It’s the stage of exploring! She’s been LOVING her freedom. She loves to crawl all over the house. Good thing the house isn’t that big so I can always keep track of where she is. I mentioned in my Instagram that I gave up on the gate. I was getting SO attached to the gate because.. well, it kept her in there and I can do my own stuff. But as I read more and more Montessori blogs – I really wanted to embrace the Montessori environment which means I have to act the part!
Creating the Montessori Space in your home
The Montessori phrase “Help me to do it by myself” is probably the most important concept to keep in mind when raising your baby. Create an environment that will help your baby gain as much independence as possible.
There are many things you can do to make your home a Montessori-friendly toddler environment. You’ll want to have low shelves with activities in baskets and on trays, toddler-size table and chair, and real child-size tools and utensils. Practical life activities for care of self, care of the environment, control of movement, and grace and courtesy will be essential.
Which means yes- NO GATES!
This does mean I should get a mattress floor bed…. but I really don’t like that look so I’m going to opt out of that, but please do get the floor bed if it’s for you!
BEFORE
AFTER
Here’s a list of things I followed:
- Lowered shelves
- Reachable toys
- Childproof the living room
- Reading area
- Safe mat/carpet
- Tidy – after each play put the toys away and if possible, disinfect the place with R-Zero Systems or similar devices at the end of the day. She’s too young to put her own toys away so I just put it away for her and sanitize the place, this way she is used to a clean and tidy space.
- Play one toy at a time
Baby Activities – SWIMMING
I try to let her explore and socialize as much as possible. I signed up for her swimming lessons. OH ITS SO CUTE it warms my heart! The below video is going to make you laugh. Oh silly chubby bunny!
Some of the benefits:
- Swimming Improves Cognitive Functioning
- Swimming Improves Confidence
Cross-patterning movements build neurons throughout the brain, but especially in the corpus callosum, which facilitates communication, feedback, and modulation from one side of the brain to another
- reading skills
- language development
- academic learning
- spatial awareness
Swim lessons with our babies is such a special bonding moment while teaching them life skills along the way!
Keep on swimming, keep on swimming!!
Introducing her to Latte
I’ve been keeping latte at a distant because I wasn’t sure if she would be allergic to him or not, but once she started to sit on her own I started to introduce latte to her.
Of course, she hits him with a bag of treats. LOL At least she’s not scared of Latte!
Baby Sign Language Class
I love the benefits of sign language
When babies can’t communicate constructively they get frustrated, leading to tantrums and meltdowns. We have all experienced the feeling of helplessness when trying to comfort an inconsolable baby, guessing at what they want.
Baby Sign Language lets babies communicate what they want. They can tell you if they want their teddy bear, when they are hungry, if it is too hot, or if their tummy hurts. Families that sign report that both parents and child experience less frustration.
- Practical: less fussing and more fun.
- Emotional: creates a closer parental bond.
- Cognitive: boosts brain development.
When you and your baby are able to communicate, it forges a closer bond. When you and your baby can understand each other, it increases the feeling of closeness.
Early exposure to signing helps babies develop their language and reasoning skills. While other babies are still yelling to get what they want, signing babies are learning how to communicate with words and simple phrases. Not to mention, as they grow up, they might come in contact with people in their age group that have hearing difficulties. While most people with such conditions tend to wear Bluetooth hearing aids (see examples on https://www.earpros.com/hearing-aids/hearing-aid-technology/bluetooth-hearing-devices or similar pages) and other such devices, it can be hard to communicate with them unless you know sign language. So, by teaching that to your babies, you can ensure that they will be able to hold conversations with anybody, regardless of the disabilities they might have.
So I try to take her to the Baby Sign class once a week, but they fill up SO FAST. Oh all you tiger moms in Markham.
And I love this game. It’s so cute watching her!
Learning to drink from a cup
I’ve been training her to be as independent as possible. So I’ve been teaching her to drink from a cup, I actually took off the stopper from the sippy cup, and just let the water come out, of course, we had many spills… but she’s getting better now!
NAPS? NO NAPS??
I don’t know about any other 9 month olds…. but when this one turned 9 months. She REFUSES to go down for her 3rd nap. She would just scream/talk to herself for a good hour, sometimes she would tire herself out and sleep, but most days – I just gave up and let her play until bedtime. BUT it’s a LONGGGGGG awake time!!! She would take her second nap from 12-2pm. From 2pm – 7:30pm she’s awake!!! There are days I KNOW she’s tired but REFUSE to sleep. No matter what I do!
So now, we just try to move her bedtime earlier so she can sleep, but that also means she’s waking up 30mins earlier in the morning!
Teething
She’s teething is like a boss. She has 4 upper teeth coming out at the same time. YES 4. One already poked out and the rest are slowly coming out. I see it. The horror.
At first I didn’t know she was teething I just thought she was just being EXTRA clingy MORNING, DAY and NIGHT. But when her one teeth poked out, I was like OHHHHH it makes sense. I thought was going through some separation anxiety. Some SERIOUS ones. Putting her to sleep was a nightmare, she kept waking up at 3am in the morning and refuse to go back to sleep. Screams as if someone is murdering her.
Fun. Times.
If one is down, we all go down
I always brushed it off when my friends who have kids say their entire family is sick again. I always thought, he can’t be THAT bad??? That little human can’t infect the whole household.
Well.
I was so very wrong. I feel like we’ve been non – stop sick since December. One after another. First she got sick, which got us ALL sick. That virus legit lasted 3 weeks in our household. Got better for a few days and I somehow got sick again. Fast forward a few weeks later I got hit by the stomach flu which took the entire household down.
I just can’t wait for her daycare to start.
Self care
What self care?!!? I just try to survive on a daily basis right now. She’s so active I have zero time for myself. I try to fit in my workout routine once a day, 3 times a week. It’s tough!!!
But I’m trying.
I’m trying hard to get my flat stomach back. Needs ALOT OF TONING. If i wasn’t sick every other week I think it would had been easier, but when you are sick, you just want to die on the couch. After recovery, you get so lazy and try to get your motivation going again. It’s hard!
Hope everyone is having a good week!
Thanks so much for reading!
