More Changes for Echo

Shortly after we converted Echo's crib in to a toddler bed we ended up just going ahead and switching her to a floor bed. The toddler bed was great because she could get in and out by herself but she rolled out a few times and woke herself up so we decided it was time for the floor bed.

So far it has been working out really well and we are all getting better sleep. She seems to be able to put herself back to sleep easier than she did in her crib (maybe she doesn't like being fenced in?) and when she does wake up I can just lay down with her in bed until she falls back asleep which makes it a lot easier on me.

So this is what her room looks like for now. The floor bed we are using is an old futon mattress. We had a few extra of those lying around so it worked out perfectly. We will still be moving her to a new room sometime this Spring but have to work up the energy to redo the floors first. In the mean time the floor bed is working out great! I encourage everyone to try it if you have a toddler. Just make sure the room is baby proofed first ;-)

Montessori Style Rooms

I am a big fan of alternative education styles and there are a lot of good things to be said for the Montessori method. We plan to Unschool our children (more on that later) but I think there are a lot of ideas that we can take from other educational philosophies including Montessori. What I love about Montessori is that children are respected, given independence and allowed to use real tools and materials rather than fake, "kid" versions of things. Montessori is also child led, following the individual  child's interests and abilities. In this way it is very similar to Unscholling.  What I don't like about Montessori is that unrealistic imaginary play is discouraged. For example, you can play prentend at being an airplane pilot but not at being a fairy.


Anyway, enough of educational theory for the moment. I have been thinking a lot about how I want Echo's room to take shape when she gets older and we move her out of the nursery and in to her "big girl" room. I'm really interested in the Montessori style or organizing a room. Here are some great examples from my Pinterest board on kids rooms.

 Some of the things to take not of in a Montessori style room are beds directly on the floor, shelves and pictures that are low to the ground, within easy reach and toys organized in to easily accessed containers so that kids will have no trouble getting toys out and putting them away without adult help.

Other Montessori principles include limiting number of toys and choosing simple, quality toys over lots of cheap plastic toys. I love the idea of all this and would like to try it for our kids rooms but I feel like it might be harder in practice than in theory. Also, depending on the number of kids we end up having it could be difficult to have floor beds like I want, we may end up needing bunk beds!

Still I think all of this is is good information to keep in mind as my baby is quickly turning in to a little girl. She will be needing her big girl room before we know it!