Joyful Toddlers class #2- Teaching Children to Interact Graciously

 (plus unrelated photos from the week)
This has been such a great class that I've gotten sooo much out of, but its lots of little things here and there so its a bit hard to put into words. Basically I went into the class thinking that we were doing pretty well behavior wise but I've learnt so many more positive and easier ways to encourage good behavior and just go about our activities more smoothly and easily.

Firstly I love the way Faith talks about a child misbehaving as needing more connection. I've heard of this before but as she explained it, it made more sense and she gave practical ways to connect with the child in a way that would turn their mood and behavior around. We were taught to use more imagination and bring more fun into the tasks. At first I had to get my head around the idea of giving the misbehaving child extra attention because I've always been under the impression that is 'rewarding bad behavior' but I tried her techniques and they work! They work because they make the child want to do what is required more than they want to be stubborn.

Here are some of Faiths great articles on discipline and connecting 

chopping fruit ready for a garden tea party

The idea of assuming good intentions is another great thing that I've got from Faith. I read this in one of her articles a while back and the course refreshed my memory so I've been using it more. I'ts been serving us so well. There are lots of opportunities where this works well.

 As an example Maddalyn is constantly grabbing any drink bottle that anyone leaves within her reach and if she used to want to have a drink of it. (shes 18 months) The children rarely remember to push them out of her reach so this happens all the time. Rather than  telling her off for taking it from her causing her to get upset I say 'oh your getting Mitchies's drink for him, you can see if he wants it' If he doesn't I say never mind, lets put in on the table and he might want it later' and she happily does. She is happy with this, the interaction was positive instead of making her feel naughty and she learns to be giving and helpful. 

This is just one example but I've been using this technique ALL the time. 

taking turns pouring drinks

Another way of keeping things positive is telling them what they CAN do instead of what they cant.
An example- I turned around and Tia was digging in my plant pot. I simply said to her 'you can dig in the sand pit' and led her to the sand pit. There was no battle of wills that can happen when you tell a child no, she simply wanted to dig so I helped her fulfill her wish in a way that would be enjoyable for both of us.

We planted petunias, nastusiam seeds and some spring bulbs in a hanging pot for in front of the play room window

I've also been working on encouraging the children to ask each other for help (ie if a child asks me to get something that he can't reach I might say 'maybe you could ask Angus to help you get it, he might be tall enough' and also I've been asking them, could you please give one of these to each child. It hadn't really occurred to me to use 'helping' as another way for the children to be connecting with each other and feeling like a valued part of the group. Encouraging little children to help bigger children lets them feel helpful,it also gives the older child an opportunity to be thankful to them and appreciate them rather than seeing them as too little to be helpful. Faith also discusses the ways that doing all house hold activities together,dishes, sweeping the floor etc can be opportunities for meaningful connection.

and watered it......

There was lots of helpful teachings on how to help children to notice others reactions ie. 'Georgia's crying, shes saying that's too rough' which are helping, especially with all the under 2's I have at the moment

and watered it..... until it was so heavy we couldn't hang it 'til  most of the water had drained out. Ooops!!

I feel like my writings here are all over the place and I really can't explain it all very well. I've soaked up so much information and ideas which are truly amazing me, it's all so gentle yet effective. My day care field worker came over one day recently and commented that she had heard us chatting in the kitchen before she rang the bell and it it just sounded like I was chatting with my good friends. The thing is, relationships get stronger as positive 'behavior guidance' is learnt because your able to see the children as helpful and competent rather than difficult and mischievous.  I don't realize how much its all helping until I take a moment to think about how well the weeks gone and realize its because I reacted differently to all the situations I was faced with and was able to see the best in them.    

(The course i'm taking part in is Joyful Days With Toddlers and Preschoolers,for those that are interested I highly recommend it)

a space to sew

 There's been a distinct lack of sewing going on since our last house. I didn't have anywhere to set up my sewing table so unless I had a big project and a big chunk of time to dedicate to it I couldn't justify lugging around my sewing machine, finding an extension cord , making a big mess (I mean sewing) and then having to pack it all up again ready for day care.

 The other day it occurred to me that it would fit in our bedroom and now I wish id put it there sooner. Its right next to my craft supplies and spinning wheel so it really does seem like my very own craft room!

 It has the best view of the house. There is a sweet little willy wagtail that spends a lot of time on our front grass and this is he perfect spot to view him as I go about my sewing. Across the road from us is the towns football oval and some big old trees. In the evening large flocks of birds play between the trees. It's so relaxing to watch them soaring about together

I'm not the only one that enjoys watching the birds:)

 I have some little plants to brighten the window sill. This small geranium I grew from a cutting. It started blooming just in time to add colour to my new spot

 The tea cup pot was from my handsome valentine. Oh I love it (and him) so

golden evening light

10ish months to go

 today I tidied the day care sleep room and took some pictures to share. In about 10 months we'll be moving (yay!!) so its nice to have a record of how things are at this little house of ours

 The funny thing is, we've lived in this house for about the past 2 years (i think??) and I've been just thinking recently that it feels like I've gotten it to the proper lived in,reflecting us, coziness if you know what I mean. I really like this little place but aside from wishing it was a little bigger, it's unfortunately not in the right town either

 It has a bit to do with all the pot plants. I've for a long time had a few but recently iv'e been growing extra from cuttings, splitting ferns and re-potting plants that had grown baby plants around them. Its a good way to get my gardening fix when its stinking hot out. They really help the place look homely and cozy. I particularly love the tea pot plant

 The little girls play with the dolls a lot so I set up an extra little doll corner in the sleep room

The sleep room is a good spot for little ones to retreat to when they need some quiet. I put the rocking horse on the sheep skin to make sure it didn't scratch the floor but it also makes it rock quietly and gently which is nice.

 This room gets such nice filtered light from the big window

 By the window is hung our garden mobile. The green thing is a watering can which I should have turned around. It looks a bit funny because like usual I didn't use a pattern but I like it

 The foot stall from my rocking chair is in here, I sit on it as I tell stories or sing the little people to sleep

 ps. I've got another little Apple Blossom girlie for Thursday. I have my hands full of little girls, two 18 mo olds, an almost 2 year old and a 2.5 year old! Oh and I've decided that we need to get back to eating outside. I may or may not have decided it while sweeping up four babies worth of food last Thurs:) I think we'll put the chickens on clean up duty this week!

ppps- I officially have 3 children for day care when we move. Maddison and Georgia's mum has said she will be bringing them all the way over so they can still come! She was telling me how people around the town have been talking about how disappointing it is that I will be moving away because i'm so good with the kids. Um.. flattered is an understatement. I can be so hard on myself thinking i'm not doing well enough so its ridiculous how much comments like this fill my heart

Karen, what did you do to me?

I will also have my little buddy Jayden which i'm so excited about!

Ahh, thats better

joyful days with toddlers and preschoolers, class #1

I've been absolutely loving this class. My favorite part is having a peak into Rainbow Bridge Life ways home day care, the class would be worth it to me with these videos alone. I've read so much information on Waldorf but seeing these videos is really bringing it all to life for me. I'm also so glad that its all specifically for 1-5 year olds as I've always struggled with Waldorf literature being about older children. Its hard knowing what of the lovely activities, ways of doing things etc. would be appropriate, fun and helpful to littler children and how to make it work for us. 

Anyhow, here are some sweet moments from this week that were inspired by the 1st class- Life as the curriculum

Each day care day the Apple Blossom children have been helping to wash dishes

 I have such enthusiastic helpers. Madison in particular is thriving on all the 'helping'. I knew she would, she's independent and loves to feel grown up. We started all the new tasks last week and her mum told me yesterday that shes been asking "are we going to Karen's day care today?" more than once a day since. If only I loved dishes as much as she does! Yesterday the little girls (Thursday has become my little girls day at the moment) helped me sweep, load the washing machine, and scrub my shower with bicarb and vinegar. There was a constant stream of wet outfits going out to the washing line but we all had a fun day

Some thing else we've been doing inspired by the class is having warm relaxing foot baths before nap time. Faith (the teacher) was talking about them during the conference call and they sounded so nice! For some reason I didn't think they would work for us. I wanted to give it a try but I honestly thought the littler children would splash, the bigger ones wouldn't be interested and it would be another thing to fit in to our morning. Little did I know, they all love it, every one of them

I set up this special little spot in the laundry and every time I go to change a nappy (the change tables in there) some one is sitting in the chair asking for a foot bath. The picture of Mitch above is him wishing it was time for a foot bath:) Oh and the cutest moment today was Mitch giving Maddalyn a pretend foot bath. He was even humming away to her

Its become such a beautiful time of the day that we all enjoy so much. I give them a wash cloth and hum or gently sing 'Faiths hair brushing song" (having a mental blank on its name). They wipe their face and hands or sit quietly blissed out. It's so completely adorable:)

For the two one year olds I have a shoe box that boosts the bowl to a perfect height. I put a towel on top of it so that I simply slide the bowl out and their feet are on the towel ready to pat dry.

Some of my class mates are having their children grind lavender with a mortar and pestle but I cant figure out where I've put mine so in the mean time were filling a little sachet with oat meal, lavender and some calendular that came from my garden last spring

 I put it on a square of muslin, fasten it with a rubber band. This gets a lovely slippery, creamy texture which the children all like

 The last thing I have photos of is hair brushing after nap. This was my very favorite part of the videos so far. The children love their 'rain showers' and I gently brush their hair and hum

 Here's our hair brush spot on top of the cupboard. I'm a little paranoid about head lice (i'm sure most people that look after small children are) so I found a nice smelling herbal head lice deterant to spray over the brushes just in case.

Anyhow, that's all for now, i'm off to read up for class #2, ready for the conference call on Monday!

my new toy

 Recently I was winding and winding these balls by hand. Benny asked 'what happened to that ball winder I was going to get last birthday?" (or was it the birthday before?) hmm, I do believe I made it as far as the web site, got tempted by some gorgeous madelinetosh and came away ball winder-less

 time to fix that. I was super tempted by lots of prettiness but luckily i'm still getting through my Christmas Quince & co

ahh, pretty little yarn cakes! well worth the wait

 Isn't this little pot of basil lovely! Mum got given a handful of basil stalks and set them in some water to keep until she needed them. A week or so later they had grown good long roots! I had no idea that basil would grow from cuttings, this is a very helpful piece of info for me. I see even more basil pesto on my horizon.
Another plant I recently discovered grows from cuttings is tomatoes. You can simply pinch out the suckers and put them in damp soil or a jar of water. Each year I tend to have a few tomato plants that thrive more then the rest so it will be interesting to see if their cuttings thrive too

 The pot on the left had grown some extra little plants so I potted them in tiny as can be pots. Later they will need more room to grow but for now I can enjoy there adorableness