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I am currently nursing my second child and right now, at four months old, we are thinking he may have some food allergies that are causing skin and reflux issues. So I started on an elimination diet. I am already a vegetarian, but now I’ve also cut out dairy and eggs, making me essentially a vegan.
My husband eats meat and while he has no problem eating vegetarian with me, (in fact, I’ve written before about how we eat together as a meat eater and a vegetarian) he was a bit concerned about what we could eat together now that I am vegan.
Enter Olive Oil Pasta.
This pasta is so tasty and it only takes 15 or so minutes to make!
I have been interested in minimalism for a while. Before I started reading up on it, I figured it mostly meant getting rid of most of your stuff and having a beautiful, but mostly empty house. WRONG. I am all in for functional minimalism, which means that you just get rid of the extra. You are mindful of what you are buying. I recently added one more part to this definition: using the special stuff.
See, here was my problem. It is a problem I’ve had all my life. I would get something (usually as a gift) and I would save it because it was special. That meant I had notebooks I would never write in, fancy clothes I would never wear, and toys I never played with. This problem has followed me into adulthood.
But I recently had a realization. I needed to use the special stuff and enjoy it instead of stashing it away to be safe. My daughter helped me realize this. See, most kids love using their special stuff. Mac has been wanting to wear her special, fancy Christmas dress on a normal day.
At first, I balked. It was special! It wasn’t meant for a school day where it might get dirty! What was she thinking?
Then I realized that she was right. When else was she going to wear it? It probably won’t fit next year for Christmas. Should it just hang in her closet until I decide to get rid of it because it no longer fits? No! It should be worn and enjoyed!
So I started to apply that to my own life. My grandmother is so incredibly handy that she is always knitting or crocheting. She crocheted a queen size bed cover and gave it to me. It was so beautiful that I was afraid of putting it on my bed. I mean, I frequently have children in my bed who can’t always control their bodily fluids. What if something happened to it?
Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it because I finally took it out of the bag and spread it on my bed. And every single time I look at it, it makes me happy. My grandma made it to be used and so I am using it.
When I sat down to write this post, I was reminded of an exchange from Home Alone 2 when Kevin is talking to the Bird Lady.
Bird Lady: I’m just afraid if I do trust someone, I’ll get my heart broken.
Kevin McCallister: I understand. I had a nice pair of rollerblades. I was afraid to wreck them, so I kept them in a box. Do you know what happened? I outgrew them. I never wore them outside. Only in my room a few times.
Bird Lady: A person’s heart and feelings are very different than skates.
Kevin McCallister: They’re kind of the same thing. If you won’t use your heart, who cares if it gets broken? If you just keep it to yourself, maybe it’ll be like my rollerblades. When you do decide to try it, it won’t be any good. You should take a chance. Got nothing to lose.
Whether it is something physical like rollerblades or something more metaphorical like a person’s heart and emotions, it is made to be used. So use it!
I’ve decided to document my adventures in using the special things in my life. The first thing I’ve done is create a hashtag where you can follow along and use on your own adventure into using special things. You can follow me on Instagram. I will hashtag my special things with #usethespecialeveryday. Follow along and contribute.
The second thing I’ve done is create a free, 7 day email challenge so you can start using your special too. Just put your email address in the box below, hit subscribe, and you’ll see me in your inbox soon!
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. This means I may receive some compensation if you buy through it. Check my disclosure page for more information.
I’m going to start out by saying that pumping at work sucks. Pumping anywhere sucks. I know I’d much rather be at home with my sweet baby and nursing him rather than have to hook myself up to a machine. But sometimes you just have to suck it up and pump. Between pumping at work for both of my kids, I have found a few things that make life so much easier. Here are my tips for pumping at work including why I think everyone should buy Freemie Collection Cups to make pumping so much easier.
One of the things I love about the Montessori philosophy is the idea of self directed learning. Children follow their interests with some guidance from the teacher (who is literally called a guide in Montessori.) The idea of children learning things they want to learn and when they are interested in them just makes my heart soar.
When children are forced to learn things when they are “supposed to” instead of when they are ready and interested, they are not going to enjoy it and they might not even remember it. Self directed learning is a way to make sure children will (mostly) enjoy what they are learning and remember it as they grow older.
But here’s the thing: self directed learning with younger children might not really look like learning to us. But sit tight, I have an example of that after I tell you some of the traps we fall into with children’s activities. (If you’d like some good ideas for activities to do with your children or other ways to bring Montessori into your life, check out my ebook 30 Ways to Make Your Home More Montessori. You can buy it as an ebook on Amazon or a pdf file on Gumroad.)
The Two Ways We Spoil Self Directed Learning
When children are younger, it can be kind of tempting to do a couple of things: 1) turn EVERYTHING into a “learning activity” or 2) push the academic. Well, I’m tell you that you don’t have to do that. I’m giving you permission to just let them play and the self directed learning will flow out of it.
So what do I mean? Well sure, go ahead and count things with your child or talk about colors. But you don’t have to force it. I’ve seen way too many scenarios where parents are forcing these “learning activities” and because it is so forced, I have a hard time believing the child is getting much out of them.
The other thing parents will do is really push the academic. Instead of seeing what their child is interested in, they will just try to push anything academic. What if your kid really like numbers, but could care less about letters? Or maybe they love colors, but don’t really care about shapes. You don’t have to force them to like the other things. Wait until they show an interest.
Younger children will naturally show interests in things without having to be pushed into it, but the thing is not everything that interests them will be academic. It won’t all be counting and reading. But don’t fear, they will still learn from it.
And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t ever set up an activity for them. Just make sure you are paying attention to what they are actually interested in or something that would be a natural fit. The other day I set up a quick handwashing activity for my daughter after she did some art. It was then I realized that I had been guilty of overthinking Montessori in my home.
When Play Becomes Learning
The other day, I was home with my kids and I was feeling so internally pressured like I should be engaging my 3 year old in some sort of activity. She was playing with some corn cob holders and I was wondering if I should be setting up something for her to do.
But then I noticed something. She wasn’t just mindlessly playing around with these dumb little corn cob holders. She was using the colors to make a sort of pattern.
Now, there was a time or two before when I thought I should be working on academics with her and tried to see if she could understand patterns. It just backfired. She was not interested at all and thought what I was asking her to do was boring. But here she was working on patterns by herself. If I had stopped her from playing with those poky little things, she wouldn’t have gotten that valuable, self directed learning experience that she got.
P.S. Make sure you check out my 30 Ways to Make Your Home More Montessori ebook if you are interested in Montessori. I have some great things to do with your children that will help prompt self directed learning. You can find the ebook on Amazon or a pdf book on Gumroad.
Tell me about a time when you realized your children were actually learning during play. I love personal stories!
Montessori seems like such a foreign, weird concept to some. Even parents who send their kid to a Montessori school may only have a vague notion about the Montessori philosophy. But if you are wanting to support your child’s Montessori education or if you are just interested in being more child-led in your home, Montessori at home doesn’t have to be hard.
Look, I’ve worked in a Montessori school for 5 years now. It took a while, but I have a good grasp on the philosophy and part of the reason I write this blog is to help others understand too. (In fact, if you want to learn a little more, make sure you read What the Heck is Montessori?) But even I have been guilty of making bringing Montessori into my home too hard. (If you are looking for more ways to be more Montessori at home, check out my e-book 30 Ways to Make Your Home More Montessori. It is full of easy ways to incorporate more Montessori ideals in your home. You can find it as an ebook on Amazon or as a pdf file on Gumroad.)
Sure, it is one thing to follow Montessori ideals: child-led learning and freedom of movement among other things are easy once you are committed to them. But what kinds of activities can you do with your children that are Montessori based?
Well I’m here to tell you that when you try to come up with these activities, you are probably overthinking it. You don’t need it to be perfect and you don’t need it to match exactly what they do at school. Here is how that looked for me the other day.
The other day, my daughter had been doing some art and got marker all over her hands. She asked to wash her hands and, instead of sending her upstairs to where her bathroom stool is, I figured I could set up a quick hand washing activity for her.
I gathered a towel for the floor, a tub of warm water, a washcloth, some soap, and a hand towel for when she was done. I set it up on the kitchen floor and she went to town. She already had the hand washing presentation at school, so she knew what she was supposed to do.
Was it strictly Montessori to a tee? No. She didn’t get the water herself, we used a plastic tub, and I didn’t have a nail brush or bar soap. But it didn’t matter. At the end of the day, it was good all around. I allowed her the freedom to do the job herself and she enjoyed exploring with the soap.
So the next time you are thinking of doing an activity and you are worried about it because it isn’t “Montessori enough,” just relax. You are overthinking it. Things don’t always have to be perfect to work.
(And if you are interested in some easy ways to be more Montessori in your home, check out my e-book 30 Ways to Make Your Home More Montessori. It is full of all sorts of ways to follow Montessori at home. You can find it as an ebook on Amazon or a pdf file on Gumroad.)
Hey guys, so my last giveaway was so popular that I teamed up with some other bloggers to do another one! So make sure you enter below for this awesome giveaway. Everyone could use an Amazon gift card.
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Okay you guys, I have never actually watched Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Sure I’ve seen snippets of it here and there and I generally have a little bit of an idea what they are up to. (How can you not? They seem to be everywhere!) But today I watched Kylie Jenner’s baby video on YouTube and it made me cry.
I didn’t cry because I’m so happy for her (Although don’t get me wrong, I am. I mean I’m happy whenever a new baby is born.) I didn’t cry because I’m so into the Kardashians and this will extend their show for many more seasons. I cried because it brought back so many memories and it finally hit me that even though my baby is only 2 months old, he is most likely my last baby and I’ll never experience those things again.
The video goes through her entire pregnancy, documenting the reactions of her friends and her loving her belly as it grows and grows. She looks amazing the entire time and is thoroughly enjoying every moment of her pregnancy. And it made me feel like I hadn’t enjoyed my pregnancy enough.
I’m scared I’ll forget those little moments that Kylie remembered to document. Why didn’t I take more belly shots with my second pregnancy? I shouldn’t have complained so much about my aching back and feet. I should’ve put on better outfits instead of living in yoga pants for 9 months. Was I just being lazy?
My baby hasn’t even been outside of me as long as he was inside of me and I miss it. Pregnancy is beautiful even when it isn’t. Even when I felt huge and ugly, I knew I wasn’t. Pregnant women glow even when they are in sweatpants with unwashed hair. The sheer fact they are growing a life makes them amazing. In fact, the days I got the most compliments about looking good were the days I had literally thrown on a maternity t-shirt and yoga pants.
At the end of the video, the screen goes black as we continue to hear the sounds of the baby being born. That made me cry more because birth is such an intimate moment for everyone involved. Just hearing the sounds brought back all of the emotions. My second birth went much more smoothly than my first. It empowered me so much and I felt so connected to everyone else who had ever given birth. Who knew I would ever feel like I had something in common with Kylie Jenner?
But this video made me realize that I need to come to terms with the fact that that chapter of my life may be over. Who knows what the future holds, but we have two amazing children. As much as there will always be regrets about whether I could’ve taken more pictures or videos, I will always remember those kicks and hiccups coming from inside of me. I will always remember looking down and seeing my stomach instead of my feet. I will always remember both of my labors and how different they were, but how fitting they were for each child. There are lots of things that I shared with each of my gestating children that are memories only I have. That is so special.
Kylie Jenner, thank you. Thank you for sharing and making me reminisce for a few minutes. Even though it made me cry, it was happy tears. Happy because my beautiful children are growing and changing each day and even though I’ll probably never hold my own newborn again, the memories will always be there, springing to the surface to remind me not to be sad, but thankful.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation you. Check my disclosure page for more information.
Valentine’s Day is such a fun holiday. One special day to express your love and appreciation for your loved ones? I’m all in! I also love when you can buy a cute little outfit for your child. I remember as a kid getting a new outfit for each holiday and it made it so much more special for me. And let me tell you, there are plenty of Valentine’s Day outfits for kids out there. I’m sharing a few of my favorites today. Make sure you scroll to the end for some more neutral ideas that will last after the holiday is over.
Rainbows are great for so many reasons but one is that they make a great, colorful and fun way to help toddlers learn their colors. With St. Patrick’s Day and spring coming up, I sat down and did this toddler rainbow craft that we even turned into a game. Here is the simple craft we did and how we used it in a similar way to how color tablets are used in a Montessori classroom.
Here in snowy Minnesota, the perfect meal for a winter day is some kind of warm, filling soup. I have really fond memories of my grandmother’s chicken noodle soup. But as a vegetarian, it can be hard to find a good vegetarian noodle soup recipe that fits my nostalgia.
But one day, my husband (who is most decidedly not a vegetarian) and I were playing around with some recipes and we found something that isn’t exactly the same, but seems to fill that void. Bonus points: it can be made in a slow cooker!
And as always, this recipe is great because you can tweak it however you want. Add in some more veggies, use ingredients you have in your pantry already, or heck throw in some meat. (My husband even threw some chicken in his bowl. If you are interested about how we typically eat the same meals, I wrote about family meals with a vegetarian and a meat eater.)
