Treasure basket- how to peacefully engage your infant (week 41 & 42)

Its been long since I had made any materials for Fatima, and all this time the treasure baskets where a saver. I cannot emphasize enough on importance of Montessori treasure baskets, specially for moms who really want to engage their little infant for a long time. Montessori treasure basket is traditionally a large wooden basket which has 50-100 items in it. These items are regular household items like brushes, small utensils or kitchen tools, soft toys, varying fabric based materials, rattles/sound bottles, balls, or anything that can be explored by your little infant. The items must be safe i.e. no sharp corners or no choking hazard. Making this basket is really inexpensive and effortless. One advantage, besides exploring, is that treasure baskets keeps y
our baby engaged for like ages. Now there are versions of this traditional Montessori basket like theme baskets or basket with less items (5-20 items). The theme baskets hold items of one particular category like: kitchen items, color bottles, fruits/veggies (real or toy), smelling bottles, soft toys, different fabrics etc. To present this basket sit facing towards the infant, keep the basket in between and slowly take out an item, explore it and return it to the basket. Repeat this with another item and then invite the child to do so. once the child is engaged move your self slowly from the place and let him explore. When finished, return each item to the basket one at a time and keep the basket at its place.
We made a treasure basket for Fatima before (see here), it was kind of a theme basket. Now we have these two baskets for her:
This is a all in one basket. It has some lids, a book, a sensorial ball, a wooden spatula, a wooden bowl with knob lid, a small cup, a teether, some sound bottles, two little rubber teddies, some disks.

This is a gift she received form her aunt. Its a beautiful wood and crochet basket with a hidden section in it. There are some plastic toys (a gift). She loves this basket so much. Fun part for her is to first use the knob to open the lid then to put all toys out and then open the inner section.

One newly introduced basket holds color bottles. I have replaced the object permanence box (OPB) with this basket. She was least interested in OPB, removing it for time being was really needed. The color bottles are just some bottles filled with different food colors.

In my next post I shall be covering a whole lot of things....Insha Allah!

Talking to your infant.....language

What do you want to talk about with your child? Trust me there is so much....
Often when we talk to our child we end up commenting, judging, scolding and telling them what not to do. But do we really have the talk like talk with our child? think again! I guess you have no for an answer. Let's explore some thing about language and infants. Now if that sounds crazy to you i must stress that these little ones are really sensitive to language...its just their response which is different. Each time you say something to an infant you feel as if your words are going in some void. They never seem to grasp anything.
When taking to infants its particularly important that you first make an eye contact with the child. Infants have so much around them to concentrate on, plus they understand very little of the verbal language, its the non-verbal language with which they mostly understand your point. Begin your talk with first attracting them towards you...simply call out there name in a different pitched voice. Now when they look at you make direct eye contact and start your talk. When your child is listing to you, she pays attention to your body language, movement of lips and gestures more than the words...of course. Keeping mild and clam tone, relevant and peaceful gestures will help your child calm down and listen carefully. In addition, never use bad or baby words to make your child understand something. Always be gentle and soothing, repetition is one of the key points you would never want to forget.
Now, coming to what the talk should be about? The talk can be describing what you are doing now like: Mommy is changing the diaper or Mommy is massaging your leg, foot, toe....You can also talk about what others are doing, like, dad is reading newspaper or brother eating a snack. Do not intent to teach vocabulary to an infant rather just describe as to what is going on. Next talk about her! tell her that she is doing well these days, she is growing and learning different things or she is wearing a nice dress. Then you can talk about your day, your plans and anything general. Infants like to get attention from their parents. They get fussy or disturbed if everyone is busy, paying no attention to them, even if all of their physical needs are met. They need someone to talk, someone to attend them. Giving at least half hour each day of this undisturbed and individual attention will calm down even the most fussy infant. During this half hour apart from all talking described above, try reading a short story, a short poem/ song, recite any religious verses or prayers or play a small game (look for infant games here). Before introducing new ones, repeating the same story, song, prayer and game for a period of 2-3 weeks is a good idea.
Recently, when I met a Montessori teacher and asked her why is that my daughter cries so much when I am trying to put her to bed. After she turned three months old, we have set her sleep routine and all was fine till she turned 7 months old and now she doesn't go to bed easily. On hearing this the Montessori teacher gave a simple solution: talk to her. We did the same. Since that day she doesn't make any fuss for going to bed unless she is unwell.
An half hour talk will save your whole day!

The Montessori Inspired Mobiles - all about mobiles

This post will speak about the Montessori mobile's, how to make them and other easy alternatives for these mobiles.
The Munari Mobile:
It is a black and white mobile that appeals an infant's vision. Read here for more information and here for tutorial. Another tutorial over here.
As this mobile seems a bit difficult to make, I recommend making out mobiles that are black and white in color. The simple ones severs the best. You must not over burden the baby with complicated designs and patterns. Few simple ones that I liked are:


Simple tutorial and free printable are available here.

The Octahedron mobile:
You can find best information and tutorial for this mobile here. Making this mobile is simple and fun.

The Gobbi mobile:
Info on this mobile here and tutorial here. Check out my post here for more ideas on this.

The Bell mobile:
Some practical info here.

The Ring mobile:
Visit my post here

Butterflies/ Humming Bird/ Whales mobile:

You can find some amazing bird mobile ideas below:

1. This is pretty simple. Just draw/ print the template from here and go ahead.
2. A fun and economical cloth bird mobile tutorial here (I recommend using any available scrap cloth.)
3. If your interested in some sewing:

• A simple yet good cloth bird mobile here
• A complex yet adorable cloth bird mobile here

See here and buy here .


Primary colors mobile:
Buy here and my version here.
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The Man Who Inspired Us to Montessori

Its was a bright sunny morning and we were headed for Blue Blocks Self-Learning Pre-School to attend the Positive Parenting Workshop. A day before this, I was wondering why in the world do I need to attend this workshop? Do I not know Enough about a small baby? I mean what if I was going to become a mother for the first time, I know what a small baby needs! obviously, a baby needs feed, good cloths and Diapers and not to forget the cuddling. See I know it all! But then when I started giving a serious thought - Why learn parenting? Do I really know enough? I burst into a cry! Only then I prayed sincerely to Allah - Oh Allah! Give me from your knowledge. I know not and you are all knower. Give me best out of this Workshop. Then with an open heart I decided to attend this workshop.

When we reached our destination, we received a warm welcome from the staff. After filling a short form we were directed to the lecture hall. It was just the right time. There we saw a short man with a gentle smile. This was pavan. His first sight made me a bit disappointed. I was hoping to see an energetic speaker who would blow up our minds with his talk on the subject. But this man was polite and calm. hugh! not so impressive anyway.

Soon the session began with what we are expecting or any question we want him to cover, followed by our introductions. Then began the real part. Mr. Pavan Goyal Started to introduce himself. He has taken the AMI intensive training in the USA for the age group of Birth – 3 years. He has observed and worked with infants and toddlers as part of his training program. He is also trained in the age group of 3 – 6 years, which has been certified by AMI Netherlands. With his training and practice he is committed to educating parents all over the country through Positive Parenting Workshops. He is also the founder of Blue Blocks Self-learning Pre-school.

After this impressive introduction he made us do a visualization technique. We sort of looked into our childhood where we found ourselves being rejected and disappointed. Then he took us through the journey of a child unfolding the developmental stages a child goes though and how can we support him in this development. He spoke about the wrong ways of parenting and bad educational techniques that are followed. His inspiring talk covered both physical and psychological needs of a child. In all we explored a whole new perception towards a child. The Montessori philosophy he spoke about was so natural and obvious that we felt our hearts getting convinced with it. Entire session we were kind of glued to our chairs. We couldn't hear enough on the subject. I wouldn't be summarizing his talk instead here is the link where you can get all the info. In all, his talk blew our minds, not in the way I was expecting but in a way that was as amazing as child psychology was. He was soft and thought provoking. He made us laugh, he made us cry. He definitely was someone who made a change.

By the end of the session I got my answer as to why this man is so polite, gentle and calm....Because he deals with children. Can there be any other way to handle this lovely creatures. When we left we had in our hearts great regard and respect towards this man who gave us hope to parenting efficiently. Even though we do mistakes raising a child but there is a way to rightly do it. We extend our wishes and thank Pavan for his good work.

May Allah guide us all to the straight path. Ameen!

Note:
For all those parents who are interested in Blue blocks Montessori School for their kids, here is the link to the school's website. You will get all necessary information.

Living Montessori(Week 23 and 24)

It's been six Months! Alhamdulillah. Today I wish to speak about what I meant by living Montessori. As parents, all of us pay lots of attention to our children's needs. But mostly we end up attending to the physical needs - food, shelter, hygiene. Often we miss out an important part of human need - the psychology. Montessori system stresses on understanding the child psychology. The way to meet this need is simply by observing your child and responding in a proper way. In this post I will speak of how have we lived Montessori so far. Fatima is a child who suffered bad colic right from 3rd week of birth till end of 12th week. Handling such a child would have been a lot miserable. There were days were we could hardly sleep or rest. We continuously had to see her in pain and frustration. Only thing that encouraged me not to be impatient and freak out was that I couldn't risk exposing her to any negatives. The Montessori believe in being gentle and polite help me a lot to sooth and comfort her in tough times. Montessori system made me more patient towards her. We made a lot of materials for her but there were days when she resisted all of these. As soon as she started teething she was never comfortable with any of her hand materials.  In situations like this I reminded my self the Montessori principle - respect the child. Fatima has always been a very social child. luckily we had an opportunity to provide her this kind of environment - an environment that satisfies the need of the child. Respecting the Montessori believe in movement we have never used a crib or play pen sort of stuff which would restrict her motion. Agreeing with the Montessori believe in natural stuff over plastic commercial toys, Fatima had minimal exposure to plastic stuff. She have toys and mobiles made out of natural materials - wood, rubber, cloth, glass, steel and beads. She started weaning when she was ready for it not when I was ready for it, which apparently was before she turned six months. As far as the massage and bathing is concerned, it is something which should be enjoyable and soothing for the child rather than been harsh or hard on child. Indians believe so much in massage and bathing but we must admit few of us go to extremes. Rigorous massage or hot baths are something which must be avoided. A massage should be soothing and comforting. The warmth of the bathing water must relax your child not burn her. At first when I used to bath her, she cried so much. I thought she was afraid of water but one fine day it turned out the water was a bit hot for her. Since that day to this day she just loves bathing - Follow your child. As we are approaching towards the sensitive period of toileting (12-18 months according to Montessori), Fatima has started to use her cloth diapers again, along side the disposable ones. I must admit it was difficult for me to keep her always in cloth diapers which is the old Indian way. So I decided to keep her in disposables for quite few months and then slowly get in the cloth diapers. I will gradually increase the time she will be in the cloth diapers. I am sure this will help me during the sensitive period. Although I want to try out the Indian way of early toilet training, I will make sure not to be pushy. Things are turning out simple and obvious and enjoyable. Thanks to Montessori approach.

Activities these weeks:
She is able to sit without support for good few mins.
Enjoying new foods and tastes.
Playing  and learning from little cousins.

From now on I will be posting regularly. Lovely six months!

Montessori Inspired Infant Mobiles - Let Me See!

When talking about a newborn's vision, it is proven that they can see the contrasts, mostly black and white. A newborn is able to see just 8-12 inches during first few weeks. To help improve this vision, we can hang some sensible mobiles. Before getting into what mobiles, lets look at some key points on mobiles, like how to hang, where to hang, which one is best at what stage and more.

History of Mobiles
When traced back, the history of mobiles in India is almost 60-80 years back. Back in time then, grand mothers used to make lovely flowers or decorative birds out of cloth to be hung on infant's crib (cribs were pretty huge then). Off course, mobiles in Montessori system also have a long back history.

Why Hang a Mobile?
Vision is one of the five inputs which are taken by human body. I am talking about five senses. Your newborn explores this big world with these five senses, one of which is Vision. Mobiles not only improves your baby's vision but they also are a source of information. Sensible Mobiles means sensible information. Next big advantage of a mobile is to help baby develop concentration. By connecting to the mobile hung, the baby actually learns to focus. At first baby may not be able to connect for long time, but remember, even if the baby is able to connect for 5 minutes its a big deal. All that matters is how focused is she during this connection. Apart from this, mobiles also allow the baby to have a goal. Yes! the are something which baby wants to reach out for. This has two benefits: learning to work towards goal and encouraging movement. Movement is so much responsible for brain development - see here.

Where to Hang a Mobile?
The best place to hang any mobile is that place where your baby is more active. It can be any place where you put your baby while she is awake. You must choose a place that suits your home and comfort. This place can be in the same room where she sleeps or could be some other room. Keeping this place separate from her bed will just give her the idea that sleeping area and playing area are different. An additional benefit is that you need not remove the mobile each time she needs to sleep.

How to Hang a mobile?
Initially when your baby is too young (3 or 4 weeks old), Mobiles are to be hung at distance of 12 inches (30 cm). Later on you can increase this distance depending on what kind of mobile it is (bating or visual). You could buy a mobile hanger or you can use the ceiling hook or you can use any other feasible method. I would be discussing on various hangers in my Infant mobile series (Next posts in line). Stay connected!

What Mobile?
Depending on the age of your baby there are various options available. I particularly found the Montessori Mobiles to be very sensible and worth trying. In this post, I shall be providing a gross Idea of these mobiles. Then, in later posts, I will deal with each one them separately, in detail, exploring various options for each one of them.

Visual Mobiles:
Hangings : Black and White pictures
First Mobile: The Munari Mobile (Weeks 3-6)

Second Mobile: Octahedron Mobile (Weeks 5-8)
Third Mobile: Gobbi Mobile (Weeks 7-10)
Fourth Mobile: Dancer Mobile (Weeks 8-12)
Fifth Mobile: Butterflies/ humming birds/ whale Mobile (Weeks 10-16)

Bating Mobiles
First Mobile: Bell on Ribbon (12-16)
Second Mobile: Ring on Ribbon (12-16)
Third Mobile: Primary Colors Mobile (12-18)
Fourth Mobile: Musical Mobile (16-20)

Education before brith

A child starts learning right from the womb as early as a 12 week old fetus. It is the mother's voice which is the source of information. Research also states that the brain patterns of the fetus are effected by the mother's voice. So speak as much good as possible. It is also found that the placenta carries the mother's mood to baby. Yeah! it carries the hormones that the mother's body produces. So be Happy and confident and patient and all good. Your baby also hears your heart beat. Once your baby is born hold her near and she will have soothing effect listing to your heart beat.

Quick tips on positive pregnancy:

1. Be Happy 
2. Involve yourself in at least one educational/reading activity. Some options are joining a course, reading good books on various subjects, learning an art etc.
3. Do not talk/think bad or abusive about anyone. I remember visiting one of my aunt when I was 2 months pregnant. she gave me an advice which I can never forget. She said "I have 3 children and you can look at each one of them and find out how I behave while I was expecting. Look at the attitude of anyone of them and you can tell what i used to think and behave while I was carrying that child" she added "I advice you to do as much as good you can. do not keep any grudges or ill about others." 
4. Learn to become more Patient.
5. Listen to good and peaceful audio.
6. Try helping others.

That's it for now.
Have a peaceful pregnancy!
See

1. How Speaking lies affects your health
2. http://www.world-science.net/othernews/111117_depression.htm