- Hello, lovely people.
So, lots of you are amazed at my recent post
to find that Rupert is now eight months old.
I too am also amazed that he has somehow
become eight months old.
I know it feels like just yesterday, but he was teeny tiny.
So maybe you've also been asking how
our Montessori journey has been going.
Because we've been Montessoring Rupert since birth.
If you don't know what Montessori is,
it's a style of educational learning
for children where you sort of help them to help themselves.
We're guiding them through life.
If you'd like to learn more about it,
you can click on this video icon up here,
and here is a little short description.
Montessori is a parenting method
in education curriculum that allows children
to learn at their own pace with the goal
of increasing their independence.
Montessori respects babies
as we would respect any other adult,
and adapts the world to meet them,
rather than expecting them to always be the ones to adapt.
And this video is sponsored by Surfshark.
So what I thought I'd do today is to give you an update
on how it's going, along with eight of our favorite items
for an eight month old's Montessori baby.
Their own area.
So it's really important
for him to know that this is his space.
This is his shelf where his things are.
He's learning that these are his things,
and when he wants them, he can go to them,
and they'll be here.
And when he's finished, he can put them away,
and then they'll be here for next time.
It's really great to help him build that kind
of sense of ownership, and having his own area
in which he can do things,
and focus on movement and learning.
It helps him, I think, to focus a lot.
And this is the area we've always used.
So it was where he first laid down,
and had his mobiles above him
while we moved around him in the kitchen.
So he knows that this is a very sort of safe space
for him to be, and that we will come and go around him.
We have recently upgraded his mirror,
which if you remember was a very long loner
because he was lying next to it.
And it is now a much higher mirror.
This is a bathroom one, we got from (indistinct).
He's off, he's off. - Rolling away.
- You going towards the slippers? (giggles) Okay.
He's like, this space is confining, I'm off.
But that's the idea of the space.
It's a safe space from which you can go and return, my love.
Yeah, and we'll always be here for you.
(Rupert coos)
When you're tired of your explorations.
So when we move things around,
we brought the shelf much closer to his sitting point
because now that he can sit up and move around a lot more,
as you just saw,
he can take things off the shelf by himself.
It's not us having do it for him,
and model it, and then bring it back to the shelf.
Let's talk about the shelf itself.
Now we have what is kind of a mini shelf.
It's a pretty small one.
We kind of keep four to six things on it,
including things in baskets, which is quite nice.
Makes things look uncluttered for him
so he can very easily see what it is
that he wants to go for.
And it helps him meet his needs quite easily.
So if he has the need of I want to rattle something,
it's much easier for him to be like,
ah, that's the toy that rattles,
and grab it and shake it.
Then if he has to be met with like lots of different toys,
and maybe they're all in a toy chest,
and he's like I can't even open the toy chest.
How do I get in there?
Or my teeth hurt, I need to get something
that I can teeth one. (Rupert cooing)
Yes, precisely.
So, he can just grab out one of his teething toys,
pop it in his mouth.
And let's talk teething.
So this is a basket that Rupert has on his shelf.
Now he is currently teething,
and has been for it feels like a decade now.
And still only has two tiny,
tiny bits of teeth poking through, not even out.
Who knows when the rest are coming.
So what we've done is create a whole range
of different things that it's quite nice
to put in your mouth.
For instance, this is Mr. Moose.
He has a song that comes with him.
I don't know if you need that song in your life.
Let me know if you do,
and maybe I'll make an Instagram reel with it.
But it brings him a lot of joy.
It might help your child too
when they're in the throw of a teething drama.
This is the kind of classic teething toy,
obviously, great for just chowing down on.
But sometimes you want something a bit different
when your teeth hurt.
Sometimes you want something cold.
Ceramic stays nice and cold.
Kind of loves this one,
really enjoys rubbing his sore gums up against it,
getting that bit of a chill.
We've tried putting things in the freezer,
but then there's a lot of us.
We have to go to the freezer, get things out for him.
This one, he can do it all by himself.
Also, he enjoys putting this in and then tipping it.
This is nice and bobbily.
I imagine when your gums hurt,
bobbily things also excellent.
You know, scratches that itch right in there.
And the great thing about this basket of teething stuff is
that it's there on his shelf,
and he can just grab it off
whenever he feels the teething need,
without having to ask one of us by crying
to get him something to help his teeth.
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You could snuggle up on the train.
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There could be a lot of snuggling.
You can also snuggle alone.
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But in reality, I think we all know we're just buying them
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Specifically, where is the next episode of Grey's Anatomy,
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And you know, snuggle in your various places.
And of course have freedom of movement.
Weaving table and chair.
Now we just sort of recently started introducing this,
although we've had it in his area for quite a while.
So he's become accustomed to looking at it.
We got this one from eBay,
although the little attachment comfy thing here
that fits perfectly, I have to say,
was actually Claudia's genius idea to try it on there.
It's from trip trap high chair.
So brilliant, fits really well.
He's only just become large enough to sit in it,
which is why he's just started sitting.
But it's a really great thing to use
because it helps him foster his independence
and freedom whilst he's eating.
It means that he can have all of his snacks here,
and the meals that he kind of eats by himself
rather than family meals,
which we eat at the table with him in his high chair.
The main reason that this is so great is
that it's designed around him and his height.
And being able to do things by himself.
So eventually he'll be able to push back his chair
when he's finished eating.
When he wants to have something to eat,
he can just come on over,
get into his little chair, pull it up.
Eventually, I mean, he can't even crawl yet.
But he'll get there.
And while he's having his food,
he's very much able to put his elbows on the table.
It's a great height for him.
Rather than our table,
which is very much made for adult heights.
And the high chair doesn't really like work with it,
kind of bashes against it. (Rupert cooing)
And it teaches some great table manners
because at the end we wipe it down together,
which is really cute, and I really like doing.
Next up, the low toilet.
This one might not be something you're expecting
to find in a list that talks
about things for an eight month old.
Yet, it's actually something we've had
in our house since Rupert was six months old,
yet only now have his legs actually become long enough
that he can properly sit on it.
Like all things in Montessori,
the idea is that we are guides
helping children learn to look after themselves,
and to be independent.
And to do that, we're giving them the tools
that enable them to be able to best care for themselves,
such as a toilet that is low and at their height.
Otherwise known as a potty. It's a potty.
I don't know why we call it a low toilet.
BabyBjorn potty, which has a back.
Yay, 'cause he's not super stable.
And it's also one of the smallest potties available.
So it's really good for little ones who are able
to have the ability to hold it.
Some children have the sensation that they need to go
to the toilet quite early, maybe even from birth.
I think Rupert started being aware,
I think from about three month,
he told us that he needed a nappy change.
And then when we took him to be changed,
we'd be like, the nappy is dry.
And then he would go and we were like, oh, I see, okay.
There is absolutely no pressure involved
in the Montessori based toilet orientation,
which is much more about just kind
of like having the potty there.
Like, look here it is. Here's this place.
It just, you know, sits there. There's the potty.
Whenever you're ready.
Then gradually all you do is introduce it
to the middle of a nappy change.
So take the nappy off, sit them on,
just be like this is your potty.
Let them know what the potty can be used for.
If anything happens, simply just remark on it.
But in no kind of emotional way.
It's not a success if something happens,
it's not a failure if nothing happens.
It just is, it just is what it is.
Just bear in mind that as with everything Montessori,
it's about taking everything at your baby's own pace.
We're not going through things based on
this is the correct milestone
that should be happening at this age.
It's this is your child's journey.
Although I would say from the research that we've read,
the best time to introduce kind of potty toilet orientation
is when they are sitting, but not yet crawling.
Because then they know it's there.
As he's a more mobile child now,
he needs a lot of uncluttered floor space,
and that's probably the main thing
that he needs to have fun.
So keeping things to his shelf really means
that he can meet that need as well.
Space and time.
I know, sounds like a bit of a strange one.
So having a really good space to move around,
a kind of designated area, but also place you can move off
and explore further is really great.
This mat comes from The Singing Ant,
and we really like it because it kind of comes apart,
but also has rounded edges.
So like a clearly marked place.
And that means that you can make
it be just the four squares, but it looks quite complete
because you can choose the rounded cornered ones,
which we did for a bit.
And then you can put it into the full six squares.
So really, really like this mat.
Also it's green, like everything in our kitchen.
Beautifully great. We like green.
We even stuck some self adhesive wipeable vinyl
onto the wall so that Rupert's sticky fingerprints
wouldn't get on it.
And now we're like, oh, let's paint the walls.
But yes, space and time.
The time to just explore free of any kind of restraints,
or expectations of anything.
And also free from me jumping in,
which is hard, really hard.
Just holding back, not giving him a toy
that I know and see he's reaching for,
but letting him go for it.
Believing in his ability to help himself,
and reach the end of his own frustrations.
You gotta know the difference
between the I am frustrated cry,
and the I need you cry,
which admittedly being deaf and not great at.
with my hearing aids in, all I get is just like (groans).
The cries are all the same.
So I tend to use his facial expressions
and his sign language.
And he gives me the same sign language for both,
which we're gonna have to have words about.
But yeah, if you're hearing,
develop the ability to tell the difference
between frustration and actual need.
And if it's frustration, leave 'em be. (laughs)
You can get yourself out of that one.
If you wiggled yourself under it,
you can wiggle yourself out back from it.
♪ Do do, do do, do do, do do, do do do do ♪
Next, the floor bed.
Rupert started sleeping on a floor bed
in our room at four months.
Then he started sleeping in his own bedroom
at seven months, where he'd already been having all
of his daytime naps in that same room and on that same bed.
So it was a really familiar space to him.
And boy did we wish we'd done that sooner.
Because it was a revolution in his sleep.
Suddenly he went from waking up like two,
three times a night, to once a night.
And then sleeping through.
I think we were keeping him awake to be honest.
The mattress that he has in his nursery
is like child bed size.
So he can very happily roll over on it twice
before meeting the edge.
And because he's been on a floor bed since an early age,
he actually doesn't roll off accidentally.
He only rolls off intentionally.
So he'll roll off if he's looking for something.
You can watch him on the monitor.
Sometimes we wake up before he does,
and I'm like, oh, what's he doing? What's he up to?
And we can watch him wake up.
And he doesn't call for us or anything.
He sometimes he's just like, what am I gonna do?
He'll try and go for his toys.
But if you can imagine he's lying here, his toys are here.
So he has to roll in the kind of like, whoa, that way.
People often ask when we tell them
that our son sleeps in a floor bed,
well, won't he just get off and play with his toys.
And say, well, yeah if that's what he wants to do.
But mainly he just wants to sleep at bedtime
so that's what he does.
And if he feels he needs to play for a bit
to get himself sleepy, then that's fine.
I'm sure he can find his way back
to the mattress and go back to sleep.
The point is that it's an area in his room
that is for sleep, that he knows is for sleep.
And that he can easily access himself.
If, for instance, we had a more traditional crib,
but he wanted to go to sleep in it,
and no one else was around.
He wouldn't actually be able to get himself into it
in order to then be able to have a little lap.
He'd be napping on the floor by himself anyway.
So people often ask, does it get really cold at night
if they're sleeping just on the floor.
Obviously he's on a mattress which is slightly raised.
And then we have quite a thick padded carpet
everywhere in the house upstairs.
So that helps with a layer of insulation.
Then if we know it's gonna be a particularly cold night,
we do put him in extra thick pajamas,
and put a vest on him as well.
And he also sleeps in a sleep bag
because that allows him freedom of movement
whilst also giving him a nice cozy environment.
I know that some children who use floor beds
actually learn to be able to crawl
and to walk with their sleep bags,
and then just get themselves back into their bed.
All in all, we found the floor bed
to be an amazing thing for his sleep.
Really, really good at putting himself to sleep,
and self soothing in this environment.
He's like I am in my sleep space.
This is it. This is where I go to sleep. Okay.
And it's just lovely to come in every morning
and see his little smiling face, as he's there playing.
The ball tracker, a toy loved not only
by our eight month old baby,
but also by his cousins who are a year and a half
and four years old.
So this is something that will last you.
Now I got this one from Etsy.
And the shop currently is taking a break, I think,
or they're out of this one.
'Cause I think they just had a baby.
But I'll leave the link down below,
as I will leave the link to everything else.
So maybe they're back in stock by the time you click on it.
But you can find similar ones on there.
Now the ball tracker's really great
for developing hand eye coordination and tracking.
Oh, I know.
Oh, thank you. Oh yep.
You're gonna pick it up and eat it.
You don't have to be super tall to put the balls on.
You can put them on at your own level
when you're sitting down, baby.
Yes.
And it's very big and sturdy,
so it can also be used to help a child stand up.
Yeah, should we try again?
Let's move you closer, see if you can put your ball there.
(Rupert cooing) Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So there we go.
Those are eight of my favorite things for an eight month old
when you're practicing Montessori at home.
There are a lot of other things
that I would also love to cram into this video,
but then it would be like an hour long.
So instead what we're gonna do is host a Montessori Q and A
on Friday on our Instagram, @jessieandclaude.
My beautiful wife, Claudia.
Where we're just gonna take your questions
about our Montessori journey so far, how we're finding it,
things that we're doing, not doing,
what's working, what we've found that didn't work,
or we haven't tried because we were like,
no, that's too much.
And things that Rupert's really enjoying.
And also stuff that we have in our lives
that just isn't Montessori, and doesn't fit the bill.
Because obviously not every single toy
that he plays with is classic Montessori.
I do have recommendations as well for other things,
if you're like, oh my God,
I'm not ready to dive right in there.
Thank you so much for watching.
If you enjoyed this video,
and you're new here then subscribe.
And thank you so much to Surfshark
for sponsoring this video.
Click the link in the description
and use code JESSICA for 83% off Surfshark,
plus three months extra for free.
If you have a little one, whether they're Montessori or not,
let me know what they're enjoying,
and what kind of things they're up to.
Because I love inspiration.
Recently, we had a lot of fun putting pompoms into a whisk.
If you've got any more of those,
any more ideas like that, please give them to me.
This child loves the fine motor game,
and Pinterest will only give me so many.
See you in my next video.
(kiss sound) (upbeat music)