My parents left at Week 5, thank you so much mum and dad for all your help :-* This was the month we settled down into our rhythms and routines as a family of 3. Some Montessori reminders we followed:
- Do not disturb while she is concentrating.
- She spent majority of her awake time on the floor/ tummy.
- We connected during personal cares.
- She enjoyed tummy time every time she woke up from sleep, about 4-5 times a day.
- I feed her on demand. Montessori point of view is that it shapes the perception of the child for what the world is and how their needs will continue to be meet (defines if they become optimistic or pessimistic in life).
- No use of pacifiers as it teaches the child oral gratification, that is food is solution to all discomfort and leads to binge eating as adults. Probably the hardest thing for me was to not give her a pacifier. Week 6 being the hardest where she cluster feed for hours at end every day and spewed out most of it anyways! In hindsight it was worth it cause her language development/ babbling is amusing!
- Minimal or no use of containers, such as swings, walkers, rockers etc. We do use baby wearing for day sleeps and pram for walks.
Highlights
- Babbles- Anika started babbling at week 6 and we spent majority of time during caregiving ‘talking’. She would often stop suddenly while feeding, smile, chat for a bit and go back to feeding. Using the same sounds as she would use “aghe” being the favourite got me lots of babbles back. I know many Montessorians believe that child language should not be used but this is what she enjoyed the most and I followed her lead.
Anika was up usually 3-4 times in a day for an hour and a bit each time. We divided this as:
PS- Anika disliked bath time in her baby bathtub. So we use the adult bath tub filled 2 inches of water, use a thick towel underneath for support and a small cloth on top to keep her warm. From feeling constricted and controlled in the small bath to splashing, wriggling and loving bath time now. I could not recommend this set-up enough. Thank you Kylie@howwemontessori.com
Materials that we have loved