes a lot of concentration and hand-eye coordination for a child to do this – but both of them love fishing out those one or two O’s with their spoon. They would eat cereal with milk all day long if Mama would let them!
In other news, Mackenzie is absolutely in love with the harmonica. I bought this when they turned one and Mackenzie immediately started blowing on it, but very lightly at first. In the last two months, she’s taken it to new levels. Here’s a little excerpt from my little traveling harmonica player. And I recommend it as a great instrument for little ones to make music!
What should I do when all my child wants to do is drop the spoon and grab the oatmeal or whatever the food is with their fingers? Should I maybe have my own bowl of oatmeal at the same time to model for them?
That's an excellent idea, Blair. I always model eating for my children – we eat together at their little table during breakfast and lunch and then we all eat together at the adult table at dinner (they sit in their Stokke Tripp-Trapp high chair). I try to model as many good table manners as I can and it's easy when we are at dinner with Dad, so I can say things like, "Can you hand me some more vegetables, please? Thank you." Also, if they want to grab food with their fingers, just let them, and meanwhile, keep demonstrating eating with a spoon. They want to imitate adults, so the day will come when they just want to use the spoon and you can't wrestle it out of their little fingers!