Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thrifty Thursday
I had another good thrift day (or days)! On Wednesday O and I went to town to meet Elliott for lunch. Since we were in town, we HAD to check out the thrift stores. I was very proud of O because she stayed right beside me, and she reminded me "don't touch, mama!" We bought 7 baskets for Montessori work for $1.89 :) On Thursday I went to the thrift store near my office after work, and I found TOO much. I bought a milk glass mug for O for 25 cents (she needs her own special mug to make cake in a mug, right?), 2 wooden trays (for Montessori work) for 75 cents each, about 10 books, 3 loaves of Nature's Own Whole Wheat bread for $2.30 (I just paid 2.58 for 1 loaf last week. The bread expires in less than a week which is why it was at the thrift store. I froze 2 loaves, and we'll probably finish the other soon), and an old suitcase (I have BIG plans for the suitcase! Stay tuned...). I'm looking forward to next Thursday. I'm hoping to take at least 1 or 2 bags of things to donate. My goal is to donate more than I buy, but so far that hasn't happened :(
I just found your blog and was mesmerized for 20 minutes reading everything!! I am also a Montessori Mommy with a *much* smaller set up than you have. I have 3 daughters (2 in a Montessori school) and we do a lot of Montessori activities at home. You are an inspiration! Thanks for so many great pics and ideas. Your daughter is a cutie!!!
ReplyDeleteI love bargain hunting like that! I look forward to reading more about this Montessori approach. I don't know much about it but have heard great things.
ReplyDeleteWONDERFUL, WONDERFUL BLOG!! I found you last night and I have finally finished reading..and MAKING NOTES!!! It is so nice to find another mom doing Montessori at this age! My daughter was 2 in March.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of questions if you wouldn't mind sharing?? What is your discipline style?? And how did you tackle potty learning??
Again, great blog and thanks for sharing all these great ideas!
Thanks, everybody!
ReplyDeleteteriannm- Good questions! Discipline is always a work in progress. We occasionally use time-out, but O really LOVES time-out, so its not very effective. I'm very strict about manners and insist that she says please, thank you, excuse me, etc. We've done some role playing to help her understand the difference between "nice manners" and "naughty manners." Lately, she's been using a sassy tone with me, so we're trying to nip that in the bud. So far correcting her seems to be working, and of course I don't give her what she wants when she whines or uses a sassy tone. When she wants something I've been prompting her to say "may I have ..., please?" and that has worked really well. We also occasionally do hand over hand to get her to clean up her toys (we did this early on to teach her to clean up, so we don't have to do it often now). So she knows that know matter what, she's going to clean up, so she might as well do it. Luckily, she likes things to be in there places, so she likes to clean. We use the timer to help with transitions. When she's playing, I tell her that when the timer rings its time to clean up and go downstairs for night-night. She usually squeals with disappointment when she hears the timer, but I started singing the clean up song, and she jumps right in and is fine in seconds. That's all I can think of right now for discipline...let me know if that helps.
As for potty training, we did Elimination Communication (although we didn't know that such a thing existed at the time!). When O was 10 months old, we put her on the potty (mainly just for a photo op!) and she pooped! She knew just what to do, and she's been using the potty ever since. Honestly, I think I've changed maybe 5 poopy (sorry for the TMI) since she was 10 months old. She didn't gain bladder control until between 16 and 18 months old (we didn't start putting panties on her until then). She learned the sign for potty pretty early on, and she could sign that she had to potty long before she could say it. We also just read her facial expressions and body language. She's loved using the potty from the beginning, and its just been an easy and natural process. She still wears diapers at night and nap, but she really wants to sleep in panties. I keep telling her that she has to keep her diaper dry all night before that happens, but she's too inconsistent with keeping her nighttime diaper dry for me to put panties on her. EC worked so well and wonderfully for us, that I may start even earlier with my next child :) Let me know if you have any more questions, and you can always email me if you wish!
Thanks!
Gotta love thrift stores! You got some great finds there :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, so very much for the wonderful explanation, Melissa. You are a great and special Mom. I LOVE reading all of you narratives on your style with O. They are as amazing as you!
ReplyDeleteBut, I did pick up on a "little" something.....next child!!???!!!!
is it going to be happening soon?!?
Please, do let us know if and when!!