Beloved children’s books and the Absorbent Mind
My brain is scattered of late, which has a lot to do with how little I’m blogging. This topic has been on my mind for weeks, but I just can’t pare it down, so I keep starting and stopping. Tonight, I’ll give myself a few minutes to get what I can down, because I really want to hear what you all think about choosing books for the young child. I’ll do my best to keep from following too many bunny trails here.
My oldest, Annabelle, is now three. She has what Maria Montessori referred to as an “absorbent mind,” and my goodness does that girl absorb things! In my early years of teaching, before Annabelle came around, I saw the tremendous capacity that children have for absorbing and recalling information and experiences, but it wasn’t until I spent all of my time with the same child that I truly got a sense of what this means. Annabelle absolutely takes everything in, not just experiencing and processing it, but actually making it a part of herself. I see the way experiences shape her, the way they come out in her play, in her interactions with others, in her overall behavior. I’ve really been shocked by the extent of this reality. Continue reading
What’s New: Still Two
Inspecting a bee with her new magnifying glass. I can’t even tell you how much I love having a back yard!
When you have a child who is clever and savvy and verbal and forever three steps ahead of you, it’s easy to develop high expectations. It’s easy to get used to her resilience, to take it for granted and get used to how completely “fine” she always is. Then you have a week like this one, and remember that she is still two after all. She does still need to be held and snuggled sometimes – often – despite how little like a baby she now seems.
It has not been a bad week at all, just one that demanded a slow pace and a willingness to attend to many a mama hold you or mama rock you request. I get so used to going about my day checking things off the endless list. Requests like this seem inconvenient at first, and part of me wants to say (and sometimes does) things like, “You know how to walk. You don’t need to be held.” But then I remember that she’s two and a half and yes, she does, even if these days it’s more of an emotional than a physical need. Continue reading
Eliminating Struggle from the Morning Routine
If you’ve been around this space awhile, you already know this, but: Since April, two year old Annabelle has slept in six different beds, lived in two houses and slept in two different hotels in between. She has adapted to a few different schedules for both her daddy and for me, only to have them change soon after. Oh yeah, and she had a baby brother. All of this seems to have made it hard to settle into a comfortable groove during mornings at home, and many days it was a huge struggle just to get out of the house. Some days I simply gave up because I didn’t want to struggle anymore, and we stayed home when I really could have used a bit of time out of the house. See, Annabelle would start playing, reading, drawing, or doing something else important to her and would suddenly decide that she had no interest in doing any of the things one must do before going out, like getting dressed. She seemed to feel so much better, and rest so much better, when she engaged in something in the outside world each day, but it was not easy to get her in to the outside world before rest time came. Continue reading
What’s New: Feelings and Circles
He’s smiling because of how much he loves these legwarmers from Amy of Anktangle ;)
It has been another busy, busy week, but life continues to be good. A few weeks into life with the daddy back at work, we’re settling more and more into a comfortable rhythm for our days. Cooler weather is finally here and I feel energized by the breezes and the crisp morning air. I do think this is my favorite time of year!
Andrew’s mom and her husband (a.k.a. Grampy) have been here for a visit, and it has been a treat to watch Annabelle interact with them. It’s always a pleasure to see others delight in her personality as much as I do, and grandparents are great at that. Of course the excitement has turned sleep a bit wacky again, so I haven’t had the time to stop in here and write as I’d like to, but I have some exciting things planned for the weeks to come.
Elliot continues to love his sleep, and doesn’t open his eyes for more than a few minutes on a typical morning. Come afternoon, he’ll grace us with his alert presence at some point and when that happens, he draws everyone to him with his smiling, magnetic presence. He melts hearts, that little boy. When he’s awake, Annabelle gets as close to him as she possibly can, to the point that I have to remind her not to squash him with her hugs and kisses. They’re going to have so much fun together. Continue reading
Going it alone with an infant
Over at the Natural Parents Network, I’ve written about some of the things that helped me get through the early months of Annabelle’s life with her daddy away.
Here’s an excerpt:
We had recently moved to the island of Guam, where I had not yet developed any close friendships, and where we were not only geographically removed from our extended family in a big way, but we were also in such a drastically different time zone that I couldn’t even reasonablycall someone I loved every time I needed a listening ear. It all sounds awfully dramatic and awfully difficult when I write it out like that, and solo parenting certainly isn’t easy (let’s face it, parenting period isn’t easy), but it was manageable, and over two years later, is still a time I remember fondly for the most part. Looking back, there are a handful of things that I feel contributed to my ability to maintain my sanity during that very busy time. I’m sure there’s more I could have done, and I’m sure there are things I could have done differently, but all in all, I’m happy with the choices I made.
Read the whole post, and share your own new mama survival tips here.
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