On "help me do it myself" puzzles

I should start writing what L. does, or these moments will belong to a continuous of time I won't be able to single out when I'll look back.

I'll start with puzzles.
I introduced puzzles gradually.
I started too early with a 3-circle puzzle. He must have been 12 months, more or less. He wasn't able to finish it and would just get frustrated.

L. spends very little time at home with his toys, and while his gross motor skills benefit *a lot* from daycare, quiet activities like stacking, matching, puzzling (..) are left on the side. At around 15 months I offered again the 3-circle puzzle and was a hit.
I also took a video that would be a perfect Montessori spot, all about self-correction and repetition.

At around 16 months I introduced more circles, but it was too easy. So I went with single more complicated shapes. Square and triangle, first separately then together.

It worked.
By 19 months I wanted to scale it up a bit.
I offered again square and triangle that were out for rotation. He took some times to get that again, but now he passes by the shelf and fits them in, casually, between a tour on his little bike and a climbing adventure on the couch. I don't even notice him doing it most of the time, I just find the puzzle completed.
I'll leave them out as long as I find that he's using it.
And I offered this as well:

I like it, because he's guided by the image on the board, and because the knob are
I wasn't sure he would pick it up. He's in love with transportation now (and ambulances firetrucks dumpers diggers bulldozer), so I figured that the single pieces would meet his interested even if the puzzle was too hard.
I planned to offer some matching activities first, but I didn't find the time to make it, and now that I did, he doesn't seem to care.

It turned out it wasn't necessary. This morning (19.5m) he completed the puzzle by himself. Almost by himself, because he asked for help when I sat besides him, although there was only a piece missing.

Two beautiful links on toddler and puzzles:
12-18 months
18-24 months

Also, notice the way the puzzle is offered. Dismantled. It makes a key difference. And it helps for clean-up as well.

Don't interrupt - then why?

Yesterday morning we were enjoying the usual weekend cappuccino. Lorenzo didn't want to sit with us, and went playing with his xilophone. It was a present of his uncle, a proper instrument, and he much prefers it to the wooden one, since it's way more noisy :-)
He can't open it (it's difficult for me as well) and always ends up frustrated in the attempt. Not yesterday. Yesterday he was happily playing with its retractable legs. So I stood up from the table, I went over, and I opened it for him.
He started his music production immediately obviously, but I wondered - why did I do it?
My intervention was uncalled for and unneeded.
The overly passionate "don't-interrupt!"-advocate (me) anticipated his desire to play and his frustration but, in reality, interrupted his real activity in that moment.
It's not easy to see clearly sometimes!

Basilico

One of the key principles advocated by Maria Montessori is to use only a “positive discipline”.

Easier read than done - what does it *really* mean?

But then, last week.

Last week Lorenzo climbed up the table in the living room, pulled the table runner and began to rudely  play with the basil plant he could now reach (we haven't adjusted the safety to his standing skills yet). Rather than telling him another “NO”, rather than moving the vase higher, I showed him how to touch the leaves gently, with his fingertips.

And to my very own surprised, he understood. He climbed up the table many times, and many times he touched the basil. Softly, with his fingertips.

Trying to replicate with a plant :-)

I couldn't get that on camera, but incredibly it worked twice (picture above).

I won’t dream of him doing it every time. He’ll forget. He’ll want to discover the consequences of his behavior, my reaction, the noise of the vase smashed on the floor.

But Lorenzo lives in the desperate need of discover the world. And, sometimes, he just needs to discover new ways of doing that.

And for us, as parents, what is more beautiful, more rewarding that teaching him to do that with marvel and respect?

Toys shelf at 11 months

I was hoping that after the long Christmas holidays, Lorenzo would look at his room and toys as if it was the first time.
Instead, the Imbucare box and the stacking tower were suffering from abandonment.
It was time to upgrade the shelf. 

Toy shelf in his room:

1. A tissue box with silk cutouts.
Not really reflecting the aesthetic idea promoted by Maria Montessori but we'll work on that.
At the moment Lorenzo enjoys pulling them out. But they are incredibly versatile, and very much loved. We received them as a present, from here.

2. A DYI imbucare box.

3. Stacking ring tower. 

4. "Sensorial" balls. 
Lorenzo was never particularly warm about them (although it's at least 3 months that he enjoys passing and receiving a ball).

5. Galt pop-up toys. 
As soon as I bought it, I made the mistake of showing him the jumps. He couldn't replicate the movement, and became so frustrated that he was tossing the toy as soon as he saw it. I had to hide it for a couple of weeks.
This is the only toy we bought for him. I like the toys that can evolve. Now he's putting the little men in place, later he'll make them bolt out or use them for colour recognition.

6. Matryoshka.

Other rooms:

Since most of our time is spent in the living room/kitchen, Lorenzo is using his room mostly during the weekends. As a consequence I started paying more attention to the material we spread around the house (before there were just wooden blocks close to the kitchen counter).

At the moment, it counts three areas: 

- some books on our bookshelf, 

- a reserved space in the always-present Expedit 
(how can I speak Montessori without an Expedit).
The Expedit is now devoted to the exploration of musical instruments.
Soon I'll import my old portable stereo to make him independent in the music area. He's a dancer, and deserves a musical area well defined and complete.

- A trolley close to the kitchen counter:

It contains:

1. A plastic book with rhymes.

A present from a friend, and I'm thankful for it. He loves to press the button (it turns red) and dance to the music.

2. a teether. 

3. The stacking cups. 

There are ten cups in total but so far, I have given him only three. This is already challenging enough.

4. Wooden blocks with two containers,

5. Sensory bottles. 

There have been out for a while, but he's only enjoying them now.



He also has a couple of drawers from the kitchen that are safe for him. He loves to pull out cutting board and oven pans. And, surprise surprise, he's starting to put them back in as well! Yey! 

Make him grow, let him grow

Lorenzo is nine months. Nine months seems like a good moment to start writing on his blog, there is a beautiful symmetry about it. Nine months ago he was born, nine months before that he started to exists. 

I don't like symmetry, but it's too long that I want to write of us, and I welcome the excuse gladly. 

We are quiet again after the granparents visits. 

Granpa was shut in Lorenzo's room for a full weekend to renovate it the way I dreamt. He disassembled, drilled, reassembled, created. A beautiful montessori little room. 

And now it's night, it's late. I look at his room. 

Mixed feelings. 

I am grateful, above all - because I could have my way, because of the skills and kindness of Lorenzo's granpa- and I am excited. For the new room, its beauty, the open possibilities. But the excitement is hesitant. It is not (only) the fear that Lorenzo might not like it. It's another fear, deeper. Lorenzo will have his room, his bed, his space. His independence - and all the means to start developing it that we, and I, so strongly wanted. 

He won't be this ball of softness that wakes us up every morning in an over-crowded bed. 

He will grow up. And we have to follow, too. But above all, we'll have to let him grow.