Hellobee

I am completely flabbergasted at the fact that I wrote this post about what we were up to in the realm of Practical Life an entire year ago! I thought I should update the hive with how things are going, and what’s up next for Little Lion!

I wrote last time that one of the reasons I love Montessori is that it encourages children to be independent individuals from birth. I think this is so important, and I have really seen this practice to be very helpful in helping my little man manage his growing autonomy.

I have to be honest though. A lot of times, letting toddlers be independent is HARD work. It is so much easier for me to do things for him, rather than let him take over control. Since my last Practical Life post, I went through an entire pregnancy and 3 months with a newborn, so I have not given him nearly as many opportunities as I would have liked to practice these new skills. Nonetheless, we are making progress. Here’s where we are right now.

1. Sitting at the table

This is something we need to work on probably more than any other skill. Leaving LL in his high chair to eat is so much easier. My child has a small appetite, and sitting at a table when he could be playing instead is almost painful for him. I really need to work on making this a habit. I don’t think we have made any progress in this area at all in the last year! Since I am still holding firm on the “no carrying food around the house” rule, we are starting from square one with just small snacks at the table, with me sitting at the table with him. Hopefully as he starts catching on we will be able to have lunch at the table too. Breakfast and dinner are family meals, so we will still use the high chair for these, but hopefully we will be able to forgo the buckles soon!

2. Using real plates, silverware, and cups

Another one that lazy mom over here has avoided. LL is great with a spoon and fork now (progress!) and eats off of real plates. And while he is perfectly capable of drinking out of an open cup without spilling, 99% of the time I still give him a straw cup. This is mostly because we are in a pretty intense “cause and effect is fun!” phase, and I don’t need one more battle in my life.

3. Helping in the kitchen

Of all the areas of practical life, this one we have probably come the furthest in! Little Lion LOVES to help me cook. He is able to help me wash vegetables in the sink, is starting to learn to chop with his special knife (with LOTS of help), and can follow simple directions. He loves to stir (only cold things so far) and push the buttons on the mixer and blender. It is a lot of fun to have him in the kitchen with me!

4. Helping with laundry

Little Lion still loves to help with this task! When I ask him to, he is able to go to his room, get the dirty clothes basket, and bring it to the laundry room. He likes to help dump the clothes into the washer, and helps me put things into the dryer. He loves pushing the baskets around the house, and is pretty good about pushing them to the correct room when the clothes are dry. We haven’t started working on folding yet, but that’s next! We will also work on hanging up shirts that are on a hanger. So far he mostly likes to pull them off instead.

5. Dressing and undressing

These are a work in progress. Mr. Lion is in charge of bath time, and they have been working on taking off clothes for some time now. Little Lion can pull his pants down, but we are still working on pulling them back up. He can put his shirt on once it is around his neck, but hasn’t quite figured out that first step. We recently purchased him some Crocs shoes, which he is able to put on and take off by himself, but his other shoes are a little too tough for him to figure out.

6. Sitting calmly during story time at the library

This is honestly not something I have even attempted in the last year. Little Lion will sit to read for extended periods of time, but when we are in a group setting he wants to be right up in the action. This is definitely a skill we will need to work on before he starts preschool in the fall.

7. Washing hands

Little Lion is now tall enough to reach the sink handles, and is able to wash his hands with assistance. He still needs some help getting the soap and rubbing it in well, but he loves to rinse off the bubbles! We have one of these faucet extenders, and it allows him to reach the stream of water by himself.

8. Brushing teeth

This is pretty much the same as before. Little Lion will go through the motions, but still needs our help to get a good brushing. Sometimes this is a struggle, but a necessary one. I would like to see him do this more independently, but I have a feeling it will be a while before he can completely brush his teeth on his own.

9. “Toilet Learning” or “Potty Training”

No matter what you call it, Little Lion has been exposed to the potty for as long as he has been big enough to follow me to the bathroom. Around his first birthday we got him this little potty, and it sits in his bathroom. Since about 18 months Mr. Lion has been asking him if he wants to sit on the potty or flush the potty before his bath. Sometimes he will, sometimes he refuses. He has been successful at using it enough times that I have contemplated giving the 3 day potty training method a go, but we aren’t there yet. With a newborn at home this is not really a priority for us. When we start to see more interest from him (he wants nothing to do with wearing underwear), we will give this a try. Until then, we will continue with exposure and practice.

10. Helps clean up messes

This is one of my favorite things to see LL do. Any time he spills something or makes a mess, he helps clean it up. Often this means that I give him a rag, he smears it around, and then I clean up behind him. Hopefully as he practices this skill he will get to the point where he is able to fully clean up a spill. He is also working on learning to sweep with a small broom and dust pan. This is a newly developing skill, but he is able to sweep into a dust pan with my assistance. We are also adding dusting to our chores that we do together.

11. Putting away toys

It is also an expectation in our home (most of the time) that LL help clean up after independent playtime, after playing with his Montessori activities, or when we are leaving a room outside of our home where he is playing (gym nursery, friend’s house, etc). I always help at this point, but he is pretty good about doing a good amount of the cleaning himself. By the time he is 3 I would like him to be able to completely clean up his own toy messes, so we are off to a good start in this area. This is possible because we only put out a few toys at once, and have a clearly defined “home” for each. This makes it easy for him to know where things go, and he is able to put things away quickly (with help of course).

12. Helping in the garden

Little Lion loves to help water the garden! He has learned how to squeeze the handle on the hose, and is learning to point it carefully at the plants. He also helps me collect vegetables by picking them off the plant and putting them in a basket to carry inside. He loves to take tiny bites of the vegetables and then throw them on the ground, so we are working on getting him to actually eat them. One step at a time, I suppose.

13. Developing motor skills

These are included within practical life, as they enable children to continue to be able to do more for themselves. We are working on latches, lacing, pouring, using tongs, and transferring water and dry materials (like beans) from one container to another. Little Lion has also gotten very good at jumping with two feet, but we are working on standing on one foot and walking on a line.

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(For the full Montessori Scope and Sequence of skills you can check out this link for infants (birth-18 months) and this link (18 months and up). This is a great resource if you are wondering what children should be working on at various ages, according to Montessori teaching. I was happy to see a lot of these aligned nicely with the ASQ developmental questionnaires that my pediatrician asks me to fill out prior to each well visit, although the Montessori Scope and Sequence is much more thorough.)