Aha! Welcome back, me!

Well it has certainly been a while since I wrote on here. What’s happened in that time? Not much. I’ve only moved, had a baby, hobbithusband got ordained, I graduated and now we’ve moved again. It’s all been pretty quiet really. Ha.

Hobbitbaby is now 10 months old and while looking up some fun things to do I got intrigued, then enticed, then ensnared by Montessori. It reminded me that I went to a Montessori nursery when I was wee, and through doing lots (and lots) of reading, I couldn’t agree with its principles more.

Every once in a while I find something like this that completely fits my existing worldview and I get super excited. (And sometimes it’s just something that blows my existing worldview out of the water. See: Paleo, and especially this article about how saturated fat might in fact be good for you. Also, this about communicable cancer - say whaaaat?) The last similar excitement was probably upon discovery of Shane Claiborne’s Simple Way project in the States. In the words of Liz Lemon: “I want to go to there”.

And so in a fit of excitement I packed up most of his toys and books to put into rotation, and found myself seriously questioning a lot of kiddie things I hadn’t previously e.g. Beatrix Potter (re. confusing talking animals), Lego kits (re. restriction of creativity) and high chairs (re. restriction of freedom). Restriction of TV / iPads did not require any shift in my worldview to get on board.

But in all fairness I know jack about Montessori and how to implement it in my home. I bought “Montessori from the start” and read it cover to cover, and have been scouring the interwebs for information and inspiration. The more I see, the more I love it. I intend to share my journey here.

So, this will be a Montessori-at-home blog as well as an I’m-obsessed-with-food blog for a while. Because I have so much time on my hands at the moment…

As a final aside, I wonder if my recent obsession with Montessori is an answer to hobbithusband’s prayers. He has a diagnosis of ADD and needs things clear and ordered to function effectively. I, on the other hand take a rather, well… disordered approach to things. I start things then move onto something else when I realise said thing also needs doing. When I tidy I often lose things. (“I can’t find it. I know I put it somewhere sensible.”) I fly by the seat of my pants a lot. I have enough intrinsic order to not have to keep my surroundings ordered. So trying to keep things consistent and ordered for hobbitbaby is a) a blessing for hobbithusband and b) immensely hard for me. But it’s got to be good, and it’s giving me the inspiration to make my home a beautiful, functional and ordered environment. Win-win-win :)