Awesomest Train Track Ever!

This is every piece of track that we own!

Downstairs Spaces

Until recently, our giant common area in the basement has gone largely unused. A failed moving attempt, lack of furniture, and general neglect of the space has kept us from enjoying this large, basement living room.
There is a space for playing the piano. Which Verity loves to hoist herself up to do.
The white shelf migrated downstairs to be utilized for work. Here we have a basket of vehicles, two shape sorting locking boxes, cookies and cookie pan, two puzzles, large wooden construction machines, and a little can of "baby toys."
The new futon gives us some sitting surfaces. Nearby pachinko machine still goes unused as it needs to be mounted to the wall. I can count flicking the lever on the gambling machine as "fine motor activity," right?
And the chair-and-a-half was moved down as well. Also downstairs are the red tote full of tracks and trains, and a wicker basket full of more baby toys (which, incidentally, the big boy also likes to play with).
This makes our downstairs time during baby's naps and in the late afternoon a little bit more enjoyable! Off to build train tracks!

Massive Sensory Experience!

(That's oatmeal cereal, there)
Que linda la manita que tiene mi bebe...
que linda, que bella, que bonita es!

Nature Table

While this isn't Montessori per se, we've decided to incorporate our own little version of a Waldorfy nature table. I think this a great way to be mindful the season we're in and aware of the changes going on outside, bringing pieces of nature indoors. We just have this tiny little table, draped in a playsilk (gonna grab on to three other season-appropriate colors for the future), with some random findings from outside. The flowers are from our front yard! The peonies make the whole house smell the like candy!

Clean up! Clean up! Everybody, everywhere!

Mcclellan did an amazing job cleaning up after dinner tonight. He wiped the ENTIRE eating area with his sponges. Even the slats on the backs of the chairs!
I did have to remove that giant bar of soap, as it was just causing a big, ooey, gooey mess in his squishy little hands. Matt promises to bring me back lots of tiny hotel soaps next week while he's traveling.
I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate putting his own dishes away as well. His and Verity's. :) I have two more pink basins like that one in the pictures, and am considering using one as a place for him to bus his own dishes. I don't like the idea of putting the basin on the clean-up table as everything on that station is, well, clean! And dirty dishes would be...dirty! But, for lack of space, and accessible space at that, he may start bussing his own eatingware in the same area.

We also did some rearranging. The white multi-level shelf has paint peeling (not so good, when Verity likes to hoist herself up to gum all over it), and we were in need of a shoe/bag drop-off point by the front door. So, the white shelf (until it gets sanded down and repainted!) is the shoe shelf, and this squat, mini-desk is our other new work surface. Perfect for assisting Verity in her efforts in standing. And, so Mcclellan thinks, perfect for sitting upon, tucking one's little legs under the drawer you see there. We're talking about the table there on the right. Perfect.

Ketchup!

My machine has been out of commission...again...and here I am playing catch up on hubby's computer while he fixes mine (again) downstairs.

Mcclellan is still as goofy as ever.

He loves the peg board.

Verity helps herself.

Learning the difference between playing the triangle while holding the metal vs. while holding the attached string!

Verity shakin' it.

Ahhh...So tonight we introduced a "clean-up" station. Taken from my uber-yummy Montessori environment link (on the side), I set up this help-yourself area. You can see, from the glowing apples on his cheeks, that Mcclellan LOVED free play (I mean, work) with the soap.

Washing off his chin, post dinner.

(Note the now-cloudy soap tainted water!) At the station we have:
1. our dustpan for cleaning up dry spills.
2. a mirror for...well, looking at yourself.
3. two sponges for cleaning up wet spills.
4. a basin full (2") of water.
5. a drying towel.
6. a washcloth (for faces and hands, not floors).
7. a bar of soap.
I'm thinking about adding our all-purpose and glass cleaner spray bottles somewhere closeby (child safe! and vinegar-based, of course), but I'm afraid my bottles will just be drained daily on the random sprayings around the house. Those and a roll of a paper towels. Looking forward to that magic day that he's three. That's when they become adults, right?

In other news, I clipped lovely peonies and columbine from our front flower gardens. And my sweet Mother's Day rose is blooming in a tiny vase.
And Verity? Yeah, that's her learning how to crawl. Wild.

Ball Tube

The aforementioned ball tube is up and running! We have this down in the basement, since standing on ottomans and shooting balls out of tubes gets the toddler mighty excited. Can I consider this "work"? Work or play, he's having...a...ball!

New Stuff!

Sorry, sorry, for my delay in announcing all our new materials. Verity and I had a great vacation while the boys were gone, and blogging was far from my mind. Which was probably a good thing.

I've had to be sneaky in taking my pictures without Mcclellan seeing what the new materials all were. I want them to be new and fresh when we put them out!

Here is the bookshelf that until recently, occupied Mcclellan's north wall. It was chock full of all his books, but since I've decided to just put a few out at a time (10-15), the shelf has been moved to the main living area and houses new work!

And the mirror area with our old shelves, including Verity's main work.
I've had these magnetic balls for quite some time. I acquired a magnet wand from M&M (THE amazing M&M) and added it to the collection of magnetic and glass balls. This one is not out yet.
Another one I've not put out yet, the eraser sorting. I got two of each of these tiny erasers for pairing up and sorting. Mcclellan loves tiny things. Which means he always needs to be watched, double closely! He's gonna love these little guys.
Cardboard shapes. Each shape has the name written on it, and they drop nicely into a slot in our recycled yogurt container.
My favorite! Mcclellan just kinda likes picking up and fingering the marbles, or dumping them out into the tray, but what they hey...they are fun and I actually like doing this work! I cut different pieces from an old suction-cup-bottomed bathmat. The marbles fit so nicely, and look really pretty atop each little cup. A great fine-motor activity!
Here are two baskets with locks & keys (two sizes) and nuts & bolts (again, two sizes; one with a wing nut). Mcclellan loves the locks but hasn't quite cared about the bolts yet.
OK, so Jennifer will flip when she sees these. I had bought some lacing cards from aforementioned M&M which served their purposes fine for the fine motor, hand-eye coordination activity that is lacing. BUT THEN, at one of my favorite thrift stores (Vaughn-Trent!), I descried these Noah's Ark lacing cards! Two of each of 4 animals, Noah and the ark? All for $1!!?? They are much sturdier than the M&M version, but I will hang on to both, just for variety and...well, I paid $4 for the new ones!
M&M also offered these pegs with a foam pegboard. The classic. You know this one. Mcclellan has not seen this one yet either, but I'm excited to introduce it to him!
And, in the mail, fresh off ebay, I got these tesselating shapes. I was slightly miffed at myself for not noticing on the auction that these WERE NOT wooden (when I thought they were) and a little disappointed when I opened up the package to this foam variety. Nonetheless, we will forge ahead with these slightly inferior shapes. Until I find some wooden ones at the thrift store!
Verity got these new napkin rings. They stack well, don't roll away (they kinda roll in a big circle on our hard floors), and they make a fantastic sound when chucked against the floor! She loves them. I may put them out later with scarves for Mcclellan to do some "lacing" type work.
Mcclellan's favorite: The Funnel. I don't know why our household does not contain a funnel, but this thrift store 0.25 purchase suffices well. The pitcher and mini carafe I also thrifted from Good Shepherd.
I do have one more online purchase coming in the mail: colored baby bears. There are 48 mini bears, in 6(?) colors for sorting and pre-math activities.

I'm thinking of dividing our work into stations. Math station. Language station. Sensorial station. Not sure yet. Not sure if I have enough space for stations or enough work for each! As it is, we now have a good 8 surfaces for putting out work and working on it. Mcclellan's getting really good about setting his work rug on the floor when he wants to do something too! He's doing a super job of rolling his (and Verity's) up when we clean up. I'm Digging (with a capital D) this whole Montessori set-up we got going on right now!