Entering world of Montessori - update

It's been a week and two days since we completely changed Ethan's room. We got rid of his crib and made a floor bed out of his crib mattress. We bought him few things for sorting activities (just three different colored bawls with things that go inside and all from a Dollar store), went to IKEA and got a simple toy, he also got an early birthday gift from Ian's cousin - a toy in Montessori "style". Ethan has been great with his new environment since day one. First day he took a while to explore his "new" room and played forever until he finally passed out. Unfortunately I had no idea where exactly did he fall asleep, since the door was closed and I didn't want to take a chance to wake him up.  This was one of the reasons we had to purchase a camera to watch him and see how is he settling in his bed. It was my Valentine's day gift and I am so happy we bought it. It isn't a baby monitor/camera thing, it's actually a surveillance camera lol and it works GREAT! The first night he passed out cold on the floor so we had to go in and move him on to his bed, since then no more floor accidents and he is loving his independence. We are super proud of our boy. He is 11 months old + now.

My mother-in-law got me a Montessori book, so I can't wait to start reading it. We have a Montessori school in our town but I'm scared to look how much it cost haha For now we will be slowly switching all plastic toys on wooden+metal and just preparing little things here and there for Ethan to learn and have fun while he does so. I'll have to do lots and lots of reading and research to do everything right and have enough activities to cover all the aspects. It's very exciting. I'm just happy I found out about Montessori now and not too late.  

DIY inspo - Entering the world of Montessori

Internet is an amazing and VERY useful thing if you know what you need. Yes, you can waste way too much time online, but I've learned how to use my free time online as productive as possible. 

Lately I've been learning about Maria Montessori and her educational techniques. I have never heard of her before, never knew such thing existed. Now I'm thankful to my old blog+instagram, where I follow a few inspiring young mothers, I've discovered Montessori. It really is fascinating. If you anything like me (or how i was just a week or so ago) ..have no clue what Montessori education is, just goodle it and start with Wikipedia. Then just keep on clicking the links. When I'm done bookmarking all the things I found, I will make sure to share them with you later on. 

At this point I'm still very "green" in this, but what I am sure of - is that we are in love with principals of this education so far and I can not wait to start changing things around for Ethan and setting up every day activities, so his awake time is spent learning while having fun. It's all up to us what kind of a person he will grow up to be, we want to make sure we are giving him everything he needs to develop skills that will help him in the future. Since I am with him every day it's my natural responsibility to provide him with tools that encourage and feed his curious mind, so  he is learning every singe day. That's what I'm here for. 
The information I already have is quite overwhelming, but when I put things in order, make lists, mood-boards and so on..it helps me not to lose my focus. 

That's why today I threw together super quick DIY inspiration of activities, I would like to make soon. You can buy these guys online, but since I'm obsessed with making things on my own (in hopes it's not damaging our budget lol) I want to try and make this.

diy inspo - Montessori activities by marixa on Polyvore

Let me know your thoughts on Montessori education.

Have a great weekend!

Oh, these kids!

Today was an interesting day. First I made a bad choice by letting my son hang in his room diaperless (you know, that area absolutely needs some air as well) which resulted (TMI alert) in him taking a nice #2 on the floor. I'm sorry if this detail is offending you, but I can't help but laugh my behind off. So there was an unplanned bathing session in order. 

Btw we switched the rooms (something I was talking about here and here) without waiting on the floor being done. Ian actually explained my impatient head, that it's a winter with snow and rain, which makes it impossible to go outside and do all the cutting of paneling. Duhhh! Well, we did it last weekend and we are both thrilled how wonderful our "new" bedroom turned out. I even got to hang my DIY Mason Jar Pendant Lights. 

The reason, why I'm mentioning the room switching, is that because now the living room is much safer for Ethan to play in. We leave him there alone for quite some time when he is super busy. There are only two sofas and TV in it, with one door that has his baby gate in. The other door is blocked by one of the sofa I mentioned above. It's much smaller so he feels so much more confident walking around, since he can get from one side to another pretty quick. So while he was busy playing with some of his kitchen wear in the living-room  (kid has ton of toys but all he wants is ..NOT toys. haha) I had sometime to do a quick DIY project. A little in to it and I heard something I shouldn't be hearing. The door knob was making noses like someone was touching it. The only way for Ethan to do that is for him to be ON the sofa O_o I went in and yes, he was indeed on the sofa "dancing" with the big proud smile on his face lol Unfortunately his party was interrupted.

Well last but not least...Ethan now can open the doors and all of ours has old-school door knobs, it's quite tricky...so I have no clue how this almost 11 months old learned how to do that. Not to mention that he now, with no problem, can get off of the bed or sofa if he's hanging out with us. 

In 4 days exactly he will be 11 months old. I better get on to finishing the menu and making a trial cake. 

Ok, enough about us. Hope your week is going well! Stay healthy.

Ethan will be ONE in two months

Say what? How this even happened? Why so fast? Time is a crazy thing. Why days are so slow but months or even years are so fast!? You know what I mean? Anyhow...very soon my son will be one year old, very hard to believe and I don't even know what I'm feeling about it. All I know is that we are happy he's here and not sure if I remember how it was before him. 

Now to the fun part. Me and Ian decided that there's nothing bad about having low key 1st birthday party...or even 2nd, 3d etc for that matter. I remember my birthdays when I was little. They were lovely, in a small circle of friends with yummy cake my mom would always bake and other sugary deliciousness'. Kids would come and give me cute gifts, we would eat and watch cartoons and play games. While adults would have their own celebration with adult drinks and foods. I was always happy and never wanted more. I was very satisfied with all my birthdays. It was a nice "tradition" and we'd love to have a similar one for Ethan. We'll have few friends over with their kiddos, let Ethan eat his first cake and make a mess, we'll take tons of pics and adults will have their beers and finger foods. I'm excited. It will be my first party I will be hosting by myself...O_o 

For now I'm researching and making a "wish list" of things I'd like to get for our boy's birthday. I read somewhere that you should get something to wear, something to read and something to play with. I think that's how it goes. We already noticed he loves music and "dances" as soon as he hears a beat...so adorable. He also loves books, always carrying one around and chews on it haha Oh right! Talk about chewing. Everything ..EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. No matter what it is, the first time he touches a new thing he absolutely has to taste it first. That is why I am looking in to organic/natural/green wooden toys first. As well as some art supplies that are safe to "eat". As far as clothing - he has a ton hand-me-downs from our awesome cousin and her kids, so all he needs is shoes. And man, those things are expensive! 

So here are few things I found so far and can't wait for him to have it :) 

yes, I'm secretly enjoying every new toy he gets.

ethan's wish list by marixa on Polyvore

P.S. Under the shoes, there's a box of blocks with Russian alphabet. Ethan will be bilingual since his mommy's side is Ukrainian/Russian and daddy's American :)