I’ve already written about how I decided to keep my last name after I got married, but I’ve never written about how we decided on what Mac’s last name would be. When I was pregnant, we got a lot of questions about how we would decide. Andrew and I had separate last names and everyone was curious about how we would handle it. Here was the simple way we came up with that worked for us and our family.
When I was pregnant and had a newborn, I was very careful about what I bought. I was all for minimalism (although I did spring the money for a bedside co-sleeper, cloth diapers and some minimalist cloth diaper accessories.) So imagine everyone’s surprise when I decided I wanted to buy a learning tower for Mac. Well there are three definite reasons I wanted to buy one.
(For anyone who doesn’t know, a learning tower is a big wooden platform that toddlers and older children can use to be able to reach the counter.)
Every now and then, I get asked why I didn’t change my last name when I got married. Some people are just so used to women changing their name that they can’t fathom why someone wouldn’t. But it was a pretty easy decision for me to make and Andrew to understand. Here are the few reasons why I didn’t change my last name. (If you are wondering what we will do when we have children, read about how we decided on our daughter’s last name.)
P.S. I think deciding on whether to change your name or not is a super personal decision. Everyone, man or woman, should have the option to decide what name they want after marriage.
Before Mac was born, we purposely didn’t find out whether she was a girl or a boy. I love surprises and Andrew was nice enough to go along for the ride. I found it interesting how annoyed people got by the fact that we didn’t find out. I kept hearing complaints about how that made it soooo hard for them to shop for the baby because how would they know whether to buy pink stuff or blue stuff. Of course once Mac was born, we were given plenty of girly, frilly things for her to wear, but we continued to do most of our shopping from the “boys” section. Read on to find out why we don’t limit her to only girls clothing.
Every parenting decision has a downside. As a Montessori parent, all of that independence can be a bit much! Listen to a lighthearted take on the downside to being a Montessori parent.
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Related Posts:
Why It’s Hard to Be a Montessori Parents
Obviously I’m a huge advocate of raising and educating children in a Montessori way. That’s why I work at a Montessori school and that is why I write this blog. But let me tell you, it isn’t always easy and it isn’t always fun. So here are the reasons why it is hard to be a Montessori parent. If you’d like to learn more about Montessori, make sure you read my post What the Heck is Montessori? and listen to the podcast at the end.
We also recorded a podcast about the downside to independence. Listen to it in the post or find it in the iTunes store by searching Quirky Parenting.
Every once in a while, I am faced with a toddler who is struggling with something like putting their pants on. They sit on the bathroom floor crying and getting mad. And sometimes, I don’t do anything to help them. Okay, I do something to help them, but it isn’t putting their pants on for them. That is because for some toddlers, their own worst enemy is themselves. They are perfectly capable of putting their pants on. I have in fact seen them do it before. But at this point in time they are in a mood and when faced with a small speed bump, fall to pieces instead of putting on their own pants.
But as they sit on the floor and yell for help, I tell them that by encouraging them, I am helping them. Because in the long run, self-help skills are a lot more important than me putting their pants on them this one time. In fact, Montessori is all about independence from an early age. But how do you encourage a toddler? Here are four ways I encourage a toddler without just doing everything for them.
I’ve always been told I’m stubborn. From the time I was a child, it was my way or the highway. But then I had a toddler who was just like me and I realized I didn’t have a clue what stubborn was until I had to go up against her. Now after working in a toddler room, I’ve dealt with stubborn toddlers before and I have some tricks up my sleeve. So here are 3 different ways I deal with a stubborn toddler.
In today’s podcast, Andrew and I discussed advice and tips we had for pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery. We even added in a few tips for dads. Take a listen, but I will warn you that we were both tired and went on some pretty goofy tangents!
Previous Advice Posts
7 Tips for All Pregnant Ladies
6 Things I Wish I Knew About Labor and Delivery
6 Ways to Make Postpartum Recovery Better
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When I first got pregnant, I had a small sense of how labor and delivery would go. I had read some books and talked to some friends about their experiences. But one thing that kind of blindsided me was postpartum recovery. Thankfully the friends had clued me in on what recovery would be like because otherwise I would have no idea! No one seems to talk about postpartum recovery. But here are some tips about making postpartum recovery better. And yes, it is normal to feel like your guts are falling out of your body. (Make sure you also check out my tips that all pregnant ladies should read.)
I talk a little bit more about these and other tips in an episode of my Quirky Parenting podcast with my husband. You can listen online or you can download it from the iTunes store.
