It’s official! My Munchkin has turned two. So does that mean I need to prepare for the terrible twos everyone talks about? Well, we’ll find out.

Unlike her first birthday, which we spent with a small family get-together, we were travelling on her second birthday. We, however, planned it in a way that we took her to the zoo on her birthday and what a great decision it was!

Time at the Zoo

My Munchkin has been to a local zoo earlier when she was much smaller then. She did enjoy it then as well but this time around was different. She recognized most of the animals and hence could enjoy the experience a lot more. You could actually see the joy when she was seeing the animal in real as compared to just seeing the pictures. In Montessori, we believe in giving real experiences to the child and it is at times like this where I truly understand how effective that is.

It was a long day but we did not feel it as My Munchkin was up and about all the time. We are definitely doing Zoo trips more often once back home.

Flight Experience

Although this wasn’t her first flight but it was a long one compared to the one she has done earlier so we were a little apprehensive. We planned the entire journey and took some travel activities for her to make sure she was busy on flight. It was a fairly good experience though and went by pretty easily. I will put up a detailed blog on the activities I made for the trip.

Terrible Twos

Most people dread this age and it’s always talked about as the terrible twos. There was a lovely post I shared sometime back that explains it really well, you can read it below:

https://www.facebook.com/munchkindiaries/posts/523506878048495

Very simply put, Munchkins this age are going through developmental changes and hence what we call tantrums are often frustration for them not being able to express themselves, for us not letting them try doing things themselves, for a “NO” we tell them for most things and so on..

Personally, we haven’t felt it so far and hoping that we would not in the future as well. Have you experience what they call as the ‘terrible twos’?

So we completed two months, she’s settled into her own house (remember I mentioned we were at my mother’s house) and we got her head shaved too (she took it pretty well).

Now is where the action starts! What do I mean?

Siyana’s enjoying every bit of her movement; she is able to grasp things with her hands and started tummy time too. I’m going to cover this and more today.

Tummy Time

She is now in her third month and we make sure we allow her a certain amount of tummy time each day (just turning her over from her back to her tummy). She is already able to hold her head up without help when on her stomach. Once tired, she simply puts her head down. We give her about 10 to 15 minutes tummy time at a stretch (unless she gets uncomfortable before that).

She loves being on her tummy as she gets to see a lot more of her surroundings on her own. You can actually see the sparkle and curiosity in her eyes. Tummy time helps strengthen the back and neck muscles and also aids in development for crawling. Some babies may not enjoy it this early and some may even start earlier – you will have to try and see when your baby is comfortable with this and start then.

So, these are my Hands? Interesting! Let’s see what I can do with them.

Do you think that the first time your baby used their hands to hold something is important? Would it be just as important as turning over, sitting up, crawling, etc.

We do not realize the importance of the use of hands in children. Maria Montessori says, “The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.” The hands play a very important role in a child’s development, assisting them to reach their potential. When each child starts using their hands, is different but every child will use their hands (and tongues) to explore their environment. Keep a look out on when your baby begins to discover their hands; a few things I noted with my munchkin were:

·Holding my hair when I breastfed her, sometimes even my clothes.

·Grasping the blanket we used to cover her.

·Consciously holding on to our finger when we gave it to her.

·Holding on tight to a plastic bag kept close to her.

·Beginning to put her hand into her mouth.

The interlocking discs are recommended to use for infants once they start grasping things. They are helped to develop wrist movement and lead them to voluntary grasping. They are light in weight so easy for the baby to lift up when ready. They tend to use it as a teether as well later on and once a little older transfer it from one hand to the other, roll it and so on.

It was a little difficult to find this in India and as an alternate I used a simple wooden bangle I had which was light in weight and easy for her to grasp on to.

You could also additionally give them a napkin to hold, they enjoy doing that too. I avoided using the regular rattlers as they are very noisy for this age (apart from being non-Montessori)

The Gobbi Mobile

This next Mobile is the visual series and comes after the Octahedron. It’s normally introduced around 8 to 10 weeks. These are made up of 5 or 7 balls in shades of one colour e.g. shades of green. The longest side will be the darkest shade and the shortest side is the lightest shade of the colour being used. The thread used to hang this should also be the same colour as used in the Mobile. This, like the others, benefits in visual development.

Language

I’ve highlighted the importance of language and talking to an infant in one of my previous articles as well. Babies being to communicate right from birth (rather before that) and it is imperative for us to provide them with a rich environment for language. We must speak to them just like we speak to others and not baby talk.

An excerpt from The Joyful Child, “In the first days, months, and the first year of life the infant is especially interested in the sound of the human voice and in watching the face and lips of a speaking person. It is not an accident that the focusing distance of the eyes of a newborn are exactly the space between his face and that of the mother while nursing. Perhaps the best first communication experiences are provided while nursing the baby.
We can feed the child's intense interest in language, and prepare for later spoken language, by speaking clearly, not using "baby talk", by not raising our voice to an unnatural pitch often reserved for speaking to pets, and not oversimplifying language in the presence of the child.”

Do you baby talk? How do you encourage language development for your baby?

It’s already been 5 weeks since Siyana came into our lives and we love every moment of it. No matter how much to try to learn during your pregnancy and get all the information from people and by reading up, you will still come across so many new things.

Each child is different and special in its own way and so there is no fixed way of doing things. Observation is one of the ‘keys’ of Montessori – observe every movement of your child. It is through this observation that you understand what your baby enjoys doing and what skills she’s developing.

Follow the Child

“Follow the child, they will show you what they need to do, what they need to develop in themselves and what area they need to be challenged in. The aim of the children who persevere in their work with an object is certainly not to “learn”; they are drawn to it by the needs of their inner life, which must be recognized and developed by its means.” – Maria Montessori

You must wonder but my baby has just begun Month 2! From birth itself, we must observe our babies movements/follow their movement so that we understand what their preferences are, what makes them feel secure, what they are interested in for their development. Yes, observing them shows you each of these and more.

For Month 2, observing Siyana has shown me a few things:

        - I mostly need to feed her on demand (no 2 hour wait period as recommended).

        - Letting her stretch when she wakes up. Oh how she loves stretching! And she needs a good 5-7                         minutes to do that when she wakes up.

        - Carrying her and comforting her when she needs to. Contrary to beliefs, I carry her a lot and when she            needs and I did not have a problem later of her being habituated to me carrying her. In fact, she                      prefers being left down now and only wants me to carry her when she needs to be comforted.                      Children need to feel secure and loved at this age, we can discipline them later on as well.

         - Keeping her hands and legs free for movement. I swaddle her very rarely and avoid using mittens too.

         - Talking to her – she enjoys when we speak to her.

As you see, its very simple things at this stage but every child may have a different liking and that is what you should make a note of.

The Octahedron Mobile

After the Munari Mobile, we can introduce the Octahedron Mobile around 6-8 weeks (towards end of Month 2). You will notice that your baby now begins to follow a voice when he hears on, especially yours. Also, there is a lot more movement in them as well, so this becomes a good time to bring in the Octahedron.

The Octahedron Mobile is extremely simple. It is 3 Octahedron shapes in primary colours (red, blue and yellow). It is made with craft paper and so is light when allow it to move in the air. This mobile helps an infant in visual development, concentration skills and introduces them to colour as well.

Do you want to make an Octahedron Mobile for your baby? It is very simple to make yourself and you can follow this DIY link for it.

Did you make the Octaderon? How did your baby enjoy it? I would love to hear about it.

Today, I would like to discuss two important aspects of a newborn in a family. This would be involvement (of the child as a family member) and concentration.

Both these play an important role in the Montessori pedagogy. From birth, we must make sure we involve the child into our family and give them their place as an individual member. Additionally, we must do all it takes to foster concentration and this helps the child later in developing to their full potential/capabilities.

Involvement of a Newborn in the family

Should we involve a Newborn into everything we do at home? Or should we let them be safe in their cot?

Dr. Montessori said, "The needs of a newborn child are not those of one who is sick but of one who is striving to adjust oneself physically and psychologically to new and strange surroundings."

Montessori recognizes a newborn as a full human being deserving all the love and respect that any other human should get. Simply put, they should be a part of the family like everyone else.

A few things we did to involve Siyana were:

· When we had our meals, we would make sure she near the dining table (if she was awake) to be able to watch what we were doing.

· We read to her a lot.

· She spent a lot of her awake time during the day on the mat close to where I was working.

· We did not confine her to the room where her cot was. She spent some time in every part of the house.

Concentration in Babies – Does that even happen?

Absolutely! Have you ever seen a baby lost in thought and we disrupt them? They are not dreaming, they are concentrating.

Concentration in children is an extremely important topic in Montessori.  In the words of Dr. Montessori, “The first essential for the child’s development is concentration. The child who concentrates is immensely happy.

Instead of disrupting them, we should try and facilitate them so they can concentrate even further. This basically would help in developing their concentration in the future. Some of the things we can do is:

1) Provide them with a calm environment that does not include noisy, flashy toys. Always remember that less is more!

2) Let your child concentrate for however long they need. This is very difficult, as we never have time. We are always in a rush because there is so much to do and such little time! But we must wait. If you are in the park and notice your baby looking at something, please let them be. Do not disturb them as they are focusing and concentrating on something, which is important for their development.

Dr. Montessori in this regard quoted, "Adults can hinder this inner toil when they rudely interrupt a child's reflection or try to distract him. They take the tiny hand of a child, or kiss him, or try to make him go to sleep without taking into account his peculiar psychic development."

3) Maintain eye contact when talking. Babies watch and listen when we speak to them. They watch they way our lips move, our expressions and so we should try to keep eye contact with them for as long as they are watching us. I loved doing this as it gave me a chance to look at my baby more and watch her movements. But keep in mind, not to disturb them, which includes not even kissing them no matter how bad you want to.

This is in continuation to last week’s write up because there is just so much to do and learn when a baby is born! Believe me, you are learning something new practically everyday and it is such an amazing experience.

Last week, we discussed the basic essentials needed for the baby in the house.

This week it is more related to what all we can do and should avoid to do.

Sleeping at Night

"The newborn simply does not have any experience of night and day and takes a certain time to enter this solar routine. The child must experience this difference for a certain amount of time before the problem is naturally corrected." - Dr. Montanaro.

From the beginning, I wanted to try my best to make sure Siyana did not keep me up all night. I had heard so many stories of how children kept their parents up all night and that was a big worry for me. I understood the fact that she needed to realize the difference between night and day. She adapted well to it and slept well at night (of course, waking up for feeds). Even now at 13 months, she sleeps through waking up twice generally to feed and back to sleep.

What I did from Day 1 is:

1)During the day, I exposed her to daylight. She went out for a stroll; the curtains were open so daylight/sunshine could come into the house. When she slept during the day, I did draw the curtains but made sure that some light did come in the room.

2)Similarly, at night, once I took her to sleep, the lights went off and stayed off. For the initial 2-3 months I had a dim light on through the night. Even to change her at night, I would use the bathroom light that came into the room.

3)Every night we wash up, change her into her nightclothes, play for sometime, a light massage, she feeds and falls asleep. This is our daily routine and she has totally adapted to it now.

The feeling of giving birth to a baby is an unmatched one. Siyana is my first child and she has brought so much joy in our lives!

We have tried our best to bring up our daughter on the Montessori principals. Belonging to a traditional Indian family, I was at my mother’s for the ‘40-day period’ and once I came back home, it took sometime till we settled in; hence we did not get a chance to start Siyana on Montessori from birth. We did however incorporate a few basics and kept adding more in during the course of time.

It’s been an amazing journey so far, each day giving more to learn and experience. My daughter is currently 13 months old and I am going to share things I have done with her for her development from the beginning. I will also additionally add some more suggestions on what can be done as each child is unique and not everyone has the same way of growth.

Today, I will mainly cover the basics of a Montessori Room for an Infant. Contrary to baby rooms, in a Montessori environment, you will not find flashy, noisy baby toys. Instead, you will find a soothing, peaceful, natural environment.

A list of things that are recommended to have for your baby’s development:

Floor Bed

A basic mattress on the floor. The idea of the floor bed is to encourage independence, allow the development of the child’s will, and support their need for movement. The floor bed allows the child the freedom to get in and out of bed on their own, thereby reducing dependence on adults.  

The right time to start a baby on the floor bed, is generally when they are a few weeks old. We, however, were not ready and used a crib for Siyana for a long time before we started her off on the floor bed. I will have to admit though that I did delay this and should have done it much earlier. The crib is not something supported by Montessori as it restraints the child’s movements and they are stuck there till we do not get them out. This works well for us but is not the best thing for our baby’s development. 

Montessori Infant Mobile

One of the first recommended mobile’s for babies is the Munari Mobile which can be introduced to your baby when he is about two weeks old.

The Munari is a black and white mobile made from 2 dimensional geometrical shapes.  The newborn is unable to see colour so the Munari is black and white in order to give the child the greatest contrast in shades.  It encourages focus and uninterrupted viewing time builds concentration

One of the special key factors about the Montessori mobiles is that we offer them to the child when he or she is awake and alert.  The purpose is to help the child learn to focus, track, and develop his or her visual senseso he or she needs to be actively engaged and not in the process of falling asleep.

Black and White Images

As mentioned earlier, when babies are born, they are unable to see colour. Hence, in a Montessori baby environment, you would often find simple high contrast black and white. These images provide some visual stimulation for the newborn and provide and opportunity to concentrate and focus.

Wall Mirror

A mirror placed low on the ground; underneath the mirror a soft blanket/mat for the baby to lie on. This is generally a place where the baby spends most of their awake time. You can add the Black and White images here and also the mobile (you can rotate them too).

The wall mirror gives the baby an opportunity to observe themselves, their movements and learn how to control them. It also helps to provide a full view of the environment (room).

These are some of the basic essentials of a Montessori Infant Room. What we try to achieve from the room is:

·Provide the child with a sense of order;

·Give the child an environment to facilitate their movement;

·Things to provide support for the child’s development;

·A separate sleep and play area;

·Provide a room that the child enjoys being in.

I personally did not manage to do most of these from the time Siyana was born and do hope I can with my next baby. This area does not always remain this way. As your baby will grow, you can keep adding in things in the room that will assist with their growth and development.

** Images used are from the internet and only for representative purposes.**