Hellobee

After we enrolled in the Montessori school and I started to get an idea of what the children will be learning to do, I began to work at home with the cubs to get them ready for this new shift in our daily life. At first I was afraid that we would have to introduce too many new things, but after observing what we do around the house, I found that it probably wouldn’t be that much of a leap for the kids after all!

Things We’re Already Doing:

* Making Books and Toys Easily Accessible, Enticing Play

All of our shelves are at toddler eye level or lower. Nearly all of our toys are either laid out on the shelf in a pleasing manner (I do this at night, after the kids are asleep) and invite toddlers to interact with them. Since we have two main play areas, the living room and the play room, it gives each toddler a space where they can work, but they tend to play together and with similar toys at the same time. Books are made available and enticing by displaying them on a forward facing bookshelves instead of in boxes or by their spine, since my tots can’t read yet.

* Chairs and Tables at Their Height

While our main dining table isn’t at their height, we do have boosters so that they are at table level. We also have two blue plastic chairs that the children often pull up to the toy chest that’s being used as a coffee table/work area in our living room. Sometimes we’ll eat snacks there. There’s also a new addition to our playroom that I scored from a Mother’s Day Out program that was going out of business – a classroom table with old school chairs. This gives the cubs a large work area that they can bring their toys and projects to and keeps them away from my desk!

For Patrick’s first birthday, we received a learning tower from my father-in-law. I had actually requested it based on a blueprint from Ana White that I saw suggested on the boards. Well Bear Senior went to work and now we have a folding learning tower! Primarily we use it in the kitchen so that the children can “help” wash dishes and observe us at a safe distance while we cook. Sometimes I’ll even let Patrick cut up a banana or something. But we also use step stools in the bathroom so that Patrick can get up to the potty easily, and so that the children can wash their hands or brush their teeth. Sure they still need my help turning on the faucet and reaching their little bodies across to get the water, but it’s a start!

* Encouraging Them to Clean Up After Themselves

While I don’t have an area set up so that the children can go and retrieve their own washcloth/towel (that’s the next step), I will go into the kitchen and retrieve a towel for them and ask them to clean up spilled messes. Oftentimes they just spread the mess a little more, but they’re proud of themselves regardless and it makes it less frustrating for me to clean up their messes when I know they’re trying to learn. It’s really funny to see them suddenly grab a towel to sop up an imaginary mess and then grin up at me as if they did something wonderful! Same goes for toys. I often show them what I want them to do while I do it, encouraging them to mimic me as I clean up their toys. Sometimes Patrick will go ahead and do this without prompting and it makes my organization loving heart happy.

* Giving Them Options and Listening to Their Requests

I know this seems such a simple thing, but I often forget to give them an opportunity to give them their own voice and then wonder why I’m getting negative reactions. Patrick asks for cereal on a regular basis but if I just randomly choose one of the cereals we normally eat, he’s liable to get very upset that it wasn’t the cereal he wanted. So I give him and Olivia choices: Would you like to wear this shirt or that shirt? Would you like to do a puzzle or play with the blocks? While Olivia still doesn’t always understand the concept of choice, it’s fun to see her light up when she “gets her way” even if I’m already getting mine by limiting the options I put before them. And if they have a reasonable request, I always do my best to acquiesce.

* Ask the Children to Throw Away Trash & (Wet) Diapers

This is something I started doing with Patrick at a young age, about the time we moved into our house right after Olivia was born. My hands were usually too full to pick up everything and throw it away, and sometimes diaper changes were rushed because I had to go pick up an infant Olivia. Patrick knows how to operate the push pedal on the diaper pail and push the diaper into the pail before letting go of the pedal with his foot. Olivia, already older now than Patrick was then, can only throw trash away for now.

* Encouraging Them to Try and Use the Potty

Admittedly Patrick is the only one who I’m actively trying to encourage, but I guess I should step it up in concern to Olivia. She’ll be seeing the other children do it soon and while it isn’t a foreign concept to her – she’s seen Patrick use the toilet – I don’t think I’ve ever put her on it. Guess that’s about to change!

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Things We’re Starting Now to Prepare for School:

* Following the Schedule for the Toddler Room

I have several print offs with the schedule so I thought I would make use of them and posted them in places throughout the house so that I could easily find it for reference. What we’re doing at home isn’t anything like school, but maybe it will be helpful if I transition them into similar activities at certain times.

* Calling Playing With Something Work

Instead of referring to Olivia as “playing” with the crayons and paper, I tell Patrick that she is “working” with the crayons and paper then encourage him to play with something else. If Olivia is being disrupting while Patrick is working, I try and steer her clear of him unless he wants her to join him on what he’s working on.

* Encouraging Them to Put Their Work Away

I know I said I encourage them to clean up their messes and toys already, but it’s a simple rewording so that it isn’t new to them when they get to school.

* Testing Out Possible Lunch Ideas

Since the school doesn’t allow lunches to be heated and they encourage toddlers to set their own table (including putting food from their lunch box onto a plate, carrying the plate to their table, etc.), I’ve been brainstorming what kind of meals to make the children. Thankfully I can try many of them because we tend to keep meals simple here, but it also gives me an opportunity to see if they like more of one thing over another and I can pack accordingly.

* Giving More Open Cups

I like that Olivia drinks from a sippy cup because that’s less mess for me. I have enough mess, even with their help cleaning up afterwards, just from Olivia getting Patrick’s open cup. I don’t need two – or more, since they tend to wander off – open cups for the kids to spill! But I am trying to get Olivia used to it slowly so that she’ll stop choking on the water.

* Transitioning Nap to a Later Time

As I mentioned in my day in the life post, nap usually happens around noon. This isn’t actually that different from when the school takes their nap but the kids have been a little moodier lately which has meant a bit earlier of a nap (11:00). Let’s just say that we’re getting back to our normal nap time and I’m waking the children at about the time they would be woken at school. This has made putting the kids down for bed harder rather than easier – go figure! – but the kids will actually sleep in until nearly 7:30 now. I guess it all evens out in the end!

* Quitting the Pacifier

We have a fondness for pacifiers here in the Bear household. We revere them. We have spent countless hours searching every nook and cranny of the house to find one before nearly every nap or bedtime for Olivia. Sometimes we’ve even gone out to the car in the middle of a deluge just to put her to bed. Thou shalt not take away the pacifier! Until, of course, you start pre-school. The school has a very strict no pacifier policy which had me naturally nervous. I didn’t wean Patrick from his pacifier until after he had moved into a twin bed after his second birthday. How on earth was I going to get rid of a the pacifier from my paci loving girl? It was a comfort! It made everything instantly better! I could give it to her and not feel bad!

So how did we deal with it? Well, we just quit. Cold turkey. Yes, she’s taken longer to go to bed and to get to sleep for naps. Before I would give her the pacifier and Olivia would blissfully roll over and fall asleep. Now we fight and talk and cry but ultimately, it’s for the best. I would hate for her to have to go cold turkey on the first day of school!

* Changing (Wet) Diapers Standing Up

We were already doing that for Patrick but we’re starting to do it for Olivia as well. It isn’t as easy as it sounds since they’re both used to laying down for diaper changes, but we’ll get the hang of it. At school they’ll also change dirty diapers standing up but I’m not brave enough for that yet!!

* Encouraging the Children to Dress Themselves

This is another one of those where it’s easier to teach Patrick and just hope that Olivia gets it along the way. Patrick can put his own arms and head through a shirt, though you usually have to get him started. And he can pull down his own pants. I’ve just been giving him a little more help and instruction and it’s going really well! On the other hand, Olivia just isn’t interested in doing it herself. Maybe with time.

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What did you do to prepare your little one(s) for the big change of going to daycare/pre-school?