Cloth Diapering "Stash."

I needed to find a picture tonight, and while doing so I stumbled across our cloth diapering "stash" pictures over the last 2 years. I do not have a current stash picture as it is changing, and (although I've not mentioned it here yet) I'm growing our newborn stash for our newest addition that is due in June. I thought I would share though.

Avery's very first diapering stash. We did not know what was going to work for us so tried a lot of different things.


Once I learned what I liked and did not like, this is what Avery's stash looked like.


... and this one just for fun. Loved all the color combinations we had at this time!


More switching/growing happened as I found more of what we loved...


This is the last picture I have taken. This was last years stash right before we started getting rid of Mediums and after we had gotten Medium Longs.

Bless You!

Today I sneezed in the car on the way to work. My not-quite-18-month-old said "Bless you." It was so cute.

This evening after she got home? She's been pretend sneezing over and over again. No more "Bless You's" though.

Buzzzz & Raspberries

A few days ago, Randy was reading Avery a story, and there was a picture of a bee. He said Buzz and did some buzz-buzz-buzz tickling. Now, every time Avery sees a bee in one of her books or hears us say it or buzz, she takes our hands and has us buzz/tickle her.

For awhile now she's also been fascinated with raspberries on the belly. (Not sure if I mentioned it before or not). Most of the time she wants Me (Mommy) to give Daddy a raspberry on his belly. She will pull our shirts up and "pretend raspberry" and gets a big kick out of it. My favorite (that almost always makes me giggle) is when she pulls my shirt up and tries to pull my head down so I can give myself a raspberry on my belly. Yep.. not going to happen baby. LOL.

More Words...

Tonight, Avery pointed to a picture of a toy telephone, and said "Phone- Beep Beep Beep." Randy heard it too. Funny little girl. =o) She will be 14 months on the 26th.

Today also started her transition to the next room at Daycare. She's loving it. According to her daily sheet she painted with a paint brush, and sat in the book area and sang songs and listened to stories. Aww.

Although Randy did forward facing on Friday, today (3/23) was also my first day with Avery forward facing in the car seat! Friday was her first day going to Nana & Papa's with Daddy without Mommy (I had to work.) Lots of firsts this week!

Montessori School

I found out from a co-worker of mine that they opened up a Montessori elementary school in our area this past fall. Avery is still a few years away from elementary school, but I find the concept of Montessori very interesting. Sounds like they had a few problems that needed worked out when they first opened. Hopefully they will be resolved by the time we are looking into it.

I want to learn more about the Montessori concept, so I ordered a few books books to check out from half.com.

"How to raise an amazing child the montessori way" by Tim Seldin

and

"Teaching Motessori at Home: The Pre School Years" by Elizabeth G. Hainstock & Lee Havis

I also found this interesting description of Montessori materials on facebook.

Montessori Material
Practical Life
The practical life exercises are the first contact the child has with the Montessori environment. They have been planned in such a way that the child will gain a control of his environment through language and motor control as he progresses in the exercises. Motor control is accomplished through coordination of both the large and small muscles and also hand-eye coordination. The child develops a sense of dignity and independence. He/She is able to control the environment and at the same time is being prepared for later skills, such as writing.
Movement and activity are inherent in all the exercises. The child learns through movement “The hand is the instrument of the mind” (Dr. Maria Montessori). The child learns faster when he is able to actively participate. This activity also holds the child’s attention, provides motivation for the exercise itself, actually calms and satisfies the child's inner needs. Mental and physical stimulation presented together seem to refresh the child rather than fatigue him. The child will want to finish what he has started.
The Practical Life exercise are most important. They not only teach the child the direct skills, but also indirectly prepare him for all of his life's work, even the type of individual he will become. Practical life is the beginning, and all projects that are to succeed must have a strong foundation. Practical Life is a foundation for a life as an independent and satisfied individual.

Sensorial
All children love to touch things and explore their environment. They are constantly prying and poking and investigating. Children are attracted to these stimuli for themselves, not for the reasons for things. Montessori noted this and recognized the need for something more that just the education of the intellect in the classroom
The child is gathering up perceptions from his environment constantly. Montessori strove to refine or build up their powers by educating the senses themselves. All that is to become an idea, and abstraction, first sprang from a touch, or a smell or some physical contact. The stimuli are first perceived by the senses, which activate the nerves which send the impression to the brain. The intellect, through the senses, creates abstract ideas.
Montessori sought to train or exercise the senses through the use of specially designed sensorial equipment. This equipment she terms "didactic', which means educative, or that which educates. Hence, it is the material that does the teaching through the child's manipulation of it. This "auto-education", learning though movement of the materials, is a basic concept of sense training. The materials appeal to the child when presented, but are also designed to function as a basis for future work. It is the job of the sensorial materials to gradually increase the child's ability to perceive things in a more refined and ordered way. The exercises are graded so that the child can perceive first strong contrasts and are gradually refined to finer and more delicate differences. The child is provided with an opportunity to repeat these exercises as often as he wishes for repetition is what builds and exercise the senses.

Mathematics
The journey of Mathematics starts with concrete materials that lead to abstract understandings. Montessori Math materials provide many opportunities to experience number as quantity and measurement. Counting shells, objects and rods of graduating lengths gives the child a sensorial "feel' for numerical properties. Sandpaper numerals are presented for the child to trace and form a "muscle memory" for later writing of that numeral. When the child has mastered the concepts of `1-9, the decimal system can be introduced concretely by use of the golden bead material. Beautiful, hand made glass beads represent units, tens , hundreds and thousands. The child can construct 4 digit numbers using these materials in the Bank Game. They build quantities and match the symbols (numerals) to them. We do not expect children of this age to be proficient in 4 digit numbers, that is not the goal of these exercises. It is to form a foundation for future learning. Anything experienced concretely at this age will stay with your child. When they are in third or fourth grade and these concepts are presented in a abstract way, this early contact will be recollected and lead to mastery.
Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division are also introduced in a concrete manner. The child can experience the action of these processes e.g. addition is putting things together, subtraction, taking things away. In like manner, fractions are handled and understood. Long and short bead chains are counted introducing skip counting, preparation for multiplication. These chains are based on the square and cube of numbers, indirectly preparing them for future learning. Math in a Montessori classroom is dynamic and enjoyable, a first choice of many of the students.

Language
Language is an ongoing acquisition in a Montessori classroom. Since the earliest Practical Life and Sensorial activities things have been named and identified. Comparatives and Superlatives e.g. big, bigger, biggest are integrated into these activities. In the science and Geography materials animals, countries, land forms, water forms, insect, plants, parts of trees, leaves and flowers have been discussed. Children learn the names of shapes, parallelogram, rhombus, pentagon, curvilinear triangle, all with hands on experience with these shapes. Children love language, English as well as other languages are easily assimilated at this age. Exposure to the diversity of life around us is part of the curriculum.
Reading begins early by tracing sandpaper letter and learning the phonetic sound of these letters. Children can handle objects that begin with these sounds. Reading starts out much more abstract that Math, but it involves a finite number of sounds to experience and memorize. Once these have been mastered a child can begin to build words with the moveable alphabet. This is more of a phonetic spelling activity than reading. By repeated experience with this sounding out of words, the child comes to the spontaneous discovery one day that this arrangement of symbols has meaning c-a-t translates into cat, the child has taught herself how to read. Now they begin to sound out all words around them, on signs, cereal boxes, anywhere. This "explosion" into reading is the culmination of all the language experiences. Since English is not a truly phonetic language we then present the "exceptions" such as the, ch, sh. The child now has the skills to attack any new words they come upon. This is one of the advantages of a phonetic approach to reading.
Story writing and creative expressions are encouraged. Spelling is not corrected in the beginning of these activities. It is more important that the idea be expressed. Later, corrections can be made when the child has experienced success.

Geography and Science Materials
Montessori presents the world to the child. We start with the globe of land and water. The areas of land are called the continents. The areas of water are the oceans. Then each land and water area is explored. Puzzle maps of each continent are available. Children love puzzles. As they work with them, the names of the continents are used, later the names of the countries are also introduced. It depends on the interest of the child. Folders of pictures representative of life in each continent are available. Parents and other presenters come into the classroom to talk about other countries, show slides, make food, teach songs, dress in native garments. We live in a global society. All children should be exposed at an early age to all races and ethnic cultures. This promotes understanding and peace.
The science material begins with the natural world around us. Animals, birds, insects, reptiles and amphibians are compared and contrasted. Children look at different biomes of the world. Parts of plants, leaves and flowers are presented in puzzle form. Real specimens are taken apart and studied. The world of nature fascinates children. We teach respect for and care of all living things. Other science experiments and experiences are introduced. Magnets, Light, Color, Physical Properties are explored with hands-on open ended activities.

Avery's Words just shy of 14 months

Avery says all kinds of things.. I'm not even sure I know all the things she says, and she doesn't always repeat them a lot.. you just hear her saying them in passing..

a-boo (for peek-a-boo)
apple
arf (like a dog)
Bye bye
bee
baby
bottle
balloon
bubble
ball
bak bak bak (like a chicken)
book
cat
dog
dada
daddy
feet
(f)ish (more like "Ish")
granny
juice (duice)
kitty
meow
mama (rarely calls me this, but says it)
moo
owl
p(l)ease (kind of leaves the L out)
pig
shoe
ut-oh
who (like an owl)
wow
woo(f) woo(f) (like a dog)
yes (more like yees)
yum

She also does signs for milk, more, all done, and shakes her head no.

Random & Ravelry

How neat is this site with all the Muffin Tin snacks & such?

In other news... getting back into knitting again after a long time away. I finally decided to take the plunge (since my birthday is coming up) and ordered the full set of Knit Picks Options Interchangable Needles. It will be so nice to actually be able to do fitted items without worrying about not having the right size for it. My plan is to start on this Honeycomb vest (except with some alteration to knit in the round) in Persimmon Heather Swish DK Yarn.

In other knitting news... finally signed up with Ravelry. It is absolutely fantastic!

In real life... I am now an exlusive pumping veteran. I was only getting about 1 oz of breast milk every 48hrs, so stopped pumping last Wednesday. Although I would have liked to make it to a year.. all in all 8 1/2 months wasn't bad. =o) I'm now trying to put some of that energy into making Avery's foods. Tonight I made some Kiwi- apple. I'm curious to see what she thinks of it. Her favorites right now are Pumpkin Cinnamon & Pumpkin Cinnamon Apple. =o) She will eat every bite of these two.

Okay.. off to stuff diapers. Goodnight. =o)

ETA: Oh yeah! Did I mention that Avery has been chasing the cats?? =o) She's "scooting" around (not quite crawling as she doesn't get up on her knees, but instead does something more like an army crawl & pushing with her feet (looks kind of like climbing on the ground to me.). She's pretty fast at it too. She absolutely L-O-V-E-S the kitties.

First Words..

Okay.. so when do you count a word as a first word? Do you count it if they don't repeat it more than once?

For the last week or two Avery has been saying "Hi" while waving at daycare. I haven't heard it although I was there once when she did it. We've been trying over and over to get her to do it at home with no results. Her favorite thing to say is "Ah" and she likes to "Ah" back and forth with everyone (including several of the other babies at her daycare.. apparantly she's a bit of a trend setter.. )

We've been trying to get her to say Mommy, Daddy, Mama, Dada.. etc. for awhile now..

Tonight she was rolling around, looked at me and said "Mama." She didn't repeat it, but both Randy & I heard it...

Then, a co-worker of mine gave me a 3 foot tall giraffe for Avery. It was a much belated shower gift, and I had brought it in and Avery was examining it, patting it, etc. My DH & I were discussing names.. and I looked at Avery and asked what she wanted to name it and she said "Daddy." She wouldn't repeat that one either. (Her timing was just perfect though! Very funny!)

I don't know whether to count any of these as first words as they could have all been coincidences.. .. but how funny! Two one time words in one night. I told her if she wanted to go ahead and crawl tonight she could be 3 for 3, but she didn't go for it. Funny girl!

Avery received mail..

Yesterday Avery received a "Begin Smark Books" book and DVD sample in the mail. I do remember signing up for a giveaway on the 5 minute for books blog (but I didn't win). I have no idea what I did to get the book & DVD for free. ... if I remember I'll let you know. The book is Yummy Yummy. I haven't had a chance to check out the DVD yet. I want to say I remember filling out some kind of a survey on the site.. but I haven't been able to find a trace of it. Mommy brain has apparantly set in.

Silly Songs with Alley: Vol 1

I don't know why.. but I'm always making up new lyrics to songs and singing them to Avery. Here is a current "favorite" of both of ours...

Sung to Michael Jacksons "Beat It" in reference to Avery's bottle.

Heat It... Heat It.... Heat It so that I can Eat It...
It's been in the fridge.. so it is cold.. but it won't take long for you to.. just Heat it ...

'cause I want to eat that.. Just Heat It... Heat It.. Heat It so that I can Eat It...

LOL

Now if I could just get it out of my head!

Coming up for Air..

Avery has been sick for the last few days. She's been sick before, but not like this. I think she had a little bit of everything! It started off with a cough.. and she quickly added diarrhea, a diaper rash, a runny nose & sneezing, a high temperature (103.3 at the highest), an ear ache, and a few bouts of vomitting. All that.. and she's chewing on her tongue and drooling so I believe she's really starting to teeth too. My normally happy girl.. has been feeling awful, and pretty much attached at my hip. Everytime I tried to lay her in her own crib she would wake up crying. Everytime I've changed a diaper she would cry due to the diaper rash. Although we normally cloth diaper.. I can't use the diaper rash cream we usually love because it works within one usage directly on the cloth diapers, so I've been alternating with disposables... but the diarrhea just aggervates it no matter what I do.

We went to the doctor yesterday, and due to the high temp, and the infected ear, they gave her an antibiotic shot. She's also on antibiotics for 10 days. Avery still gets some breast milk, but is on mostly formula (My body has been slowly trying to wean for awhile now). The doctor gave me an anti diarrhea formula, and that really seems to have helped. Her fever has broken, and I've finally been able to let her sleep in her swing for a bit.. or let her play in her exersaucer and get a few minutes away.

I'm so glad she's feeling better and more like herself. Usually when she's asleep I've done necessary things (i.e. make bottles, pump, shower, eat, etc..).. but the last few days have made doing just normal things more difficult unless Randy has been home.

I need mental rest as well as physical.. so I know this isn't that interesting.. just what life has been like the last few days.

Oddly enough.. I've got a lot of reading done. Since she wanted to be held while she slept, I kept a book nearby. I went through 2 in the last 2 days.

Half-y Birthday to You...

Today Avery turned 6 months old. It's hard to believe it's already been half a year. My husband Randy kept saying "Half-y Birthday" to her today. LOL. I thought it was appropriate. I made sure to take lots of pictures. Here are some of the best in no particular order.

























She has just started sitting on her own for short periods of time. The most I've counted has been 45 seconds.. although usually it is not that long. Here is some pictured proof..

Bibs...

Just got Avery some of these fantastic fused bibs! They look really wipable, eco-friendly, and the price was really good! =o)

To Make..

These picture frames inspire me. I think I could make something similar for Avery's room.

My beautiful little girl...

At my husbands suggestion I took Avery outside on Saturday to try to get some pictures of her.. Here is one of my favorites. =o)

Baby Interaction

My little girl Avery is just a little over 5 months old. You could always tell that she just loves social interaction.. with kids, babies, adults, you name it. It has been fun to see her really start interacting more and more with others. When it comes to playing though, at this age babies are more likely to play side by side than with each other. I took Avery in to daycare this morning, and there was a new little girl there. I put Avery down to play on the playmat nearby. The new little girl crawled over and (to my surprise.. and Avery's too) began hitting Avery on her head. Now I know the little girl this age doesn't really know what she's doing. She just wanted to "play" with (as the daycare provider called it) her new toy. LOL. Avery didn't really fuss about it at first, although I did go over to reposition her a little bit. Before I left though? Avery had moved back to the other little girl and was hitting the little girl on HER head. Retaliation? I don't know.. LOL.. I wouldn't think she could comprehend it at this age.. but when I said "Avery, don't hit her just because she hit you." ... she did look at me like "Why not Mom?" I'm thinking she's been watching too much Gladiator with Daddy?