Our outdoor environment

E really enjoys her playtime outdoors. She crawls around, puts things in her mouth (which I promptly take out), and tries to grab and feel everything she can get her hands on!

Our indoor environment

E has been crawling for a while now so has access to anything she can reach. We have selected some of her favorite board books to be placed in a tiny basket in each room. She loves crawling to the basket and selecting a book to flip through.





Her playroom has a variety of toys on shelves within reach. The toys we would like her to wait to play with, we placed on the higher shelves. So far she has only selected toys on the lowest shelf (the toys we think are the most age-appropriate). We have placed some artwork at her eye-level that we thought she may enjoy. She loves both paintings and the professional photograph! In the back, you can see her desk. This is a toddler-sized set and was the smallest we could find. It is still a bit big for her but she still LOVES sitting at the desk and playing with some select wooden toys that she can bang on the table to make noise. She can exit the chair by herself (although its more of a slide/allowing herself to fall the short distance).

Sand exploration

I was a little hesitant to put E in the sand. Partly because I was worried she would grab a handful and immediately shove it in her mouth, or worse, her eyes. But I wanted to try. She actually only put her hand in her mouth once - and took it out just as quickly. She loved raking her hand in the sand making a pattern in the ocean-smoothed beach. She also liked slapping down a shell to make unique imprints in the sand. She was so into what she was doing, I could not even get her to look up for a quick 7-month pic. I guess that is exactly how you want them to be. So enthralled in exploring that they are tuned out to what is happening around them. The strong wind that day muted all sound except an occasional audible splash from the ocean. She didn't smile, didn't look to me for reassurance. She seemed to know exactly what to do.

Self feeding

When I told E's doctor at her 6 month appointment that we were going to encourage self-feeding he sort of chuckled and said, "um no, she won't be able to do it". Well here Mr. Doc, here is a picture of my 6 month old feeding herself:

I do feed E most of the time, but encourage her to feed herself when she is interested.

She also drinks from a glass (with me holding it). I imagine this is not too impressive and actually quite common for breast fed babies. E won't touch a bottle, sippy, or anything resembling anything other than a cup. She will close her lips tight and turn away. She will however drink from anything I drink from which actually has me wondering if I should start drinking from a sippy...

Welcome Home Montessori

Well, here we are. E is already almost 6 months old and while we have attempted to only provide her with Montessori-type toys, the inevitable baby electronics with loud noises, beeps, spinny things, Spanish option switches, ect. have already somehow crept into our home. In some ways I am so tempted to think they may be beneficial; with Mozart's Piano Sonata screaming out at her with a push of a button, or learning cause and effect with the plastic piano notes that blare out the key color in English (or Spanish!). But are they? Can't I just tell her the color? I have to say its been great to plop her in front of some of these plastic wonderlands as I am loading the dishwasher or running to the bathroom. But somewhere inside me there is guilt. Couldn't she be finding just as much joy in banging her wooden rattle against her wooden Gnome? Probably not. But maybe in these moments, rather than getting immediate gratification from an electronic toy, she would be forced to create new entertainment with simpler toys or the environment around her. Still, somehow, I can't help but wonder... if I take away these fancy, plastic, spinning, singing toys, will she get behind? Will she not learn how to spin a clear wheel full of beads or how to pull down rather than push to get a plastic guitar to sing to her? What about the piano keys? I don't have the answer, but it is something I have struggled with.

My decision is to regift these gifts. To be honest, E is already loosing interest in most of these anyway - she quickly learned how to make noise with each and we just brought them out for the first time a week ago. So, bye bye plastic wonderlands, loud beeps, and frantic entertainment. A child with no toys will be thrilled to have you.