Care and feed

Video: 14-Month Update

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 6:29 pm | By Stephanie Woo

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!

Pincer Grasp

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 11:55 am | By Stephanie Woo

I cooked some teriyaki ribs in the slow cooker and pulled it apart into little long strips. Here is Brooke (8.5 months) practicing her pincer grasp (keep reading below).

The pincer grasp is a sophisticated 2 finger grasp that children generally start working on from between 8-9 months and can become quite good at by 12 months (though some will not master it till they are 18-24 months). It usually starts as a primitive pincer grasp, which looks like this. Notice the flat fingers.

And gradually becomes this.

A true pincer grasp looks like this. The fingers are completely rounded and the fingertips are touching

Some parents never let their babies handle little things, so even when they reach 1.5 -2 years old, their pincer grasp is still primitive. Practice is the only way to improve this very important skill, that eventually allows the child to write with a pencil, use scissors and play the violin.

Food is an excellent way to let your baby practice his pincer grasp. At every meal, always give him something he can eat with his hands. Start out by cutting things into spears that he can grab with his whole hand (a piece of banana sliced vertically down the middle, a spear of apple, asparagus)  then gradually, give him smaller pieces and even slippery things that will slide out of their hand. Under supervision, you can also try non-food items. Give your baby the opportunity to practice!