Practical Life at 27 Months

I can't believe how quickly Q-ball is growing and how much she is now capable of doing on her own!  Although, it can still take a bit of patience on my part to give her the chances to do them  as it much faster when I do things.  And, it can take a bit of patience on her part as it's certainly easier for her if I do things.  

Dressing

• Q-ball picks out all of her clothes when directed.
• Q-ball can easily take off her sandals and put them away in the closet.  We are working on learning to put them on. We can do it on occasion, but need some more practice.
• She can put on and take off underwear and pants on her own, although Mama might need to straighten them at times. 
• She needs a little help with shirts- she's typically able to remove shirts on her own, but needs a little help getting them on.

Hygiene 

• If we prepare her toothbrush, Q-ball can brush her teeth by herself, but Mama or Daddy helps at least once a day to make sure all bases are covered.
• She is working on washing her hands on her own, but we need to get a better step stool- right now she can't completely reach the facets, which is a bit of a setback.
• After over a year of struggles and tears, she has learned to tip her head back when we are rinsing shampoo out of her hair.  This is a relief!

Cleaning

• Q-ball will occasionally clean-up materials on her own, but typically needs one or two reminders.  Some days, of course, we need lots of reminders and help, but by and large, things are returned to their shelves. 
• Q-ball helps me load and unload the washing machine and dryer.
• She places dirty clothes and dirty towels in the correct baskets.
• She cleans up her spills with available towels.
• She can carry her own plate, cup, and utensils to the table.  But, this is a something that has been really difficult for Mama to get into our routine- not because I don't trust her, but because we are juggling Daddy playtime, cleaning up materials, and hand-washing before dinner. I just need to do a better job of working it into the schedule.

Eating/Food Prep

• Q-ball lost interest in using her fork and spoon for awhile, but in about the past two weeks has taken to using her fork again- typically with little issue.
• She can cut veggies (carrots, celery, and a few others) on her own using a special knife.   
• We just tried pouring water for the first time in a long while. Overall it went well, but after a few minutes of practice and some excitement about the event, we did need to use a bath towel instead of a dish towel. 
  
  
  
  

Practical Life Activities at 21 Months

As I explained in this post, I feel that Q-ball now possesses the maturity, mental capacity, and most importantly, interest to start more formal Montessori activities.  She has always been very interested in what is going on in the kitchen, so I wanted to start with some basic kitchen practical life exercises.

Here's what we've been up to!

Chopping- While the idea of chopping with a 21-month-old may seem frightening to some, with this knife, we've had no issues.  Q-ball feels very involved in making dinner!  We've had the most luck with celery- they don't roll, make a nice "snap" upon cutting, and do not require too much pressure.

Pouring- Using a small Pyrex measuring pitcher, Q-ball has been pouring water into bowls.

"Spicing" and stirring-  Q-ball loves adding extra flavor to the water that she stirs while Mama is cooking.  Because spices can be a bit pricy, we've taken the less healthy route and gone through an entire box of table salt.

Water transfer with sponges- Q-ball has really been focused on "squeezing" recently, so transferring water from one bowl to another using a sponge has been a perfect activity to practice this skill.

Watch Her Grow...

This Week's Foci: Language and Life Skills

Interactions with Materials

• Q-ball really enjoyed taking control of practical life skills this week and worked to get her hands on "real" things whenever possible.  She's still very focused on learning to stir (is it still stirring if there's nothing in the bowl??)  and using a spoon and fork to eat.  She also loves picking up cups and drinking from them.
• She is still loving books. We read "The Ear Book" constantly.  When she spots clocks now, she sways from side to side and says, "Tick Tock."  Daddy and I taught her yesterday that watches are also clocks, and she seems to be catching on.
• She also loves her stroller!  About 3 weeks ago, I finally let go and removed the carseat from the stroller, so she no longer faces me when we go for runs or walks. It was a little hard for me, but she's loving it.  She's visibly excited when we pull out the stroller.

Interactions with Others

• She loves watching others.  At the playground, she'll stand at the bottom of the slide and watch the big kids go down and point and laugh at them. (She has quite the belly laugh!)

Interactions with Space

• No big changes with movements. Just lots of it!

Helping Mama clean-up. Rice stir-fry is hard to keep on a spoon!

Interactions with Life

• She so wants to help Mama with everything! I can certainly see the emergence and cause of toddler tantrums!  This week she has really tried to help Mama load the washing machine, fold clothes, water the plants, and vacuum and mop.
• I've tried to capitalize on these skills and reinforce our "clean up" practice.  She will now help me pick up a few bits of food that she "drops" from her high chair after meals.  It's still, of course, difficult to get her to focus on cleaning up all materials before moving on to something new, but I've still been diligent about demonstrating.
• We really need to get more practical life materials for her size, so she can learn to help herself.  I often see the Montessorian phrase "help me help myself" in her expressions.  But, I often think she's feeling more like, "ERRR....HELP ME HELP MYSELF!!"

What are your favorite sources of Montessori practical life materials?
 

To see the rational and purpose for the Watch Her Grow series, please check out this post!