Rhythm

I've been thinking a lot about the rhythm  of life lately.  Apparently this is a Waldorf thing.  As I'm not super-well versed in things Waldorfian, I didn't know that, but I've been getting more interested in Waldorf philosophy lately. I know this isn't original, as lots of other people seem to be getting interested in it as well.  There was recently an article about a Waldorf school in the Bay Area where lots of Google folk send their children.  Google folk sending their children to a school where computers aren't used seemed to be enough of a paradox to warrant a newspaper article.  

Is it really that surprising?

We are becoming less connected to real people and real things in our lives, yet I think as human beings we crave connectedness.  I love the internet, I love my iPad, but I also love birthday cake, and I know none of these things are really nourishing to my mind or my body.  I hope you don't feed your little one cake everyday, and I think computers and technology in general should fall under the same principle.  Waldorf folk seem to believe this to be true, so I am going to do some investigating.  

I love Montessori philosophy, and while I do agree that it is the task of the young child to figure out the world around them, I also know that as a child I created fantasy lands so intricate that I lost myself (and anyone tolerant enough follow my orders) in them for hours.  Children seem to want life to be magical, and I'm not sure it is such a terrible thing to allow them a little of that magic.

Anyway, rhythm.  In my last post, I talked about trying to do a better job of finding that sweet spot for myself in my work life.  I'm hoping to do this not only so I can be happier, but also so that my mornings at work flow nicely together with my afternoons and evenings at home.  I know it is important for Juniper that we start to develop a rhythm to our days, but it is also important for me. I need to know what happens when I get home from work in the afternoon: Do I do my cleaning chores?  Play with Juniper? Put her down for a nap right away or after 20 minutes? An hour?  If I don't know the order of things she certainly doesn't.  I'm not talking about getting all rigid with our schedule and having no flexibility ever, but I do think that as human beings we crave some sense of predictability in our lives.  I'd like to think that it allows us to appreciate the ebb and flow of our days.

I've never been one for resolutions at the start of the year, but I've been kind of liking the "theme" for a year idea that I've been hearing about lately.  So not a resolution really.  An intention, maybe?  We'll see.  

Montessori Madness: The Hanging Toys

 I'm pretty sure if Maria Montessori were still alive I would follow her around like a groupie.  I pretty much believe in her total philosophy totally.  There is no "this is great, but...."  There is no "but," it's all great.

We've moved on from the mobiles to the hanging toys (though Juniper does have the dancer mobile hanging over her bed now).  A great idea in my mind because they replace something that is hideous and not helpful (ADD machines activity gyms) with something that's not hideous and is helpful.  Amazing. We got this one for Juniper.  Kind of wish that we'd seen this tipi one earlier because you can turn it into a fort later, but the one we have works great.
Juniper started playing with the hanging toys about a month ago.  We started with a bell hung on a strip of ribbon.  I started with the bell because I figured hearing it ring when she hit it accidentally would help her learn that her actions cause things to happen.  

It went well with the bell so I tried the wooden ring and she seemed to like that too.  I was all ready to post singing the praises of the hanging toys, and then she kind of lost interest.  Hmmm. 
Then a day or so ago I hung the wooden ring lower and it was like a lightbulb went on. Juniper is a wooden ring grabbing fool.  You sit peacefully with her in your lap, and she stares over at the toy arch building resentment for her teenage years.  

She is obsessed.  Obsessed, friends,  with a simple, wooden ring hung from a piece of ribbon (I did get crazy and add the elastic).

Montessori Madness: The Floor Bed

One of the ideas I like most about the Montessori child's room is the floor bed.   I love that you give the child the opportunity to explore her environment freely and that the child gets the sense that she is capable and able to do things on her own.  Yes, cribs are convenient for parents duing certain stages, but it seems to me that they are problematic as well, i.e. you cant lie in them with your child, it's a back breaker to move your baby in and out of the crib, your child will eventually learn to climb out of one and then you've got to transition to a real bed, etc.  But, I don't know anyone in real life who has used a floor bed, so when I was pregnant, while I loved the idea in theory, I shied away from it thinking that I would later come to regret it and have to get a crib anyway.  So we got a crib and I set up the rest of her nursery as close as I could to the Montessori ideal.

The other night I was going back and forth yet again about Juniper sleeping in her crib versus our bed, and I couldn't really get to a happy place regarding either.  The next morning I had a head slapping moment when it occurred to me that what might solve some of our problems would be to switch to the floor bed.

Juniper has, mostly, been falling asleep while we massage and wrap her leg while she's lying in our bed.  This was both good and bad.  Good because it seemed like wrapping was starting to be a sleep cue for her, and bad because I couldn't see how this would ever work with her sleeping in a crib.  Floor bed to the rescue! This way we can do the routine in her bed on the floor.  I think it also may solve the night issues as well because I won't have to haul her out of her crib to change and feed her, I can just do that in her bed too.

Basically, I've given myself the excuse to try this (maybe crazy) Montessori idea that I love in theory for real.  I reserve the right to put this experiment into the major parenting flop pile in a few months as well.

We talked a little about buying a twin futon, but since the room is so small, and we already shelled out for an organic crib mattress, we decided to just use that, and before Juniper's morning nap we'd moved the crib out. 

So far, the only drawback is that Juniper seems to really like it, and today she napped a little less than normal as a result.  

I think as she settles in and it becomes the norm this will be less of a problem, but maybe not.  We're keeping the crib for the foreseeable future in case this turns into a major disaster, but I'm really hoping that it works out.

P.S. Juniper only naps with a blanket, this is because we are always around watching her.  At night she wears a wool sleep sack over her jammies.  Also, right next to the bed is not the permanent or normal home of her toy arch!

Montessori Madness

I believe that all human beings are born with the capacity for focus and attention. We all know that feeling when we are happily absorbed in a task that is not too difficult, yet not too easy: we become relaxed, confident and feel purposeful.  I think human beings crave that feeling and crave those tasks which help us to feel that way, but I think in our society we get farther and farther away from a lifestyle which facilitates those tasks and behaviors in favor of tasks which do not fully require our attention and that do not make us feel purposeful.  It's the difference between the way I feel after a few hours of sewing versus a few hours of internet surfing.  Or the way I feel after reading a good book versus the way I feel after watching junk television (ahem, Jersey Shore).  


I went to Montessori school from preschool through sixth grade, and seeing as I turned out okay, I am a Montessori devotee.  There is a lot of confusion about Montessori philosophy out there, and for anyone interested I would highly recommend reading Montessori from the Start.  In my experience, I've found that people erroneously lump Montessori schools together with other 'alternative' schools, or with Waldorf schools.  Montessori philosophy, in its true form, is about helping the child to become an independent being.  It is not about forcing independence on the child before she is ready, nor is it an indulgent practice where the adult bends to every whim of the child, nor do children not learn reading and math in Montessori schools.  I'm not sure where these ideas about Montessori philosophy came from, but I hear them frequently, and they are untrue.  

Looking at Panda.  Montessori also advocates giving the child things to look at and interact with that represent the real world.  The panda card is an example of what to do, the quilt J is laying on is an example of what not to do.  

One of the things that continues to astound me about Maria Montessori's work is how her ideas just keep getting proven by modern science or reinvented as new ideas.  Montessori believed that the infant has capacity to maintain attention for long periods of time, and that the capacity for attention in humans is formed in infancy.  With the prevalence of ADHD in our society coupled with the prevalence of inane noisemaking, flashing, crinkling toys for infants and children I have to say that I think she was likely on to something.  The more recent book by Gabor Mate, Scattered, makes a similar case.  Montessori philosophy basically advocates for fostering attention in the infant.  There are many components of this, but the first step is through a series of specifically designed mobiles that are introduced to the infant at birth and are rotated through the first four months of life. 

 The first mobile presented to the infant is the Munari mobile (mentioned here).  I got all of my mobiles from etsy and they came with all of the components, but needed to be assembled.  Set aside your entire pregnancy at least a few hours to put them together because the directions for how all the pieces need to hang are very specific and they need to be bealanced.   The Munari consists of black and white geometric forms and a clear sphere.  Juniper started looking at the Munari mobile when she was just a few days old.  At first she was really just interested in the shadows the mobile cast on the wall, but as she got older she became fascinated with the mobile itself.  After two weeks, so when Juniper was three weeks old, I switched the mobiles and introduced the octahedron to Juniper.  

J at about 3 weeks old

At a little older

The octahedron mobile is made of three octahedrons made of blue, yellow, and red metallic paper. Juniper was not as interested in this mobile initially and spent a lot of time mostly looking at her black and white cards, so she only spent about a week with it before I went back to the Munari.  Then after another week or so we went back to the octahedron and she was much more into it. 

At 6 weeks

 At about eight weeks I reintroduced the Munari mobile.  The really cool thing was that she finally noticed the clear sphere in the mobile, and I could see in practice why you are supposed to rotate and reintroduce the mobiles about every two weeks: after some time away from a mobile, Juniper seems to notice new things when she sees it again.

Just last week I tried out the Gobbi mobile, which is five thread wrapped orbs that go in a gradual gradient from light to dark, and she was not into it at all.  Either it wasn't super interesting to her, or she couldn't see it very well, so I took it away for a few days.  I was floored when I tried again just three or four days later.  She loved it.  Like, I've not seen her so into something ever really.  For a solid 30 minutes she just stared at it, babbled at it, breathed excitedly at it, and when I thought she was kind of done and picked her up, she squawked at me until I put her down where she could see it again.  

10 weeks

The mirror that you see in the photos is a pretty key component as well because it enables Juniper to see the mobiles while she is on her belly in addition to allowing her to track her own movements.  

Obviously I have no way of knowing how much the mobiles have impacted her, and I won't ever know if they made a difference in her development, but I do know that she is really alert and will focus on our faces or on her mobiles for a pretty long time.  

In addition to encouraging focus and attention, the mobiles also expose the infant to geometric forms and to aesthetic ideas such as balance and color gradients.  I like that she is looking at things that are beautiful and well-designed as opposed to looking at plastic toys dangling from a play gym.