Disclaimer: The Chameleon Reader was sent to me to try out for free, but this post is not required/compensated.  All opinions are my own 🙂

Are you one of those people who waits until the week before Christmas to do your shopping, or do you have it all done by Thanksgiving?

I’m a bit of a mix.  I kind of love wandering through the stores with all of their holiday decor and music (while my kids are napping and my husband is home with them, obvi – I don’t do shopping with kids unless it’s Target.)

But, if I don’t have most of the shopping done ahead of time I start to panic a bit.  My ideal scenario is to buy everything ahead of time except for small gifts and stocking stuffers and pick those up in-store in December.

All this to say that while, yes, it’s November and not yet Thanksgiving, I’m got the gift list nailed down for everyone, even my impossible-to-buy-for husband.  If you’re still looking for a unique gift for your child, I have something really cool to tell you about today!

We recently got a Chameleon Reader and I am IN LOVE!  I actually lay in bed the night after we got it thinking of all of the different ways I want to use it…yes I am that nerdy.  I would love to wait until I’ve tried all of the capabilities to tell you about it, but this is a super busy time for our family (and probably everyone else) and I wanted to share in time for holiday shopping.

In its most basic form, the Chameleon reader lets you turn ANY of your kid’s books into audiobooks using your own voice.  You just put little stickers on each page and record yourself (or your child! or a grandparent!) reading the book.  They can then use the little pen to play the story back. (this short video shows how it works.

I love this because we experimented a little bit with story podcasts for my son the last time we traveled and while he liked them, he really only liked hearing the stories he already knew like Jack and the Beanstalk or The Little Red Hen.  He was not yet 3 at the time and I think it was too hard for him to follow/get engaged with the stories he wasn’t already familiar with, with no pictures to look at.

With the Chameleon though, I can record all of his favorite books and he has the capacity to listen to them any time he wants.  Obviously, nothing replaces reading to your child because so much of the benefit comes from the conversations you have and the explanations you give while reading.  But, I know that since having a second child I don’t read to James as much as I used to and I love that he can listen to his favorites on repeat.  He also loves being able to choose a book and “read” it independently without having to ask someone.

We are still hanging on to nap time for dear life over here, but I know that eventually (and probably soon), he will transition away from nap and I plan to replace it with “quiet time”.  I think having some books and his Chameleon reader in his room during quiet time would be perfect.

I also really wish I had known about this right when Lilah was born, because it would have been the perfect thing to offer James while I was feeding Lilah for so much of the day as a newborn.

I am frantically recording as many books as possible at the moment because I want to surprise him with some on our upcoming plane trip for Thanksgiving.  There is a headphone jack, so it’s the perfect non-screen time activity for travel.  We actually haven’t introduced screen time to James yet (though we’re thinking of starting with Charlie Brown’s Christmas this year!).  The Chameleon makes the perfect independent, quiet activity for kids who don’t do screen time yet, or if you’re trying to cut back.

Another really cool way you can use the Chameleon reader is to record a book in multiple languages.  You can record each book in up to 4 languages using the stickers.  I am not fluent enough in another language to do this, but I have a few friends who are raising bilingual children and I know they would LOVE this!  I’m going to see if they might be willing to help me record a few books in another language for James and Lilah.  James is super interested in other languages and I know he’d love this!

Here are a few of the ways I’m most excited to use the Chameleon:

• Recording his favorite music into a playlist: This is another capability and one I’m excited about because currently, I play his favorite songs on repeat from my phone/speaker, but I would love for him to be able to play them independently.
• To link the MP3s to his Music Together books so he can play those songs with the books whenever he wants.  I think he will love this because there are certain songs he loves and others he always wants to skip.
• To record messages from extended family in a photo book for him.  I’m most excited about this and hope to start at Thanksgiving since there are people we only see once or twice a year.  I have a photo board book I made him for his first birthday, so I may use that or may make another photo book.
• To invite my parents to record some of the books they’re giving him for Christmas.  I think he would love being able to hear them read to him since they don’t live in the same city!

If you have a niece or nephew or grandchild who lives far away, I think it would be SO fun to record stories for them and send them along with the Chameleon.

My other favorite thing about this?

I was excited when the company reached out to me to share the product, but I kind of thought it might be the kind of thing where you get it, and then are constantly having to buy more stickers to record more stories.  No.  It comes with 5000 stickers!  I could easily record every children’s book we have and have more leftover.  Love it.

I couldn’t recommend this more and I think it will become a go-to gift for me for 2nd or 3rd birthdays.  It does ship from overseas so go ahead and order soon if you think your kid would love it!

I definitely plan to share more once we use it a bit more.

Also, please share any ideas you have for cool ways we could use this!

What is your go-to gift for kids?  I’d love to know!

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It’s funny, last month Lilah hit so many milestones all in a row.  This month, she didn’t really hit many – all of her growth seems to be centered around her personality and playfulness lately which has been so fun!

Personality

Lilah had a couple of VERY grumpy (almost wrote “frumpy” there lol) weeks when her top two teeth were coming in, but these days she is all smiles.

She has always been very sweet and cuddly, but she is now very playful too!  Her favorite thing in all the world is playing peekaboo.  She loves to play and will initiate the game too, holding objects like my phone or a tambourine over her eyes and going crazy when I say “peekaboo”.  It is literally the cutest 🙂

Because of her love of peekaboo, I showed her the Dear Zoo book recently and she bounces up and down making excited noises when we read it.  She loves lifting the flaps.  I love books like this that stand the test of time, as my three year old still loves this one as well!

She also loves playing with the set of musical instruments we have, especially the tambourine. She loves music and dances when it’s on.

She is the snuggliest baby ever and is almost always content if I can hold her.  She still has a lot of stranger danger at times but also has very friendly moods when she crawls right up to people at the library or at music class and smiles at them.

 

She still loves being outside and really loves the water table we got James for his first birthday.  Even if it’s cold out and there’s no water in it, it’s the perfect height for her to pull up to stand and play with balls, cups, etc.

Lilah is very flexible, go-with-the-flow, funny, super sweet, playful, and curious.  We could not love her any more 🙂

Milestones

The only real milestone Lilah had this month was starting to sign!  Just a tiny bit, but I’m super excited about it.  James never really signed at all – he started talking really early and is super verbal, but was never into hand gestures.  That’s totally fine of course, but it makes it even more fun to watch Lilah sign since it’s new for me.

So far she just does the “milk” sign when I do it first, but I have a feeling she’ll continue learning to sign because she’s super into hand gestures like clapping and waving.

She actually also stood up without holding on for the first time yesterday too after I wrote this!

Eating

Lilah loves to eat!  She went through a stage when she seemed to pretty much only want to eat pancakes, but she will now eat almost anything, thank goodness.

Some recent favorites are pomegranate arils, pears, meatballs, avocado, and little pieces of Lara bars (I break off small bites and make sure there are no big nut pieces).  Don’t worry, she eats lots of vegetables too, they just aren’t her very favorites at this point. She basically eats a slightly modified version of whatever we eat.

I do still make her pancakes though because she loves them, I can make a big batch to last for the week, and there are so many healthy recipes out there!

I love this one (easy to sub whole wheat flour and I love using pomegranate arils instead of blueberries!) and this one.  I like to spread peanut butter, yogurt, or pumpkin on top and often add chia seeds or hemp seeds for some extra goodness.

Random side note, but we got disposable placemats (similar to these) for eating out when James was a baby and they are super useful for little ones who are not ready for giant/heavy/hot/breakable restaurant plates 🙂

Sleeping

Fingers crossed, nothing has changed here for ages.  She wakes up early (often around 5:30 am), but that actually works well for us right now because it means she can take a morning nap and we still have time to go do something before James needs to nap.

She currently naps from about 8:45-10 and 1:30-3 or 3:30.  She goes to bed at 7 PM.

She rarely complains about sleeping and she often just rolls around silently in her bed when she wakes up.  If I weren’t watching her on the monitor, I’d have no idea she was awake.  She loves her bed.

10 months sounds so old somehow, so close to the big first birthday. I know these next two months are going to go by extra fast with the holidays so I’m soaking in all of the baby snuggles I can right now.

Sibling Relationship

Watching James and Lilah together literally melts my heart.

When I was pregnant with Lilah, James would frequently say that she would need to get her own Legos and books when she was born.  This had me a little concerned about how he would react to having a sibling around, especially a baby who has no concept of ownership.

He has surprised me in the best way!  He sets apart little bits of his snacks for her.  He brings her toys to play with and is starting to talk to her when they’re in the back seat together.  He is becoming the best big brother and it makes me so, so happy.

We have a simple rule that Lilah and James can both play with anything that is in the living room / main part of the house.  If he wants to play with something without her touching it, he knows to bring it to his room or to the kitchen table where she can’t reach.  I think that has helped some, but I also think we just got lucky 🙂

I know their relationship will have its ups and downs over the years, but it has been a very sweet beginning 🙂

I’d love to hear from you!  What was the best part of your month?

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It is finally, FINALLY, starting to feel like Fall here in Austin.

We are busy trying to fit in all the usual Fall things like painting pumpkins, doing leaf stamping, and baking all of the delicious pumpkin and apple treats.

We’re also trying to cram in as many Fall books as we can before it’s time to move on to a holiday selection.  The window of Fall-like weather before the holidays is pretty short here, so I took some time to find some must-read books for our house this season.

Some of these we’ve already read and loved and others are on my library waiting list and I’m keeping my fingers crossed we get to read them before Thanksgiving.

I also included some books for older kids that I came across for anyone with big kids in the house!  When I find a great book for older kids, I always add it to my Amazon cart and save it for later so that I have good ideas ready as my kids grow.

For anyone new to Montessori, Montessori-friendly books for young kids are a little different.  They focus on real-life and realistic images, rather than adult-created fantasy.  This doesn’t mean we don’t read fiction, it just doesn’t usually focus on talking animals or dragons and unicorns.

I will say though that now that my son is older (at the ripe old age of 3…) and likes to help choose books at the library, I certainly let him select fantasy books.  I think it’s important to let kids choose what they want to read, in addition to introducing them to the books we want them to read.

When we read books with animals in clothes (he LOVES Richard Scary right now), we just take a minute to talk about how real animals don’t wear clothes and this is a pretend story.  He actually loves pointing out which parts of a book are real and which are pretend.

We have not yet read some of these books, so I can’t guarantee that they are all free of talking animals, etc., but from reading the descriptions and reviews, I believe they are Montessori-friendly and we can’t wait to read them in our house!

Books for Babies and Toddlers:

A Pile of Leaves (This is one of the books I was MOST excited about finding, it looks beautiful)

Fall (Bright Baby Touch and Feel)

The Book of Fall

Baby Loves Fall! This one does not have super realistic illustrations, but it’s a lift the flap book, which is always fun and does talk about things young kids will be experiencing, like clothes for colder weather.

Books for Toddlers and Young Kids:

Hello Autumn!

Apples and Pumpkins My son LOVES her books, all about real-life childhood experiences.

Mystery Vine: A Pumpkin Surprise This one has a few pumpkin recipes and gardening activities in the back!

Little Home Bird This is a beautiful book about migration and would be especially great for a child who is moving homes.

Thankful

Autumn This one has no words, just beautiful pictures to spark conversation.

 

Books for Bigger Kids:

Coyote Autumn

Rosco The Rascal Visits The Pumpkin Patch

(The following portion of this post is sponsored – all opinions are my own.  Thank you for your support!)

Ferocious Fall: Our Wild Weather Escapes – Even though my kids are not old enough for this book, which is recommended for kids 8 and up, I was immediately interested when I was contacted about it.  I love historical fiction, both for kids and adults, and this book is set in the 1950’s which I haven’t seen a lot in kids’ books.

I think this would be such a fun book for a grandparent or older relative to read with a child.  I imagine it would spark conversations and stories that might otherwise never be passed on.

Unfortunately, my kids don’t have any living great grandparents (and my parents were born at the very end of the 1950s), but I can definitely picture James and Lilah reading this with my mom when they’re older.  My mom loves family photos (what mom doesn’t?!) and I can imagine her pulling out old black and white photos of her parents while reading this book and passing along stories that might have otherwise been lost.

In addition to the interesting setting, this was a genuinely enjoyable book!  I actually love reading kids and young adult fiction.  When the characters are good (as these are!), it can be really enjoyable and totally relaxing.

One thing I loved about the book was how it wove in educational elements, while still telling a compelling story.  The book includes a lot of information about different types of clouds, different types of weather events, and historical events but it always fits naturally into the story.  I think it would be especially interesting for a kid from California, as it talks a lot about the history of the area.

I also really enjoyed the use of 50’s slang and language.  It definitely added a fun element to the book and I imagine kids would love it!  There is a fun glossary of 1950s slang in the back that I found really fun to read.

The characters in Ferocious Fall face challenges like bullying, sibling issues, and everyday childhood fears like public speaking.  I love that the story focuses on these timeless challenges of childhood, making it easy to relate to characters from another time.

One thing to note is that Ferocious Fall does include a lot of references to Bible verses.  The main character in the book writes down Bible verses to reference when she’s scared, stressed, etc.  Just something to note because I didn’t realize that going into the book and I know some people might not be comfortable with it.  Again, it fits into the story pretty naturally!

If you’re traveling to see family over the holidays, it would be a great time to gift this book to a grandparent or older child who might enjoy it.  The award-winning author, C. A. Hartnell, also has three other books in the series: Wild Winter, Scary Spring, and Sinister Summer, and a couple of really fun coloring books as well!  Check them out here!

Do you have any favorite kids’ books for Fall?  Please share in the comments!

 

 

 

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We just signed up for our third semester with the Music Together program at Tunebugz in Austin and I wanted to pop in and share our experience.

If you’re not familiar with Music Together, it is a music program for young children, birth through 8 years old.

Music together is offered all over the world. There are multiple companies that offer the program in Austin where we live, and we’ve had a wonderful experience with the Tunebugz company for anyone local.

What does class look like?

I don’t have any actual photos of class because they discourage cameras/use of phones during class – which I love! I will try to describe what class is like though, for anyone considering signing up.

There is a designated set of songs for each semester. When the semester begins, you receive an illustrated songbook, a cd with the songs, and access to the songs through an App.

Most semesters have ten classes, with the summer session being shorter.

At each class, there is a Hello song and Goodbye song that are always the same, which provides a nice sense of continuity.

After the hello song, the teacher leads the group through some of the other songs for about 45 minutes.

The teacher introduces rhythm games, harmonies, singing in rounds, singing in parts, and other musical activities.

There is also a “free dance” song and a song where the children are invited to experiment with musical instruments in each class.

They offer a baby class (up to 8 months), a mixed-age class (infant through 5 years), and a couple of classes just for older kids (4-8 years).

We’re in the mixed-age, which is great because I can bring both Lilah and James together.

Is it compatible with Montessori?

Unlike some group activities, I have found Music Together to be really compatible with Montessori for a few reasons.

Respect for the child

The children are always spoken to with respect. There are very few rules in class, mostly walking inside and being gentle with the materials, and the teachers always reinforce the rules positively and respectfully.

Freedom of Movement

The children are not expected to sit the whole time, or to participate in any of the activities they don’t want to.

You will frequently see a baby crawling around the room or a toddler checking themselves out in a mirror along the wall rather than sitting with the group.

The children’s need for movement and the way in which they choose to experience the class are always respected. The adults model how to participate in the group and the children join in when they’re ready.

Cues from the child

The teacher often takes cues from the children and their musical expression when leading the songs.

If one child is singing along using a particular sound or interesting way of clapping, the teacher will incorporate that into the song.

What do we love about it?

I suspected we would enjoy the weekly class together, but I did not realize it would become something we do together almost daily, in one form or another.

I was also surprised by how interested Lilah has been in the class and the music, from the very beginning. She was only about 3 months old when we started Music Together, but even then she was always super alert when we went to the class. Now she has clear favorite songs and loves watching the other babies and children and soaking it all in.

Confidence

I’ve watched James’s confidence in class grow in the class so much over the past few months.

The first semester we attended, he always enjoyed going, but largely just sat and watched and listened.

This past semester, he was all-in, belting out solos and asking (so many) questions.

Audiation

James will often sing along to a song, without the words (ex “La la la ” to the tune). I’ve now learned that this is often part of the process of audiation, hearing a song in your head when it’s not playing and anticipating what will come next.

He will actually stop and correct himself, muttering, “that’s not right,” and trying again until he gets it on tune.

The teacher weaves little lessons like this in for the parents throughout the class, giving ideas for how to playfully encourage the skills the children are working on (for example, singing a song using repetition of the child’s name or a favorite food instead of the actual words).

Exposure

We listen to music all of the time in our house, but it’s generally limited to what my husband and I like.

Music Together incorporates songs of many different genres and cultures, including rhythm patterns that are uncommon in our culture.

I love that the songs are fun to listen to, but also expose my children to types of music they would not otherwise be hearing. (You can check out some of the songs here.)

Music at home

James frequently asks to listen to “music class songs” at home.

I’ve recently set up a little music corner for him and we’ve been loving it. It currently has the two Music Together books from our past semesters, another singing book (Baby Beluga), and a small selection of musical instruments, which I will rotate.

This allows him to more easily choose to work on music independently. I would like to set up a little cd player for him so that he doesn’t have to rely on me and my phone for the music, I just need to find a simple one he can operate by himself.

 

I really believe that young children should not have too many extracurriculars. They need to play and have free time to explore in nature and just be.

However, we’ve really fallen in love with this program and are finding it super worthwhile and fun for our family.

If you’re local to Austin, we’ve had a great experience with Tunebugz and they’re offering free demos next week so it’s a great time to check it out!

Do you like to sing?

Do you do any extracurriculars with your child that you love? I’d love to hear about them!

 

 

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I can’t believe I haven’t posted a Lilah update since 4 months! Whoops, that definitely wasn’t intentional.

Well, better late than never!

Milestones

• Her baptism

• First vacation / plane ride

• Starting solid foods

• Half birthday
• Sleeping through the night

• Scooting / rolling everywhere

Personality

A lot has changed in the last three months, but Lilah remains a super sweet baby who loves to snuggle and be held.

She is pretty much always content if she is sitting in my lap in the backyard or watching James play.

I try to encourage her to play independently as much as possible, but she really likes to be held (so different than James when he was a baby!)

I call her my little barnacle baby, because she really likes to be attached to me. This makes cooking dinner pretty challenging!

Lilah has gotten a lot friendlier / more accepting of other people recently though. We went on a trip to Glacier National Park with my parents and sister in July, and I think it helped her really get to know my family, which was wonderful!

Apart from being held, Lilah loves reading books, listening to music, watching James play with Legos, playing in the pool / tub, and generally exploring. She also really loves being outside.

Development

Lilah is a big baby! She was 91st percentile in height and 68th percentile in weight at her six month appointment.

Lilah now rolls very easily both ways and has started scooting and army crawling a little bit. She doesn’t do it all of the time, but when she’s determined to get something (mostly James’s Legos), she can scoot right over to it.

It has been fun to watch her start to choose toys for herself off of the shelf or to scoot over to a basket of baby toys I keep in the living room and explore them.

Per the Montessori philosophy, I’m waiting for her to learn to sit up on her own, rather than propping her up, so she doesn’t sit up yet unless she is in my lap.

She babbles constantly and loves to chat back and forth.

She is getting much better at using her fingers and is super motivated by trying to pick up pieces of food.

Sleep

Lilah now sleeps through the night, usually from about 7 PM to 6 AM, though sometimes she wakes up earlier.

She takes two naps a day, usually from around 9-10 AM and 1:30-3 PM.

Around 6 months old, she started waking up at night and did not seem interested in eating. She seemed to want to play instead and did not go back to sleep easily.

We decided to do some gentle sleep training and it took one night and she’s slept through the night since. I guess she was ready!

Food

We introduced solids to Lilah at 6 months and she LOVED food right away.

We’re loosely using a baby led weaning approach, but also use spoons for foods like oatmeal and yogurt. I put the food on the spoon for her and hand her the spoon if she wants to hold it.

We are using a little shot glass for water, which she is still figuring out, but loves.

Montessori uses real glasses for babies and toddlers so that they can learn to be careful. The idea is that if they use a spill-proof cup, they don’t learn to handle things carefully to avoid spills.

Lilah’s first food was sweet potatoes and she has also tried avocado, salmon, chicken, eggs, cheese, cherries, kiwi, green beans, melon, sourdough bread, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, yogurt, peanut butter, broccoli, lentils, and many other things I’m forgetting.

I think her favorite might be peaches, but the only things she has not really liked so far have been lentils and raspberries. I think the raspberries she tried were a little too tart.

Routine

Now that Lilah is down to two naps a day, our routine is much more predictable, which this type-A mama loves!

On a typical day, Lilah wakes up between 6-6:30 and naps around 9:00 AM. We generally go somewhere after she wakes up from this first nap.

We go to music class once a week, and usually have one day for errands like the grocery store or Target. Other places we frequent are the library, Wildflower Center, splash pad, and various parks (although it’s been hot lately!) We also usually have one play date with another family once a week.

Lilah usually naps again around 1:30 or 2:00, which overlaps with my toddler’s nap, which is great!

We almost always stay home in the afternoons and just play in the backyard and read books until it’s time to make dinner. I imagine that when the weather cools down, we’ll have some afternoon park trips as well.

As James approaches 3 years old, he’s showing a strong interest in letters and numbers. I’d like to do some slightly more formal homeschooling with him (I have no idea if we’ll homeschool in the long run), so I need to figure out how to change our routine to make time for that.

Lilah is a lot needier in the afternoon than the morning, so this may mean more mornings at home.

My favorite part of the last few months has been watching Lilah and James grow closer. She is downright obsessed with him, and he seems to be really fond of her now too.

He gives her the sweetest hugs and has started talking to her like she’s his little buddy. I’m hoping this won’t change too much when she becomes truly mobile and inevitably starts messing with his stuff more, but who knows!

I really love this age for babies and am hoping the next few months don’t pass by as quickly!

Has your summer flown by?

Any tips for avoiding sibling toy disputes?

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I recently revamped my two and a half year old’s art area and wanted to share. I hope you find these ideas helpful, and would love to hear what art work your child is loving in the comments!

I sometimes get discouraged from putting out new work for my son because when we are home, he pretty much does two things: plays with Legos and plays in the backyard.

Weeks will go by where he barely touches the puzzles and toys in his room or the Montessori-inspired work I have out for him.

While I think Legos, and especially outside play, are awesome, I don’t want him to miss out on other things like drawing and painting, both because I want him to experience art and creative expression and because I want him to develop fine motor skills.

Art can be one of the best ways for young children to enhance their fine motor abilities because it requires careful use of their hands and attention to detail, but is also highly engaging and fun.

It is also nice to have a calm and quiet activity for a very busy and energetic toddler 🙂

Some things to keep in mind if you want to set up a Montessori art area at home:

• Make the materials (paper, paint, crayons, etc.) accessible to your child. Make sure he has what he needs to clean any spills and messes too (a sponge, a small towel, a small broom and dustpan, etc.)
• It’s helpful to start with one activity (drawing, stamps, stickers, etc.) on each tray or basket. As children get older and master each technique, they can mix media.
• Give your child a simple demonstration (the fewer words the better!) on how to use each new activity, then step back and let him explore.
• If your child wants you to draw with him, try creating an abstract picture so that he doesn’t get caught up in judging his picture against yours, or asking you to draw every animal under the sun for him.
• If you are worried about stains to your table, provide a placemat (or laminated sheet of paper) for your child to put under his paper. We have this mat. Do what you need to do so that you’re not hovering and worrying about mess!

And here are the choices we have out in my toddler’s art area right now:

Crayons – we have these, and also just got these crayon rocks, which are great for developing pincer grip.

Marker stamps – we got these at Ikea and stamping them so the image comes out clearly is actually a little challenging for toddlers and requires focus

Stickers – so good for fine motor and so fun! I definitely recommend getting these on Amazon – not sure the exact pack we got, but it was similar to this. We put out a few sheets at a time. If you have a young toddler who can’t yet get the stickers off on his own, remove the white backing from the whole sheet to make it easier.

Cutting – Make sure to show your child how to hold / walk with scissors safely.

Necklace Making – All you need is a yarn needle (not sharp), pony beads, and yarn. This is a favorite with many children, and definitely the activity James has used the most.

Hole punching – It’s easy and fun to change out which hold punch you offer with the season. Your child can also use the little shapes he punches out for gluing.

Stamping – Ink is messy, but fun! I love that stamps require focus and exactness, and a certain amount of pressure to come out well.

I have other Montessori practical life work (pouring, table scrubbing, window washing) out for him on the bottom shelf. This is not something you would see in a classroom, but we have limited space.

Also, necklace making would generally be on a separate sewing shelf in a Montessori classroom. It’s not ideal to have all of these on the same shelf, but we don’t have space for an extra shelf right now, so we make it work!

We also have an easel and paints / chalk, which we often bring outside. Try using tiny pieces of chalk to help your child develop the pincer grip.

We do not have pencils out right now because my son is still working on developing his pincer grip – it is SO hard to reteach how to hold a pencil, so it’s best to wait until they can actually hold one correctly.

I highly recommend the book Let Out the Sunshine if you’re interested in Montessori-style art work for children. It has so many good ideas!

Did you like art as a kid? Does your child love it?

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Somehow another month has gone by!

It’s easy to feel like every day is the same, but looking back at Lilah’s three month update, a lot has actually changed!

It will always remain amazing to me how quickly these tiny people develop.

Here’s a peek at Lilah at four months old!

Personality

Lilah is still so sweet and squishy, and she is developing quite the funny little personality!

The biggest change with her personality this month has been a strong sense of stranger danger.

We saw this with both sets of grandparents this month (not that they’re strangers! She hasn’t seen them a ton though).

Everything I’ve read says stranger danger starts later, so I thought it was a fluke at first, but she started crying pretty much any time one of them held her, and sometimes just being in the same room.

It was kind of funny, because I’ve told them all what a happy and easygoing baby she is, which is normally true!

This has been super interesting to me because my toddler never had any fear of strangers at all, and still doesn’t! It’s so fun to see how different their little personalities are from the very beginning.

Other than that, she remains very happy. She loves babbling and having little conversations with us.

She loves watching James play, but also gives him the funniest looks like, “what the heck is that guy doing?” (I give him the same looks sometimes….)

She loves being read to (these are her favorite books) and listening to classical music.

She gets so calm and quiet every time we go outside. If she is ever fussy or upset, I head straight outside and she stops crying almost immediately every time.

She is great at self soothing and loves to suck her tiny thumb.

She loves watching other babies and children and is always very quiet and intent on observing them if we’re out with other children.

She is just super sweet and snuggly and it is getting hard to imagine our family without her these days. She has been the best addition.

Development

This month was all about rolling!

While Lilah rolled from back to belly for the first time at the beginning of the month, it did not become really easy for her until about a week ago.

She now rolls over frequently and loves laying on her belly and looking around at the world. Fortunately she is now really good at holding her head up too, so I don’t have to worry as much about her bonking her head on the wood floors when she does this.

The day after she turned four months old, she rolled from her belly to her back for the first time. This is still hard for her and is kind of a funny process to watch as she starts with her head and upper body and then just lays there for a minute before rolling her legs over. It looks super uncomfortable, but she doesn’t seem to mind it..

Her little hands and fine motor abilities are also developing and she loves her play gym right now and bringing toys to her mouth. She frequently lays there with her hands clasped, which makes her look so funny and serious.

Sleep

I called it – totally jinxed her sleep by saying how well she was doing in her three month update.

I’m just kidding of course, but she definitely hit a regression last month. I think it was a combination of taking away the swaddle, her really wanting to practice rolling, and the four month sleep regression hitting a bit early.

Her night sleep remained okay, but was not as solid as before…no more sleeping through the night. For a couple of weeks she was waking up twice, sometimes more. She would wake up “rage rolling” as I like to call it – desperately practicing rolling and grunting about it.

Thankfully she is now back to waking up once a night to eat, which I am fine with.

The harder part of sleep this month was naps. She went very suddenly from taking 2-3 hour naps to only taking 30-45 minute naps. I think this was part of the 4 month sleep regression, as she needed to learn to connect her sleep cycles. This naturally made her quite grumpy by evening time though.

Just this past week (starting the day after she turned 4 months old), she has started napping well again. She has started rolling onto her belly to sleep and it seems to be helping her nap a lot better. She now sometimes only takes 3 naps instead of 4, since they are longer.

The other change with sleep has been that she no longer naps easily on the go. We went to the park last week and she cried the whole time instead of falling asleep in the carrier. I decided to call it quits and just go home, and she of course finally fell asleep right when we got to the car. That was fun.

So we’re in a bit of a tricky stage for getting out of the house, but I know her awake time windows will stretch soon and that will get easier. Right now I’m just trying to find a balance between getting her good sleep and making sure we get out enough that my toddler and I don’t lose our minds 🙂

Routine

Honestly, our routine is a little on the boring side at the moment, but that is totally fine and just a part of this stage.

I’m not going to write out the whole thing, because it’s basically an ongoing cycle of napping, eating, and playing. Lilah takes all of her naps in her bed now, with the occasional nap on the go (not sure if we’re going to try the floor bed again, but for now she sleeps in the Lotus Travel Crib in our room).

We go to music class every Thursday, which she continues to love, and generally have another playdate or outing sometime in the week and stay home the other days.

I’ve resorted to Instacart (<- referral link) because grocery shopping just doesn’t seem “worth it” to mess with her naps and it’s hard to feed her, get there and back again within the time she’s awake these days (generally 1 hr 30 min – 1 hr 45 min).

We stayed home a lot this month, but spent lots of time in the backyard and watching the rain out the window, which she loves.

While it’s hard to be home on the days when one of the little ones is feeling grumpy, we’ve also had some wonderful days at home together and it’s been nice to take a step back from being so on the go.

I’m very much enjoying this stage, where she is not yet mobile but has so much personality. It’s been really fun to watch her bond with James start to grow and I’m excited to see what this next month brings!

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I wasn’t sure I was going to keep up with these posts, but I’ve had so much fun recently re-reading the monthly updates from when James was a baby, that I’m going to try!

Lilah turned three months old a few days ago and I can’t believe she’s officially out of the newborn stage. It is truly amazing to me to look at how much she’s changed in only three months. I feel like her little personality is already shining through so much and it’s really fun to see.

Personality

Lilah is so sweet and happy, and is seriously the most easy going baby ever! As long as she’s fed and rested, she just smiles and babbles and watches the world around her.

She loves to have little conversations, and it’s my favorite thing she does right now. She is pretty quiet if she’s laying by herself, but if one of us makes eye contact and starts talking to her, she starts babbling up a storm. It really seems like she’s trying to have a conversation and it is the cutest thing ever!

She loves to suck her thumb and is really good at self-soothing that way right now, which is great. The other day, we were at a music class with James and she was laying on a blanket. I guess she got tired because she just popped her thumb in her mouth and went to sleep, surrounded by toddlers playing rhythm sticks. So funny.

Development

A couple of days after she turned 3 months old, Lilah rolled over from her back to her tummy.

She has been trying SO hard to do this lately, and she finally made it! She’s also been trying to roll from tummy to back, so we’ll see if that happens soon. Then there’s no stopping her lol.

Because of this though, we stopped swaddling her, so I’m hoping this doesn’t mess with her sleep too much.

She has also gotten really good at bringing her hand to her mouth this month so that she can suck her thumb.

She has also been practicing grabbing / hitting the toys hanging from her play gym. She also loves her Skwish and works so hard to bring it to her mouth.

Sleep

I don’t want to jinx anything, but she has turned into the best sleeper.

We did try to prioritize helping her learn to sleep independently from the beginning, but I really think most of it is just her.

She gradually started sleeping for longer and longer stretches at night and now sleeps through the night or close to it. She goes to bed around 7:15-7:30 and either sleeps all the way until 6:45-7 or, more often, wakes up once between 4-5:30.

She doesn’t have a real nap schedule yet, but she goes down for all of her naps very easily now. I just sing her one song, put her in her bassinet and she sucks her little thumb until she falls asleep.

She usually takes 4 naps a day, though sometimes 3 or 5. We are often out for her second nap, so she sometimes takes that one in the baby carrier, but otherwise sleeps in her bassinet. I’m thinking of moving her naps to her bed in her room soon, but haven’t tried it yet.

I also want to mention the app Huckleberry, which my sister in law told me about and I love!

It lets you track your baby’s sleep and gives recommended windows when your baby should go down for his next nap. I don’t necessarily follow that part – I watch Lilah to see when she’s tired, but it can be helpful as a general guideline, especially if you have a really happy baby who doesn’t have a lot of sleepy cues.

It also shows summaries / trends for your baby’s sleep. For example, I can see that while her naps seem really different every day, she almost always naps between 4 hours and 4 hours 15 minutes total, the breakdown just varies. I find it interesting!

Routine

I’ve started waking Lilah up around 7 if she’s not awake yet. This ensures she can get a good morning nap in before we need to go anywhere, and lends some degree of predictability to our day.

I wake her up and she nurses and then has some play time with my husband before he goes to work and then she just hangs out. She usually starts yawning after an hour or so, sometimes a little longer, and goes down for a nap around 8:10.

Her nap can be anywhere from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours. She generally takes one long nap a day and three shorter ones, but I never know which will be the long one. Sometimes I have to wake her up if we need to be anywhere, which I feel terrible about! It can be hard to balance her nap needs with our need to get out of the house.

After she wakes up, I feed her and we go to the park, library, a playdate, etc. many days. I’m trying to have one or two days a week where we just stay home though so that she can get better sleep. I honestly don’t love staying at home all day, but I know this phase of many naps is short.

It has been fun to see her “wake up” more this month. She often stays awake for a while at the park, staring up at the branches of an old oak tree or watching the older children. Whenever she starts to get fussy, I put her in the carrier and she goes to sleep.

We usually make it home around noon, and this part of the day can be hectic. If we’ve been out, she and James generally both need to eat so I quickly make his lunch and then feed her. I get him ready for his nap and she often needs to nap soon after, so it can be a bit rushed.

We always spend the afternoons at home, often in the backyard. Lilah and James both love being outside, as do I!

I bring a blanket out for her, and James and I “make soup,” which is his current favorite backyard game, or play in the sandbox.

My husband gets home around 5-5:30 and I finish making dinner before we do the whole bedtime routine. I feed Lilah, sometimes give her a little baby massage, and read her a couple of books. She really likes books with pictures of babies right now. I then put her to bed and see her again in the morning!

These next few months are going to be busy and I’m trying to soak in all of the tiny baby vibes I can right now before the time flies by!

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I received a set of Tegu blocks to review, but this post is not sponsored. All opinions are my own.

Montessori-friendly toys are simple, non-electronic, and made of natural materials whenever possible. They encourage active, creative play, rather than passive entertainment.

My son’s hands down, no contest, all time favorite toy is Duplo legos. He uses them every single day and it is the only toy right now that he will sit down with for an extended period of time and play with on his own.

He loves to build.

Because of this, I keep a look out for different types of building materials that will inspire him to build in different ways.

One option that I love is Tegu magnetic blocks.

I actually got James his first set of Tegu quite a while ago, I believe when he was 15 months old. I love that they are made of wood. Providing young children with toys made from natural materials, instead of plastic, gives them a richer experience as they feel the varrying weights and textures of different materials.

The fact that these are magnetic also makes them easier for young toddlers to build with.

We’ve loved that first set of Tegu ever since, so when the company reached out to me and offered to send us a set to review, I said yes right away.

I had no idea that Tegu offered specialized set, like the train set we chose (also here). Nothing beats simple open-ended blocks in my book, but my toddler is very into trains at the moment and I knew he would enjoy experimenting with the train cars.

James likes simply building with the Tegu, but he also loves combining them with other toys. He recently used the Tegu blocks to build little stables for his model horses.

They are also excellent for building on the refrigerator, as they’re magnetic and it gives children the opportunity to build from a different perspective.

This is definitely the kind of toy you can add on to as your child grows. I think a small set would be great to keep in the car for restaurants and waiting rooms, but it’s definitely the kind of thing where the more pieces you have, the more fun it will be.

I think this Tegu stacker looks awesome as well and am thinking of getting it for baby Lilah when she’s a little older.

If your child loves to build, give Tegu a try!

If you’re interested in more Montessori-friendly toys, check out this article, or this one.

What is your child’s favorite toy?

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