It's a Big World Baby: Monthly Montessori

Hey there readers. I told myself from now on, each month, or most months, I would order no more than $30 worth of things from the website For Small Hands, (or other AWESOME Montessori websites) I figured it would be a great way to build a great collection of useful things that Audrey would love. So, last month I ordered a broom, watering can, and first glasses set. Audrey found the broom first thing in the morning. It was not even in plain sight, it was by our trash can! I didn't see the package until Audrey was in bed so she did not know about any of these things. She had a blast throughout the day taking out her broom and "sweeping". At first she simply pushed the broom around, which was super cute!! Now, when we spill things during breakfast or lunch while sitting at her table I ask her to help mama sweep so she gets her broom! It's cute!! As for the drinking glasses, they are tiny, but just her size. Audrey never had a sippy cup. She has only drank from open glasses, whatever we were drinking out of, or her Foogo straw thermos. So, I suppose having her own tiny glass was not too big of a change for her. Yes, she did dump the water out on the rug in the kitchen like 3 times. Sure, she hasn't quite figured out how far to tilt the glass back. Honestly, I just let her do her thing and supervise. She has to learn on her own. I let her watch me drink from a glass, but as far as helping her that doesn't really happen. I try to show her that we water spills if we tilt the glass and dumping water out is not good, but that is really about it. She isn't a fan of her little drinking glass yet I think because she doesn't like spilling water on herself and I mean who could blame her for that. We use her glasses once a day, she gets better each time. I know one day it will simply click with her! When papa got home later in the day the two of them went watered the flowers with her new watering can! Carlo said she enjoyed dumping out the water, which is no surprise. Seriously, we can't even leave the puppies water bowl down for 2 seconds in the morning or else it is ALL over the floor. I figured with all the gardening we are doing and the building of our yoga area it would be such a great thing for her to have. We are also starting an organic garden once the yoga area is done. I think we need to tackle one project before starting another! For this month, I am actually thinking about getting her some sandpaper letters because we read those alphabet books. She knows her letters, but I think being able to feel the letter and trace it would re-enforce it even more. I can't wait!!

As for activities, here are those pictures of us playing with the play dough from a while ago. In the end she did wind up eating it, which made me thankful I used blueberries for food coloring and not blue dye. I think she liked the salty taste of it. I mean it was Ocean Salt play dough! Remember to check out this recipe here at Chasing Cheerios. She wasn't too interested but thought poking holes in it was pretty cool. We will do it again for sure. I also did the poetry basket and that was a HUGE hit!!! We have done 2 poems so far and she just LOVES it! I never would have thought a poetry basket would be so....fun with her at this age. It's such a simple and great idea! Once again check out Chasing Cheerios for the poetry basket!