Sunday, July 26, 2009
Mimi in art: part 1
I am very excited!!! I just emailed a fantastic artist about possibly painting a portrait of my darling Mimi girl. I hope she accepts and can bring my darling girl back through the world of art. I miss Mimi terribly all this time later and just really hope we can do this to honer her sweet memory. I will keep updating as I find out more...
Why not freecycle?
PS. It feels great to give as well!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Freezing spinach
Monday, July 13, 2009
Step stool madness
Two days ago I spent the morning at a new friends house. When I walked into her kitchen I saw the cutest step stools I have ever seen. Her two stools were just like the ones I have posted here only one was shaped like a butterfly and the other like a flower. I gasped and quickly found out where she had found these gems!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Used threads
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wetlands park
Busy morning
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Our indoor swing
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
More toddler views...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Stoneware pottery
Two days ago Thomas and I went thrift store shopping. I have a long list of things that if I ever come across at the thrift store (and for a reasonable price) I will buy. There only seems to be one descent thrift store around here and it is a Savers store. They have an enormous collection of children's books for only .69 cents each. I always seem to score big when I am looking for new books. I actually found Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece there! They also have so much more. This time I was ready to find some great things to add around the house for Thomas. After reading some more online about Montessori I wanted to find some pictures, mirrors and esp. some child size mugs and breakables. I found the mirror and several mugs that were the perfect size for Thomas' little hands.
I stumbled upon this pretty green, earthy looking clay tea pot with lid. So I decided I would get that for him along with any little mugs I could find that would match closely enough in color and texture. Which is how I discovered the thing I am going to start collecting... Stoneware pottery!
Stoneware pottery looks beautiful. Its very natural and organic feeling. The three mugs I found are all different patterns and sizes but go together beautifully, more beautifully then a perfectly matched set. I wouldn't want any two alike! I am going to keep my eye out any time I am at the thrift store for new pieces to go with this collection. I will be looking for plates and bowls as well. But I am guessing those will be harder to find. Who doesn't like a treasure hunt?
I don't plan on keeping these mugs for myself. In fact one has most definitely been claimed by Thomas, although they are all for him. Its the tiniest one, that I am guessing was intended to be an espresso mug. He is so proud of him self drinking from it like a grown up, yet knowing it fits him most perfectly!
So now out with the old and in with...well...the old!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
My next project


I spent a few minutes on ebay this morning looking for good deals and inspiration. I was searching for Montessori education supplies. I stumbled upon something (not sure what it is called) and decided I could make it myself and probably improve it.
What this person was selling was a set of felt sheets and several trinkets. Each sheet of felt was a different color, there were six sheets total. There were five trinkets to go with each sheet of felt. Thirty trinkets total. Each set of trinkets were the same color as the felt.
Example: Five blue trinkets plus one blue sheet of felt.
They had the sheets of felt all rolled together and tied with a string. All thirty trinkets were mixed together. So my assumption is that you lay the felt sheets out and let your toddler/preschooler place the matching trinkets on their matching felt.
The set on ebay was not super high quality. The felt looked nice but the trinkets were cheap plastic toys and things. I am going to collect things that are more natural and maybe even put a nature theme to this. No plastic here! Maybe I will get a sheet of brown felt and gather sticks, pine cones, bark, nut shells and other similar items. My other colors might be green, orange, red and any other color I think can be found in nature. That should be funner and lead to further discussion then cheap plastic trinkets.
I will post a picture as soon as we get this going...
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Toddler design
You might wonder what it is like living with a toddler, but have you ever considered what a toddler would say it is like living with a couple adults? I am really starting to focus on Thomas' perspective and what it must feel like to be three feet tall,have limited speech and have virtually no control over his own life.
I love how people come into your life and plant seeds of inspiration. I have had the joy over Thomas' little life of meeting some great mommies who have introduced me to different types of education and child rearing philosophies. When Thomas was little the focus was on attachment parenting and although that is still how we parent I am thrilled to move onto the next phase and bring in a Waldorf and Montessori approach to teaching and parenting our little guy.
I wanted to share photos of the areas in our home that are dedicated to Thomas.
This is a picture of a nook next to Thomas' play room that I have dedicated as his nature zone. There is a basket full of pine cones we collected on a nature walk, a stick Thomas found and LOVED and a bird house. We will add to this as time goes on.
Here you can see his Art easel/hat rack, book shelf and table with chairs.
Here is a few inside his closet. I transformed an old shoe holder and sweater holder into a place to keep toys. This is where most of his plastic and older toys live.
On the other side of the closet is his dress up zone. I have hung his costumes on nice wooden hangers and placed gloves, goggles and other small accessories into a small basket. On the wall next to the closet is a small mirror. I hope to get a full size mirror for him down the road.

Here is a clip board with paper and pen I hung near the door, in case Thomas has sudden inspiration on his way in or out. Maybe he will leave me a sweet message. Recently he drew me a circle and told me its name is Patrick (daddy's name)
Here is another shot of his book shelf, I have all his wooden puzzles and thinking toys on the bottom two shelves. The books and CD player are slightly higher. He can easily access all the items.

Here is our comfy reading rocker...need I say more.
Thomas is no longer interested in building trains on the table, he prefers to do that on the floor in the living room. So I flipped the train table top over to the plain white side and he uses it as part of his kitchen. He has a carton of wooden eggs, an old glass milk jug, some bamboo spoons, glass salt and pepper Shaker and some other odds and ends. Next to the table is his new- to him (bought off craigslist) kitchen. Hours of fun!
In the living room we have given him an area on the end table to keep his books. I hope to add a bean bag chair in this area soon.
Here is his wooden balance bike, we let him cruise through the house on it. A favorite toy of Thomas.
My pictures are not in order, so here is a close up of his nature zone.
As you can see I hung a mirror at Thomas' eye level. How special he must feel now that things are down on his level! I just caught him making silly faces in it tonight.
Here he is sporting a new short hair cut for summer, dressed like a skunk playing in his kitchen.
Skunk boy pretending to cracking an egg into his creation.
These are faux stained glass that we (more me then we, really) made to make our windows a little prettier.

More prettiness....

I found a neat clay tea pot and several clay and glass mugs at the thrift store. We want to encourage Thomas to use breakable everyday items, rather then stifle his growth. This will hopefully teach him, patients, tenderness and appreciation for the items we own.
Yesterday he wanted to drink and eat from bowls on the floor like a doggie and today he wanted to drink like a little gentle man. How sweet, and ever changing!
Thomas will be three in exactly one month! What a sweetie pie! I have to add my new favorite website as a link on here, I hope if you have time that you will check it out... http://mommylife.net/archives/montessori/ A special thanks to Tiffany for telling me about this site and encouragement to learn more about Montessori, and to Lisa for your constant Waldorf inspirations. Also to Angela who is always inspiring me with your craftyness
I love how people come into your life and plant seeds of inspiration. I have had the joy over Thomas' little life of meeting some great mommies who have introduced me to different types of education and child rearing philosophies. When Thomas was little the focus was on attachment parenting and although that is still how we parent I am thrilled to move onto the next phase and bring in a Waldorf and Montessori approach to teaching and parenting our little guy.
I wanted to share photos of the areas in our home that are dedicated to Thomas.
Here is a clip board with paper and pen I hung near the door, in case Thomas has sudden inspiration on his way in or out. Maybe he will leave me a sweet message. Recently he drew me a circle and told me its name is Patrick (daddy's name)
Here is our comfy reading rocker...need I say more.
More prettiness....
I found a neat clay tea pot and several clay and glass mugs at the thrift store. We want to encourage Thomas to use breakable everyday items, rather then stifle his growth. This will hopefully teach him, patients, tenderness and appreciation for the items we own.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)