Maria Montessori

I just spent the morning reading this book:

Maria Montessori by Michael Pollard

As you can see, I picked it up from a library book sale a couple months ago. It's an oldie, published in 1990, but a goodie (goody?) as they say. I'm pretty sure it was geared for children, but it had just the right amount of information in it for me - more than Wikipedia but less than a biography.

The story of Maria Montessori's life is fascinating! I love how the observations, ideas and experiences of one woman have made a huge difference in the way we see our children and how we teach them. She took the road less traveled and it really did make all the difference. I really think someone needs to make a Hollywood movie of her life.

I like the idea of allowing children to direct their learning. I believe that kids have an innate desire to discover. All they need is the opportunity and for adults to get out of the way. I'm also intrigued by Montessori's observations that children have their own desire for order and quiet. Right now, my child does not exhibit those behaviors; she does not clean up after herself and she is rarely quiet. In fact, she is talking or singing all day long. And she doesn't like doing things on her own. She is a typical three-year-old so she definitely likes to be the one to pick out her clothes and put on her glasses, but she does not like to play alone. Maybe it's because she is an only child and can have more/all of my attention? I definitely need to find out what Montessori's trick was.

I have always loved watching children discover new things. Lately, I have been thinking more and more about what Emily's education, both now and in the future, should look like. I definitely want to do more research into the Montessori method and look into homeschooling and un-schooling philosophies. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about my discoveries.

Emily

Things I love about Emily right now:

1) A rooster says "Cock-a-dock-a-doo".

2) When she gets hurt she asks for a "bam-baid".

3) She pronounces the word orange, "orshange".

4) I love it when she giggles. Emily was not a giggly baby. She's always been very generous with smiles, but not especially inclined to giggle. So, I love it when she feels silly and gets the giggles.

5) Emily is still refining her potty skills so she spends most of her time at home bottomless. Yep. No pull-ups, no undies, no pants. And more often than not she is completely naked. The other day I looked over to see her coloring at the table...naked...except for a pair of adult sized fuzzy socks. Awesome sauce.

Sunshine and Roses, Mud and Weeds

I can’t believe I’m starting a blog. I sort of have a love/hate relationship with blogs. I love some of the blog posts I’ve read (I’ll be sure to share those with you another time). Blogs give you a chance to see into a stranger’s life. It’s a great way to keep up with the happenings of friends and family. And if we’re honest, Pinterest would be boring without blogs, and I love me some Pinterest. The thing that I hate about blogs is that it makes people’s lives look like it’s always sunshine and roses. You know what I mean – rooms that are always clean, food that is always pretty, crafts that are always well-crafted, kids that are always clean, pretty AND well-crafted. When I read sunshine-and-roses blogs, all I can see about my life is mud and weeds. I am really bad about comparing my lows to other people’s highs and blogs just make me feel bad about myself. 

For example, a few weeks ago, I was planning meals for the week (a rare occurrence) and I remembered that my dear friend Mary had told me that she had posted some of her family’s favorite recipes on her blog. Mary has been married for a few years, has a two year old boy and a nine month old girl. Her husband has a job downtown, so his work hours plus the commute keep him away from home for almost all of the day. Basically, she has a lot on her plate and things can get stressful. Emily and I play with them at least once a week, usually more like three times a week. Anyway, as I perused Mary’s blog looking for the recipes, I ended up reading a lot of the blog posts. And even though I am well acquainted with the realities of her everyday life, all I could see was sunshine and roses.  Her life seemed so wonderful and she seemed so perfect and I started feeling bad about myself. I was over at her house a few hours later, and her rambunctious little boy was being extra toddlery and the baby was heck-bent on eating grass and then the toddler was hitting and my daughter was screaming bloody murder in his face which of course made him scream and even with two adults there, things were just out of hand. And I realized in that moment that real life always looks nicer on a screen. My friend wasn’t perfect and her life wasn’t always wonderful and I just needed to chill out with my blog guilt.

Yesterday, Robert and I attended a Families Supporting Adoption conference put on by LDS Family Services. During a Q&A panel, an adoptive mother mentioned that she kept a blog so that all the birth parents of her three adopted children could see how their child was doing without have to go through an agency or make a phone call or even have anyone know that they were checking in. Later in the day, a birth mother mentioned that she loved being able to look at a potential adoptive family's blog and see what they were really like. At that moment, I felt prompted by the Spirit to start a blog, if for no other reason than to help a potential birth mother connect with our family, both before and after placement. 

So, in spite of my rocky relationship with blogs, here I am blogging. I’m going to keep it real here. I will definitely be sharing our sunshine and roses, but don't you worry, I won’t leave out the mud and weeds. :)