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A very busy weekend- Jan 28

A very busy weekend means that this post is coming to you on a Wednesday instead of a Monday!

Consider it your pass to daydream about all of the fun things you’d like to do this weekend as you’re sitting at your desk 🙂

Saturday:

The big snow storm visited us here in Fairfield County!

Unfortunately, Jameson was still feeling a little under the weather, so there was no playing in the snow for us.

BUT he did have fun playing with some dried oats while I made oatmeal that morning.

I gave him some kitchen tools to scoop and sift with, but he had the most fun just using his hands to scoop and feel the oats.

This was another weekend where we did not add any hours to our 1000 hours outside goal, mostly because of the cold and Jameson being under the weather.

Warmer days, where are you?

Sunday:

I spent the entire day at a blood drive my Junior League chapter was co-hosting for the Res Cross.

Our goal was 28 donors and we managed to get 40 donors! I was so worried that the storm from the night before would deter people from coming in, but it was a huge success.

D and Jameson had some fun, dad and son bonding time while I was at the blood drive. I made it home in time for dinner and bath time.

Monday

Jameson and I met up with some friends at one of our favorite coffee places, Honey Joe’s.

While I chatted and had some mom time, Jameson got to play with his buddy on the indoor play sets.

It’s crazy how much his climbing and maneuvering skills have improved since the first time we came to this play area. He really is becoming a big kid right before my eyes!

After our fun morning, I dropped Jameson off at daycare for a half day so I could drive to my sister-in-laws studio salon.

And she blessed me with these beautiful brows!

This is my first time getting my eyebrows micro bladed, but I love it.

So that was our weekend! I have another long weekend coming up again, so we’ll see what we get into then.

Have a good week, everyone!

Finding “Montessori moments” as a working mom

A couple of weeks back I checked out a book called The Montessori Toddler from my local library.

It’s an amazing book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to add more aspects of Montessori learning/lifestyle to their home.

With that being said, there were some things in the book that felt a bit overwhelming to me, a working mom.

The reality is, if you work a full-time job, you just don’t have as many hours in the day with your child as a parent that is a full-time caregiver or even works from home.

This realization got me thinking about ways I can fit “Montessori moments” into my time with my child, to get all (well, most) of those great experiences with less of the fuss.

Here are some ways I’ve been putting this into practice so far:

Teaching my toddler how to pour into a cup

The other night, Jameson only wanted the peas on his dinner plate…and then some “to-go” peas afterwards. He also felt like rummaging through his cups and plates cabinet.

Cute an “aha” moment for a teaching opportunity.

Teaching opportunity? Just let me eat my peas in peace, mom.

I put some extra cups on the ground and sat with him. Then modeled how to pour the peas from one cup to another, using two hands.

I went as slow as I could so that he could see the steps I was taking. I also made sure to not talk while doing my demonstration, because apparently talking while demonstrating makes toddlers confused about whether they should be watching you or listening to you.

I don’t know about all that, but I kept my mouth shut anyways. Well, at least most of the time. I mean, it’s weird to be that quiet for so long, right?

But anyway, Jameson had a lot of fun watching me pour his peas in different cups. He tried pouring them himself and I have to to say, his skills have definitely improved from the other week when we tried this with water.

Letting my toddler choose his outfit in the morning

Jameson’s room isn’t set up for a tiny Montessori style wardrobe to be set up, so I’ve improvised by making the top shelves of his toy rack into clothing choice baskets.

This works for us because a. It doesn’t take up any additional space in his already small room and b. I now have the shelving space to use for this since I’ve started rotating his toys to play with and keeping the rest stored in his closet.

Okay, so I will admit that I have been so-so about remembering how to do this.

This is relatively new for us and there have been a few mornings this week that I’ve scrambled for an outfit for him, completely forgetting that I have two preselected ones for him to choose right across the room.

BUT the mornings I have remembered this have been mostly successful thus far.

Two of the times he picked an outfit, he seemed really excited about it. The third time, he pushed both of the choices away from him and did not want to be bothered.

I’ll chalk that time up to him watching Sesame Street when I asked him.

Pro-tip: when attempting Montessori independence fostering activities and rituals: make sure frowned upon screen time tv characters have not hijacked your child’s attention.

All jokes aside, the point is that Montessori doesn’t have to be elaborate or time consuming. You can pick and choose what works for your family and toss the rest.

Either way, you’re doing a great job. Now excuse me while I go sweep up some random peas I just found under the dishwasher. xx

Weekend roundup: January 23

It was another cold one this weekend, but that meant it was perfect for having some fun indoors in our area!

Jameson and his cousin (left) on the big school bus at Stepping Stones

Saturday

D and I take turns sleeping in on the weekends, and yesterday it was my turn (hallelujah). While I slept in, D and Jameson went grocery shopping.

Later in the afternoon, we met up with some family to go to Stepping Stones Children’s Museum in Norwalk, CT.

Stepping Stones is a great place to take toddlers because there is just SO much to do. From water play to make believe to a life-sized, moving dinosaur! This place knocks my socks off and I’m 32.

A cool make believe/ dress-up area at Stepping Stones

Thankfully, Jameson feels the same! This kid has a blast everywhere he goes, but he especially loves it there. We got to share our favorite place with his cousin, Sebastian, so that made it even more fun.

Sunday

We started the day off pretty laidback. Watched some Blippi with Jameson’s morning milk and then had some fun with Play-Doh.

We love Play-Doh and Christmas pajamas, no matter what month it is

After his nap, we went to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. This is another one of our favorite places to visit when it’s too cold to be outside.

Fun fact: D and I used to have a huge freshwater fish tank in our first apartment. At one point we had an eel and a stingray! It’s something we plan on having again when we buy a house. Sadly, it was too difficult to find another apartment that was okay with a 500 gallon fish tank moving in with us *sigh*.

Our old fish tank that’s we somehow fit into our 900 square foot apartment

Did you and your family get into anything fun this weekend?

My top 5 favorite parenting quotes

Here are some of my favorite quotes about parenting:

1. Do not ask your children to strive– William Martin

“Do not ask your children to strive for for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.”

2. Our children absorb our ways constantly- Dr. Shefali Tsabary

“Our children absorb our ways constantly. They are always watching, listening, making a mental note of what we are doing and how we do it. As a new mother, to realize all my choices now had bearing on another human being felt like a heavy burden to bear. Whether I ordered a diet soda or water, fries or salad, worked out or vegged out in front of the television, nothing was simply about me anymore. How I used my time, coped with anxiety, handled failure, related to my spouse, took care of my finances— everything now affected how another human being would eventually lead her own life.”

3. A child’s inner voice – Peggy O’Mara

“The way we talk to children becomes their inner voice.”

4. Your child is not a masterpiece you create- J. Warren Welch

“Your children are not a masterpiece that you create. They are their own masterpiece, creating themselves, and you have been given the privilege of watching them be the artist.”

5. Love them – Unknown

“Before I had kids I had a million ideas on how I would raise them. Now that they are here I have only one. Love them. Love them through their giggles, messy hands, and fearlessness. And when it is hard, like really hard, love them through that too.”

These are some of my favorite parenting quotes. What are some of yours?

What I read with my toddler this week: January 21, 2022

Man, was it a hectic week! Lots of work, a couple of family doctor appointments, and some Junior League obligations made for one exhausted mama.

But we still made time to read some new books (and a few of his favorites, over and over and over, of course)!

Here’s what we read this week:

Good Morning, Good Night by Melanie Mitchell

Jameson liked listening to this book but he wasn’t as into the “touch and feel” aspect of it, as he usually is. I think maybe because all of the textures were pretty similar.

Dinosaur Dance by Sandra Boynton

Okay, so this book didn’t really get a fair shot with us and we only read it halfway through. It was a night that Jameson just wanted to read one of his favorites (Fly! by Xavier Deneux), so by page two he was trying to push his preferred book into my lap! Maybe next week!

What Do You Say, Little Blue Truck? by Alice Shertle

Jameson was a big fan of the animal sounds of this book! This was one we went back to quite a few times throughout the week.

P is for Potty (a Sesame Street Book)

Another book Jameson couldn’t get enough of! He loved all of the little “lift the flaps” on every page. This was a book he kept going to on his own and flipping through for fun. I highly recommend it!

I love sharing what we’re reading with you all, and hope you do too!

What have you and your littles read this week?

I guess toddlers really love stickers

I had read somewhere in the social media parenting sphere about the power of stickers for keeping toddlers occupied during family restaurant outings.

Well, technically they were talking about making a “busy bag” for your toddler to keep them happy and occupied after the joy of eating a meal wears off (so basically ten minutes into your meal).

But stickers played a big role in the busy bag and was credited for keeping this mom’s toddler content for almost the entire meal.

I love the idea of a Busy Bag and I’ll make a post some time in the future on the contents of Jameson’s once I actually put one together. But I figured it was a good idea to have him play with stickers first, to make sure they were something he would be interested in.

The outcome: he freakin’ loved it.

“Wow mom, you really knocked it out of the park this time.” – my toddler, probably

Sure, he needed my help to peel each sticker off (the fine motor skills of a nineteen month old, of course), but after that he was happily placing the stickers on the paper and enjoying the sensory input of stickiness on his fingers.

He also had a blast putting the stickers on himself, which gave us both a good laugh.

“Enough with the pictures, lady. Hand me another sticker.”

I’d say playing with stickers held his interest for almost twenty minutes! Whenever I do get around to making his Busy Bag, stickers will certainly have a place in there!

Do you make Busy Bags for outings where your child has to be seated for long periods of time? What are the all stars of your bag?

Weekend roundup: Jan. 16th

We had some seriously freezing temps here in the Northeast this weekend, so there was lots of time spent indoors and zero spent towards our 1,000 hours outside goal.

I know that there is a saying about there being no such thing as bad weather (only poor clothing choice), but I’m just not at the point where I can (or want to) take my 1.5 year-old outside when it’s two degrees out.

But there is always next weekend and hopefully warmer winter days ahead of us! What’s that you say? February will only get colder? Well, f***.

Anyway, we still had a lot of fun indoors. There was lots of play-doh time.

We’ve learned not to eat play-doh, but still do a sampling here and there

Time spent cuddling and playing cars, of course.

Jameson turns anything into a car ramp nowadays.

And we even had our old neighbors over to go swimming at our apartment’s indoor pool! They have a son that’s Jameson’s age, so it’s always a fun time.

My favorite part of this weekend? Date night with the hubby at one of our favorite restaurants. My mother-in-law watched the baby while we went out for some much needed couples time.

Side note: How nice is it when you get to have an amazing dinner and not do the dishes afterwards?

What I’m reading with my toddler this week

One of my earliest childhood memories is of my mom reading Disney’s picture book version of The Jungle Book to me.

I’ve always loved to read and I think a big part of that was my mom making a point to sit and read with me every day, until I was old enough to read on my own.

Reading with Jameson when he was just a bitty peanut

It’s why I also make sure to read at least one book a day to Jameson.

Have I skipped a day before? Of course! Life can get crazy and I’m only human, after all.

But more often than not, we read our one book a day (which usually turns into 2 or 3 once we get started, but 1 book is our minimum!).

We are lucky enough to live close to a secondhand bookstore, and get lots of great pictures books that range from $1-$5 each!

Shopping secondhand is great for picture books because 1.) picture books can be PRICY when purchased new and 2.) shopping secondhand often means finding interesting and lesser known books that don’t always make their way into the big bookstores for very long.

Here are the books I read with Jameson this week:

Cute baby tootsies for the “toe” part of this title!

From Head to Toe by Eric Carle

This book is visually beautiful and great for introducing mimicking movements to toddlers (“Can you do this? I can do it!”)

Jameson sat in my lap and was really engaged throughout our reading. This book will be a repeat in our home for sure!

If I were a puppy by Anne Wilkinson

A cute touch-and-feel board book. He liked feeling the fluffy tail the best.

Potty Superhero by Parragon Books

This was a cute book for introducing potty training to Jameson. He’s not really into superheroes though, so it didn’t hold his interest too much.

Pop-Up Peekaboo I Love You

This is one of Jameson’s favorites! We read this book every other day and he now imitates smooching noises when we get to the two sheep kissing on the last page.

Where’s Spot by Eric Hill

Another favorite of Jameson’s and an almost daily read in our house! This is a fun lift-the-flap book that has good, simple repetition for toddlers to pick up language.

After a couple weeks of reading this book, Jameson began to say “no!” along with me as we searched for spot (and cracked up laughing)!

Back to work

Yesterday was the first day back to work for me, and back to daycare for Jameson since our Christmas/New Years COVID quarantine.

It was a great day for both of us, but still a bit of a mixed bag of emotions for me.

As happy as I was to see my student again, I will miss my time at home with my little guy.

I’m starting to realize that one of the hard things about being a working mom is going back to work after long stretches at home with your kid(s).

That stretch of one-on-one time brings a renewed feeling of “leaving” him to go to work all over again. Not as strong as the very first time, but like the sting of ripping at an old scab.

That Jameson loves going to daycare and seeing his friends makes it easier. I feel less guilty knowing that he’s spending his day somewhere he enjoys, at least.

Are you working parent? Do you find that “working parent guilt” amps up after time off with family?

The 1,000 Hours Outside Challenge

Have you heard about The 1,000 Hours Outside Challenge yet?

Created by mom of five, Ginny Yurich, the challenge is for families to spend 1,000 hours playing outdoors.

Our “Day 1” of the challenge was January 2nd, at a beachside trail

In Yurich’s podcast by the same name, she explains that the premise for 1,000 hours of outdoor play came from the statistic that, on average, children in the United States spend 1,200 hours a year in front of screens.

Yes, you read that right. 1,2oo hours of screen time!

For me, hearing that statistic was shocking. But it also made me feel like if we can manage that many hours with a tablet or tv, maybe 1,000 hours of outdoor play isn’t so impossible after all.

To make it even easier for families to keep track and stay motivated throughout the year, Yurich has an instagram account that she updates frequently, as well as tracking sheets on her website.

She even has an app by the same name! I’ve downloaded it and it’s pretty good for keeping me motivated so far. Although I will say that it does glitch out fairly often and kick me out of the app (but I’m sure it’s relatively new and so, I don’t mind it so much).

You can track time, photos taken, and little notes from your outside time in the 1,000 Hours Outside app.

To be honest, as a working mother of a toddler with a pretty strict weekday schedule, I’m not sure if my family will meet the 1,000 hours of outdoor play goal.

But I plan on trying to anyway. If we manage to reach even 500 hours of outdoor time this year, I’ll be overjoyed.

I think the best thing to do when it comes to goals like this is make a really good effort every week. Then give yourself some grace when life or the weather gets in the way.

What do you think about The 1,000 Hours Outside Challenge? And are you up for giving it a try with your family this year?

Until next time! -Paige