DJ worked with the Number Rods this week. He lined them all up like train tracks. Although that’s not the goal, he is getting a sensory experience of long and short rods. Later in the week, I saw him walking the shortest rod up the “stairs,” noticing the 2+1 was the same length as the 3 and the 3+1 the same as 4, etc.  When he is able to align these rods from the shortest (one) to the longest (ten), he’ll move on to the beginning of the math sequence with this tool, learning to count from 1 to 10 and then matching the numeric symbols to the proper length rod.

This is going to be a very common scene for awhile I’m sure. DJ LOVES these cylinder blocks and knobless cylinders. You’ll also notice the lack of clothes in this photo. DJ has been learning to use the potty so we’re taking advantage of the warm weather to make that easier for him.  We’ve had some progress but still have a long way to go.

Practical Life at its finest! Dad and I were actually watching TV while DJ played in the evening. Before we knew it he had pulled out the vacuum from the closet, unraveled the cord and started to “vacuum” the carpet. It’s not plugged in, but that doesn’t bother him. He’s more disciplined than we are!  I’m sure if it were on, he would have diligently vacuumed the entire living room.

Continuing the Practical Life theme, DJ was thrilled with the Family Bathroom at the local mall. In one room it has a full-size toilet, a child-size toilet, a standard height sink and a child height sink. He felt so special being able to wash his hands without having to stand on a stool or be held. I’m not really sure when most children learn to wash their own hands, but in Montessori it’s encouraged as early as possible. I know that DJ really enjoys the independence.

DJ pulled out the Color Box #2 today. I keep thinking I should retire this from the shelf because he can do this work easily. But he still enjoys it and I don’t have any need for the shelf space yet. In this photo he was taking each color pair out, naming it for me and putting them back.  This Color Box has 11 pairs of colors including red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, pink, white, black, gray and brown.  DJ has been able to identify and name these colors for quite awhile now.

DJ received new paint brushes this week and they came with this paint pallet. I’ve been loosely following the advice of the Young at Art book by Susan Striker. In that book, it is recommended to introduce painting to a toddler only one color at a time in order to avoid the frustrating muddy brown that inevitably results from mixing colors when you don’t know what you’re doing. So far, DJ has explored all of the primary & secondary colors independently and is ready for the next step of mixing colors, beginning with mixing one color with white or black. Here he’s mixing red and white. He was so interested, he didn’t want to paint on the paper anymore, just to stir the paint together.

And of course every time we paint, he has to gets to wash the paint brushes out.  Sometimes I think he prefers this over actually painting.