We have been sippy cup free for 4 days now and everything is going as expected. The first sippy cup free day, Froggy Boots only drank about 4 ounces of orange juice and 1 ounce of water. But, by day 2, her fluid intake went up significantly. She's still not drinking as much as she did before, but we are definitely making progress in the right direction!
Here's a picture of Froggy Boots on sippy cup free day 1:
The last few days have been extremely busy for my family. It's been fun, but also tiring for all of us -- especially Froggy Boots!
On Sunday, we all went to a family birthday party. Froggy Boots' cousin, who is about 3 weeks older than her, had her 2nd birthday party. Froggy Boots had a good time! She particularly enjoyed watching her cousin open presents and having cake and ice cream.
Here is a picture of the 2 girls together -- Froggy Boots on the left and her cousin on the right. It's not the best picture, but it's the only one that we took of the 2 girls that did not turn out blurry.
The day after the birthday party was Memorial Day. We all went to Chelsea, where my parents live, and watched the Memorial Day parade. It's a really short parade, but still fun! Froggy Boots took full advantage of the opportunity to ride in her stroller to the parade route. We have not used a stroller in months since Froggy Boots is perfectly capable of walking most anywhere.
After the parade we all went back to my parents' house. Froggy Boots played in their backyard for quite a while -- going down her slide and swinging in her swing. We also stayed and had some lunch before going home so Froggy Boots could take her nap before the next event of the day.
Memorial Day afternoon, we went to a friends' house for a BBQ. I took advantage of the opportunity and made another cheesecake to bring along. It sure was yummy!
Froggy Boots enjoyed exploring in our friends' backyard! She was very interested in the downspout on their house. I watched and listened while my husband explained to her how a downspout worked -- so sweet!
This morning we also had plans! My husband and Froggy Boots had not yet seen Go Like the Wind Montessori School, the school Froggy Boots will be attending in the Fall, so we decided to attend the schools' open house so they could take a look. My Mom also came along to check it out!
After being shy for a few minutes, Froggy Boots walked right into the classroom and joined the other kids in their work. She seemed to feel very much at home and was not the slightest bit concerned when I walked away from her to try and catch the last bit of the conversation with the teacher.
I was very impressed that despite the fact that this was a classroom of kids ages 18 months through 3 years, it was very calm and all of the kids were engaged with their work. The teachers were all either closely observing the children or actively engaging the children in age-appropriate lessons. This was an example of the Montessori method at it's finest!
After we had a tour of the classrooms and met the teachers, we went outside to see the playground. What a wonderful playground! The climbing equipment was all age-appropriate -- Froggy Boots was able to climb right up one of the climbers and slide back down without any assistance! When it was time to go, she did not want to leave the playground.
I do wish I had thought to take a picture of Froggy Boots in front of the school, but I guess I will get that opportunity when she starts in the fall!
I decided that I better get down to business preparing myself for fall at Ypsilanti Cooperative Preschool. As I've mentioned before, I am switching to a Montessori-based curriculum this coming fall. So, I have a LOT of preparation to do.
For the last little bit I have been working on purchasing and making materials -- with which I have made some great headway. Even though there is still a lot left to prepare as far as materials, I also need to spend significant time learning how to use the Montessori method. I have the very basics down, but the specifics I still need to learn. Thankfully, there is a wonderful website that offers videos of the lectures done by Margaret Homfray, who worked and trained directly with Maria Montessori in the 1930's. In the lectures, Ms. Homfray presents each of the Montessori materials and shows exactly how and when they are to be presented to a child.
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