What's new: just too much

I have been wanting to post updates all these weeks and in my mind I had done so but now I realize I was just dreaming. I kind of have missed out three whole months of updates and that's too bad but I do have an excuse: I have no time!
Life with two children two years apart is quite different and taking into account that I have also worked since the littlest was 12 days, I feel writing a weekly update is just too much. Well, of course I was just working around 1,5 to 4,5 hours a week but it makes no difference, I spend the little time I have making projects or invitations for my toddler, or mobiles for my baby...
No time and here I am rambling on instead of getting to the point.
We have been intensely looking for a preschool for M, which has also taken much of my time both on pondering pros and cons and attending open house visits. The range of options is wide, although we have pretty much the idea of what we feel suits M best. Up to now we have visited several preschools and schools. The first one was a public/state conventional school in the middle of the woods. The lush surroundings and the fact that it is within walking distance from our house made the visit compelling. We had some expectations since many of the families who bring their children there, and some of the teachers, are alternative and there is a timid attempt at hands-on projects. I was positively surprised to see the variety of materials three-year-old children had access to and nonetheless a full class of 25 three-year-olds sitting and working on a collage of the snow at the same time made me feel a bit giddy. They talk endlessly about "the adaptation period". I feel two half mornings to adapt to the change of being home with a parent to being in a class with 24 other children and an adult cannot be possibly enough for M -- let alone me.
Next, we went to visit two little Montessori inspired preschools that use hands-on approaches and let one of the parents accompany the child for as long as the s/he needs it. Choosing one from these two had been our first idea but when we started comparing, we couldn't make our minds up. The one we had visited first, as soon as June last year, was the option I leant toward. The teachers seemed very respectful and their philosophy was on a par with mine in the majority of aspects. I also liked the families we had seen on their open house. The dad, though, was unimpressed by their Montessori material, which he thought looked too new, and suspected children had no free access to it. He favored the option I had dismissed because the owner of the land the preschool was in, and mother of two of the children who attended, had given me the impression she acted a bit as if she were the queen of the place. I have to confess I am rather bad at being in places where someone is clearly the owner. The teacher in that school, however, had spent long periods with Rebecca and Mauricio Wild and was acquainted with the Pestalozzi.
Yesterday we visited a public/state progressive school which is a 30 minute ride from our home. The facilities, materials, outdoor and indoor invitations to play and work were really impressive. They gave a two-hour talk, which neither the husband nor I could listen to from beginning to end because we had gone with both kids. We heard a bit each, though, and what was more important, visited the facility at M's rhythm. She was fascinated by a kind of sand box modeling steppe landscape and spent more than 20 minutes arranging the wonderful Schleich animals and trees and manipulating the pebbles and rocks. That school would really be an option weren't it -in my opinion- too far away, and located in the suburbs of a socially depressed town. I am sorry I might sound snob but the car ride with two kids that aren't keen on cars is what frightens me most, actually.
Next Saturday we are going to visit a Waldorf preschool and a brand new private progressive school. Then, another public school in the nearby and another Waldorf preschool the next weekend and I think that will be it. We will have to choose or decide to stay home for another year or until it is time A goes to preschool. M is always asking to see children so I don't know if that could be an option.
I wanted to write on how A nearly turns from tommy to back, on how M has come up with I-spy games all by herself, on how tender it is to hold a three-month old baby and how fun it is to be around our toddler but it is already way past midnight and I can't afford sleeping less than I already do. How about sharing some pics instead?

DIY Octahedron mobile

I have wanted to share this post for weeks and I am happy to finally have the time to do so. Around six weeks we took the Gobbi mobile away -although we kept it as decoration in our dining room- and presented our variation of the Octahedron mobile.
I started making this mobile for the sake of making it when M was around 14 months and I didn't have the slightest idea that I would have another baby within a year. It might have been one of the omens that preceded my pregnancy. Another one was reading books and articles on Montessori for babies even when my actual baby was way past babyhood.
That was the start. I only finished it some weeks ago, when A was already past his fifth week and I was starting to thing that if I couldn't finish it on time, I would have to save it for another baby.
My original idea was to make the three blue, red and golden octahedrons but to simplify my life and since the only cardboard I had on hand was golden, I decided to modify the Montessori mobile a bit and make three octahedrons identical in color, different in shape, each octahedron being 1 cm bigger than the previous one. To make the mobile I upcycled a cardboard gift bag that glimmered, a thread of fishing line, and a pipe cleaner, so it really cost me nothing!
I liked the result! And A seems to like it as well, for he everyday looks at it for a short while. Nothing like the two hours or so I've read somewhere... Nope... He can concentrate on it for around ten or fifteen minutes, after which he starts whining. So are my children... not much time on their backs.

Nearly getting there

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, when I was a little girl, I used to ask my mother if using a long ladder we could reach the sky. The answer I remember is that should we attempt to touch the sky, it would move higher and higher, eluding thus our touch.
Some days I feel as if my aim were like the sky in my mother's tale, just impossible to achieve. Others, like today, I feel we are nearly getting there. But what do I mean by "my aim" anyway?
Some might say it is perfection. I don't know.
I aspire to live in harmony, keeping the children contented and happy, inventing and setting interesting activities for the toddler, responding to the baby's cues, catching as many of his pees and poops, getting to finish house chores, writing as much as possible, doing interesting classes, and being a nice mother, wife, friend, daughter, sister, teacher...
How was my day today? The morning went by in the blink of an eye. If it hadn't been for a failed attempt to go for a stroll, aborted by the terrible wind, the baby would have maybe slept for three hours non-stop. But we've set out with sleeping A in the stroller, M walking by my side. I seldom give a dime for A's chances of sleeping much if he is not tightly held but life always surprises me and that's what I've told myself this morning. The stroller was the best option under such weather and given the fact that he was sleeping in my arms when we were preparing to go out. Lovely M has tried to ride her trike but since I didn't have enough hands to push her, she has very kindly offered to walk.
No sooner had we walked down the street, not even bent the corner, when I have realized the wisest option was going back. Fortunately, M has found out some balloons and stickers we had under the stroller, which has entertained her on the way back. Unfortunately, A has woken up and the following hour and a half he's been rather upset.
In my attempt to reach the aim, I keep on redesigning nap time and bed time routines that can match our needs with two children. Conclusion, after a frugal meal we've spent more than one and a half hours to get to sleep. When the husband has arrived, though, both kids were napping like angels. Full stop.
The afternoon has been spent amidst a trip to the store, a visit to the lake to feed the ducks, supper and bed time.
Why do I feel, then, that today we are getting closer to the ideal? I guess it is because I have been able to do some laundry, folded clothes, shopped for pants -now that I can't get into any of my old pants-, prepared two simple activities for M, made a kettledrum with recycled items during nap time, survived the morning, gotten to sleep a baby that doesn't like nursing to sleep... No baking or tinkering today but I have the feeling I have done my best to get closer to my dream. Well, and it wouldn't be so without this short while of writing. This feels like paradise although it is way past midnight...

Hand printing with finger paint

A very simple yet engaging activity is hand printing. The way I have typically presented this activity is a squirt of finger paint on a tray. However, a mixture of liquid food coloring and flour would also do the trick. Make sure the food coloring doesn't stain permanently. From my experience, powder food coloring can be turned into liquid by adding water but the tinge stays in your skin for a while.
This time around I papered the table with brown craft paper, placed the tray with paint on one corner, printed a hand and left it there as an invitation to my toddler. That simple. I love leaving invitations here and there and specially watching my child approaching them.
How do you present this kind of activities? Do you let your children take the lead? I'd love to hear about you!