Clean Up Clean Up Everybody Everywhere Everytime Everyday...

So my LO loves to clean and I have set up a separate cleaning area for him as shown in the picture below. Well, he doesn’t quite do all the activities exactly as I would want it to be done, but he does a pretty good job. He does get stuck with the water related activities! He will just continue spraying the table and everywhere instead of finishing with wiping it… But we are working on it and I am sure he will get it soon, he is only 2!!


On the top shelf to the left I have a 'Fruit and Vegetable Cleaning Activity' shown below. We will name the fruits and vegetables, put it in the colander and hold the colander above the bowl that has come with the colander. We will then pour water from a pitcher on top of the fruits and vegetables and sort of wash them. Then throw away the water in the bowl and keep the washed fruits and vegetables back on the tray with the colander and bowl.


The next tray is a Folding Tray which simply holds two wash cloths to be folded. One has a straight line and the other has a diagonal line to guide the folding.


To the right of the folding tray is my son's Table Washing Caddy which holds a tiny dustpan and whisk broom, a water spray, a sponge and a washcloth. The sequence to be followed is sweep the table to remove any large pieces of paper or dirt, pick it up with the dust pan, spray water on the table, scrub with the sponge and then wipe with the wash cloth. Throw away the contents on the dustpan and put away everything in the caddy.


The rightmost tray on the top shelf is the Glass Cleaning Tray which holds a water spray, a squeegee or hand wiper and a washcloth. Simple sequence - spray, wipe with squeegee with an up and down motion and wipe with cloth. My son does this activity in school as well and he says 'up and down' in a sing-song sort of way while using the squeegee... He really enjoys this activity.


The bottom shelf has a tray with collection of brushes, which I plan to use for different tray activities over the next few months. But for now, I have just left it there to show him the different types of brushes available for cleaning!!! So there is a toothbrush, a feather duster, a dustpan with whisk broom, a floor brush and a dish brush.


The right tray on the bottom shelf has a 'Dish Washing Activity' which we haven’t attempted yet since I am still unsure about exactly how it should be done. I have put a stainless steel plate and a spoon and a little brush which holds detergent. There is a little button on the top which releases the detergent when pressed.


To the right of the shelves there is a bucket with numerous cleaning tools - brooms, mops and so on... At some point, I would like to put these up on hooks attached to the wall so that it is more organised.


On the side of the bucket there is a little teddy bear shaped dustbin and a cute pail with its own attachment to wring the mop. Mopping using the little mop and the pail is my son's current favorite activity.
We've also bought a handvacuum for him which sits in the kitchen, and he will also often use our brooms and mops which are three times his size!!!

I have also starting sending some activities to his school so that he can do more stuff there as well... I have created a number of printables about which Ill write in my next post. Recently, I send a 'Sunglasses Polishing Activity' shown below. Sequence - spray water, scrub with sponge, wipe with micrfiber cloth.


That's our little set up... Lots of improvements to be done and it would be great if you would post comments explaining your own cleaning or practical life setups and suggesting new ideas as well as ways to improve my current set up...

Cleaning Obession Discussion with Teacher

Before the discussion with the teacher, I consulted a number of 'expert Montessorians' across the world who are on various relevant yahoo groups. The feedback I got was unanimous and everyone explained that there should not be expectations and that the cleaning obsession should not be curbed, instead, it should be further encouraged.

So I arranged a number of meetings at the school and these were all useful and productive... I met the Head of Junior School and the Nursery Head before the meeting with the teacher to get their viewpoint as well... They were quite surprised about the 'classroom expectations' and convinced me that overall the school sticks to the Montessori dictum of self-directed work. They were convinced that there was a misunderstanding and that they would look into the matter (speaking to the teacher, observing the class and so on). They advised me to speak to the teacher and were quite sure that the meeting would go well...

My meeting with the teacher was quite productive. She was completely open to all of my suggestions and completely understood my point of view. She knew that this is Shariq's sensitive period for order and movement and had already started getting him to window clean, table wash and so on. I gave her a long list of ideas on incorporating more cleaning activities in the classroom and on channeling this current fixation into more academic stuff slowly. I let her know that I would provide support in making activities and materials and she was appreciative of that. Also, she had not removed the cleaning stuff from the class, but had put it in a different place since she wanted to expand the activities to include cloth washing and so on as well.

The problem was that she has had bad experiences in the past with parents who themselves do not know anything about the Montessori system and expected that their kid must do all the academic stuff. As such, they react negatively when they learn at the end of the term that their kid has only been cleaning all term and does not yet know his colors!!! She has tried to educate parents about the Montessori system, and though this works most times, it does not work all the time. This is her way of sounding the alarm much before the end of the term so that parents do not get at her neck at the end of the term or year.

The problem here in Dubai is that there is very stiff competition for the top schools and everyone wants the kids to go there at 4 years!!! Some of these schools hold their assessment tests at around 2.5 years and the children are expected to know their numbers, alphabets, colors and shapes by then. This is why parents tend to pressurize teachers in the nurseries to train up the children.

Horrible system I know!!! This is why I plan to keep DS (dear son) in the Montessori system for as long as possible, before he has to subject himself to exams and assessments.

Anyway my problem did get solved, I have started making up activities for school and will be sending these across to the teacher at the beginning of every week. I have also brought a lot of new and shining cleaning equipment for DS at home so that he can clean as much as he likes at home as well. I set up a separate cleaning area for him with tray activities for glass cleaning, sunglasses polishing, dish washing and so on. I have also made some printables such as a cleaning equipment 3 part cards set, a cleaning equipment half puzzle, a cleaning color matching, a vacuum size matching and so on. I will be writing a blog including all of my cleaning 'themed' ideas alongwith the ideas presented here, with pictures and so on. I will also soon put up the printables for download... I am sure someone somewhere has a son just like mine!!!

My Son's Cleaning Obsession

I can’t believe it has been almost 5 months since my last post. At that time I had promised to myself to start writing regularly… Well… promises are meant to be broken!!! Anyway, a lot has happened in the last few months, and I might come back to some issues at a later stage, however, in this post I wanted to write about my LO’s obsession with cleaning…

Before I start, I would like to update that my 2 year old son has been going to a Montessori nursery since the beginning of September. As indicated in previous posts, he had been going to a non-Montessori nursery cum day care for around 3 months. He still goes there in the afternoon (2pm-5pm) since I work full time. I used to do some Montessori activities with him previously, but have reduced it now since he is going to a Montessori nursery. At home I am concentrating more on practical life. He is mostly a pleasant guy and does not generally fuss too much. The teachers at the non-Montessori nursery were happy with him and the teacher at the Montessori nursery was also happy with him since he settled in much quicker than the other kids and she even said he is ready to work!!!

As such I was really surprised when she told me one morning during drop off that we need to talk and that I should set up an appointment. I just could not wait for such an appointment, so insisted that she should atleast tell me briefly what the problem was, else I would die worrying!!! In short what she has told me is that DS gets upset often during the day. In the mornings he is a little sad when I leave, but becomes alright during the Circle Time. After that he goes around doing things in the class, but mostly (80%) of the time he gravitates only towards the brooms and other cleaning equipment!!! Whenever the teacher tries to distract him and encourages him to try his hands at something else, he makes a really sad face and is completely not interested. She said that there were 'classroom expectations' and that she would like him to do more sensorial and maybe a little of language.

Well... I was a little relieved. First, because this is not news to me and second because I do not think it is such a big issue.

DS has always loved to clean, since he was 9-10 months old. I know a lot of children like to clean, but DS is completely OBSESSED with it. He can just clean all day long, at home he has his own cleaning caddy which has a duster, water spray, sponge and cloth; he has a little broom and we have recently brought him a Philips hand vacuum. We have a cleaner who comes everyday for an hour to clean the house and DS is sooooo excited to see him, he will run to the door screaming 'Uncle, Uncle'... And then he was say - 'Now, Clean Clean', he will then lead the cleaner to the place where the big vacuum is kept, and give directions... For a whole hour he will just be around the cleaner giving directions, showing him where the floor is still dirty, he will switch on and switch off the vacuum as required when it has to be moved from one room to another... As soon as the cleaner puts down the vacuum, even for a minute, he will pick up the vacuum and start cleaning... When the cleaner finally finishes and the vacuum has to be put back, he will cry (this is probably the only time in the day that he cries)... It takes us a good half an hour to distract him away from the vacuum... This is why we brought him a little hand vacuum, but he prefers the bigger one... We are thinking of just hiding away the vacuum and using a broom for the cleaning...

Apart from this, he will sometimes wash the table with his cleaning caddy, and also wipe the furniture with a baby wipe. He will sometimes help me put the laundry in the washing machine, switch it on, help to hang the clothes to dry and so on... As such, I am not surprised that he gravitates towards the cleaning activities and does not want to do anything else.

He is only 2 years old and I think 'classroom expectations' just should not be there... That is the reason I put him in a Montessori set up!!! I think it is fine for him to continue doing what is doing as long as he is happy... I don’t want him to be forced into doing other things... This will completely defeat the purpose... Having said that it would be nice if he worked on the sensorial and language activities... I just think the teacher needs to think out of the box and get creative. With the Montessori philosophy of following the child, I am sure this cleaning obsession could be channeled towards the other areas.

I did meet the teacher for a discussion later and explained my point of view. That will come in my next post…

LO Loves Music

So, as mentioned in the previous post, our LO loves Music – Islamic songs, Quranic verses, Hindi film music, nursery rhymes, Signing Time songs, Baby Arabia’s tunes, Jolly Phonics songs… Everything…

He listens to Islamic songs such as ‘Bismillah’, ‘La Ilaha’, ‘Tala Al Badru’ and has recently started saying ‘Allaah’ when he hears the word in the song or when we ask him to. He also gets instantly alerted when he hears the ‘Azaan’, the call to prayer and will point his finger indicating to us that we should listen as well. He also listens to some Quranic verses that I sing them to him while he sleeps. He knows when it is time for us to say our prayers and will sometimes come and participate. He starting doing the action for ‘Salaam’ around 14 months, bending down for ‘Sijda’ at around 15 months and bowing down for ‘Ruku’ just recently, Mashallah.

His favorite Bollywood songs are ‘Lakdi Ki Kaathi’, ‘Akele Hum Akele Tum’, ‘Meri Maa, Mumma’, ‘Chanda He Tu’, ‘Chal Mere Ghode’… My DH has downloaded videos of all these songs and occasionally both father and son will sit and watch these songs. The LO seems to know the sequence of the songs and will sometimes even make appropriate facial expressions depending on the expressions in the songs. He does recognize a some new Bollywood songs, but I really don’t know which ones, I just know that when these are played, he will move to the beats… His other favorite Hindi song is ‘De Ghuma Ke’ which is a cricket lover’s song, which was played during the World Cup last year. I should also mention that he loves the tune played in the ‘Docomo’ ads.

LO’s repertoire of Nursery Rhymes and Activity Songs is extremely extensive already. When ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ is sung, he does the twinkling action, the up-in-the-sky action and the diamond action. When ‘Wheels on the Bus’ is played he does the round-and-round action and the shu-shu-shu action. He twists his fingers together doing the ‘Insy Winsy’ action, puts his palm on his face mimicking sleeping for ‘Are You Sleeping’, he turns around like ‘Teddy Bear’, falls down like ‘Jack and Jill’ and ‘Humpty Dumpty’, points to his head, feet and nose when we sing ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, claps hands and stamps feet for ‘If You’re Happy’, claps and bends down for the Chicken Dance,  says ‘Baba’ when ‘Ba Ba Black Sheep’ is played, says ‘Papa’ when ‘Johny Johny’ is played, says ‘Lala’ when Elmo’s song is played, he also recognizes Barney’s ‘Clean Up’ song, ‘London Bridge’ and ‘I’m a Little Teapot’… Mashallah.

He has been watching Baby Signing Time videos and can do the signs for milk, eat, more, cracker, baby, hurt, cat and all done. He started signing milk and eat at around 18 months. He loves watching the songs especially ‘A Hard Day’, where he will empathize with the kids in the video who are crying or hurt and his face will reflect the appropriate expression. He also likes ‘Mom has a Mom’, ‘Diaper Dance’ and ‘the Pets I Love’.

We used to attend Nadia’s lovely Baby Arabia classes last term and the LO really enjoyed the sessions. We are trying to continue the learning, by listening to the songs on our way to nursery everyday. My LO will clap his hands for ‘Iza Gut Mabsut’ and will point to himself for ‘Ana Ismi Fou Fou Fil’. The other music he enjoys listening to are the Jolly Phonics songs and he will immediately respond with ‘aaa aaa aaa’, giving the sound for the first letter of the alphabet.

Hmmm, so what other cute music stuff does he do??? He plays the drum at times and presses the buttons on his toy guitar. At the nursery they have a number of musical toys like pianos and guitars that he also plays with. Recently I filled little water bottles with rice, lentils and peas, and they make different sounds when he moves them around… He truly enjoys this.

Also, he communicates when he wants to listen to a particular song, he will point to the remote control or mobile phone, clap his hands, do the ‘twinkle’ action, say ‘baba’ or move his head from side to side. And he will get quite hassled when we don’t understand exactly which song he wants to hear!!!

Well… That’s my musical baby J.

My LO Turns 21…

Well, not 21 years old! I’m not that ancient!! Just 21 months old!!!

I want to make a note about where he is right now, not for comparison or evaluation or to brag, but simply so that it can be a checkpoint for me and other bloggers. Following the Montessori system, I plan to make more organized observations form now onwards.

So at 21 months my LO weighs around 11 kilos is 84 cms tall with a head circumference of 48. His length and head circumference is in the 25^th-50^th percentile, while his weight is in the 10^th-25^th percentile, not ideal, but for a baby born at just 2 kilos, it is really great. Mashallah. He has 16 teeth – 8 incisors, 4 molars and 4 canines; just 4 molars left to sprout…

He has been going to nursery since the last one and a half months and really enjoys his time there. He does fuss a little in the morning, since he wants to continue nursing, but sometimes he also fusses in the evening at pickup time, since he wants to linger at the nursery. Basically, he does not like to be disturbed when he is enjoying himself!!! Most days, he runs to me saying ‘Mamma, mamma’ when I go to pick him up, and that is just so sweet. He has been doing some great art projects at the nursery, and the nursery files it all so we get to see it all. Maybe I'll post some pictures soon. He seems to be learning quite a few new songs everyday, sleeps well and he is eating better than before. Mashallah.

LO’s teacher, Ms. Fatima is quite appreciative of his demeanor and behavior. She has noted that he has become extremely confident, even when he is around older kids and is no longer afraid of interacting with other children and adults. She says that he is observant and patient and follows directions. He loves being in the water and he loves reading time. Music is his favorite part of the day and he participates whole-heartedly in everything that happens in the nursery.

Our LO has always been surrounded with music – whether it is our lovely Islamic songs and Quranic verses,  his dad’s Hindi film music, mom’s nursery rhymes, Signing Time Songs, Jolly Phonics Songs or Baby Arabia’s Arabic tunes. Even when he was just a few months old, he loved listening to rhymes when I massaged him. Music can instantly boost his mood and we do use it occasionally when he fusses. As such, at 21 months our LO can recognize quite a lot of songs, Mashallah. More details in the next post.

While my LO isn’t really talking yet, (I started talking at 2.5 years), he does say a few words. His first word was ‘Mama’ which he said at around 14 months. His current vocabulary has around 25 words and includes: Allah, Aami (Aamer, his friend at the nursery), Amm (come), Baa (bandd ie close in Hindi), Bae (bird), Bai (bhai ie big brother in Hindi), Bus, Bye, Chachi (aunt in Hindi), Chachu (uncle in Hindi), Cheese, Dada (grandpa in Hindi), Daddy, Go , Hapush (alphonso in Hindi), Hi, Jush (juice), Mamma and Mummy, Nai (no), Naani (grandma in Hindi), Shoes, Uncaa (uncle)…

Apart from these words, he has his own way of communicating with us using signs – some of which he has picked up from the Baby Signing Time videos and others concocted by him. He will sign milk, when he wants to nurse and eat when he is hungry. He makes a circling kind of sign to show that he wants to eat a dosa (crepe-like South Indian snack), puts his index finger and thumb together and moves it to indicate that he wants to write, touches his head to say ‘salaam’ (a greeting), puts his hand forward when asked to shake hands, moves his hands from side to side to say bye and touches his lips to give a ‘flying kiss’. Mashallah.

He prefers eating on his own and has lately started getting good at using his fork for his noodles and his spoon for his yogurt, Mashallah. His favorite foods are muesli, yogurt, cheese, noodles, bread, rice, orange, watermelon, crackers and of course fruit juices. He loves to clean, and there is loads to write about this hobby of his, but that is the subject of another post!

His current favorite toys include his shape sorting box and stacking cups set. He can put all the shapes in, including the difficult star shape and can sometimes stack all the 10 cups. Also, he recognizes a few shapes – circle and star. He has starting building his blocks as well, he has a small set and I am thinking of buying him his first Lego Duplo set. He will sometimes play with his balls and his cars, and he enjoys playing with Potatohead, which has helped him learn the various parts of the body. He loves his puzzles as well – parts of a body, numbers and transportation, though I think he is now bored with them and needs some newer ones.

He is quite keen to become independent and so he tries to undress, put on his shoes, rub soap over himself, apply lotion, brush his teeth and wash his hands. We haven't really focused on potty training yet, but I will work on it over the next few months. He is also keen to help around the house, so will sometimes help to peel cucumbers and potatoes, cut cheese, hang clothes for drying, load the washing machine and so on.

He loves to scribble on paper and on the walls and enjoys messing with paint. He will also often help to wash the table after his painting endeavors. He does quite a few Montessori activities as well, which Ill cover in detail in another post – pouring, spooning, sponging, opening and closing, and so on… He is also starting to get environmentally aware – he touches leaves very lightly, since he has been taught that leaves are our friends, he observes ants walking by and he asks for a tissue to murder cockroaches (not sure if this is a good thing, though the cockroach population in our house has surely reduced).

He knows the names for most of his body and face parts, and yesterday even learned to point at his brain and heart. He can recognize the UAE flag anywhere and I am trying to get him to recognize the Indian flag as well. Yesterday he pointed to a Pakistani flag on TV and did the ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ action showing the star on the flag. He recognizes a lot of items in his ‘First 1000 Words’ book as well as in some of his other books, Mashallah. He loves to read, and I’ll probably write more about his books in a separate post.

I’m sure I’ve missed some of the Mashallah cute things he does, but at least this post provides a starting point to my future record keeping.

Today Is Important

I forgot to publish this yesterday!!! So its actually a dya later than LOs 21 month birthday...

My little one turns 21 months today. I think it is a special day and there are a number of reasons for this. He now has just a quarter left before he turns 2 years old which is surely a major milestone. These three months are extremely vital for the two of us for various reasons:

·         I plan to wean him off the breast before his birthday.

·         I would like to have atleast started some aspects of potty training before his birthday.

·         This summer I need to make a number of important decisions about his nursery and school.

For these three reasons, I think today is an important day.

Another reason is that from today onwards I plan to become more organized in my approach to the LO’s learning and development needs. It has been around three months since I started doing Montessori activities with him at home. However, till now it has been very unorganized, irregular and unsystematic. I have not been doing the activities everyday and have not been making any notes about my observations. Bad, bad, bad!!!

Even before my LO was born, I had started recording tit bits about my pregnancy so that I would always remember the beautiful experience of having him inside me. After he was born, I used to write little notes about the highlights of everyday, about where we went, what we did and so on. I recorded every detail of his guests and his gifts and also his step-by-step process of eating solids. I continued making notes when he started sitting, rolling, crawling and so on. However, somewhere after his first birthday I became lax in my record-keeping and I do repent it!!!

I have not yet written the dates when he started walking, about the teething stages, his first words and so on. I do remember a few things, and maybe pictures will help me recollect some more, and I really should start writing it all up soon, else I will forget everything!!! I did start his scrapbook sometime back, but after 3-4 pages, I did not continue. So a lot of pending work to be done.

However, while I plan to continue writing about the past, I really want to focus on the present and future. From now on, I promise to be more systematic with the recordkeeping!!!

Happy Birthday...

The Four Month Nursery Selection Journey Concludes

It started in the middle of December last year and concluded yesterday with the LO spending a couple of hours at Golden Beach Nursery in Umm Suqeim 3. I sometimes wonder whether I went overboard with the research, tours, market surveys and recommendations. Is such an extensive investigation to choose a nursery and day care for the LO really something unheard of?

Since I am working full time, my LO needed to be with someone for almost one third of his daily 24 hour budget. Options such as like babysitting and full time maids were also considered (another post will cover these two aspects), but we finally decided that the nursery and day care option suited us best, though it was more expensive that the other two. However, trusting someone enough to leave the most precious thing in the world in their care was quite difficult in itself. Add to it the wide variety of options in Dubai, each with their own pros and cons, our familial budget constraints, our preference for the Montessori system, my exacting standards and my views on education (some of my future posts will cover each of these aspects in detail); and you have a real problem in your hand.

So it took four months to solve this problem. I did not ultimately choose my first choice, or second choice or third choice… Golden Beach was our fourth choice. It is less than a year old, but really lovely, managed well with caring staff and I do hope my LO adjusts well to the environment. I will talk more about the top three choices and why we could not go for those in another post, but this post is simply about why we chose Golden Beach.

I have always wanted my LO to be in the care of people who enjoy what they are doing and do not consider working at the nursery a chore. Smiles, hugs and kisses should be plentiful, genuine concern for the children should be paramount and providing a loving environment should be a priority. Apart from this, since we live in this melting pot called Dubai, a multicultural experience with playmates, teachers and nannies originating from across the world was essential.

Another requirement was qualified teachers and experienced nannies, who knew that they were there to not only to impart an education, but also to teach social and life skills. A child to adult ratio of around 4:1 for the LO’s age group would also be good. Also, I was not keen for the LO to go to a nursery which suffocated him in small enclosed spaces; so buoyant indoor rooms and abundant outdoor spaces, with a garden and a rich spread of toys and play equipment, with the children spending their day in different parts of the nursery was attractive to me. Child sized bathrooms and proper napping areas were required as well. These requirements seem to be quite adequately taken care of at Golden Beach.

While I was quite keen initially for my LO to join a Montessori nursery and day care, I gave up on that requirement after seeing what was on offer (topic for another upcoming post).  So while curriculum is important, I am now fine with the EYFS curriculum, since we will be doing some supplemental Montessori activities at home. For now, I would like my LO to simply develop his social skills, start trusting people other than family and know a little about the world around him.

So, I am relatively indifferent to the curriculum, though I would object to loud singing, television viewing, using alphabet names rather than phonics and force feeding. As such, I am comfortable with what Golden Beach has on offer, they seem to follow EYFS quite closely, and make observations on the child, keep records of his progress and share all of this information with the parents through daily notebooks, weekly portfolios, regular Facebook updates with pictures and so on. Also, I will be dropping him and picking him up, so I should be able to intervene and interfere if required!

Another lure was that Golden Beach provides all meals throughout the day, with everything prepared fresh in the nursery. Not that my LO eats a lot yet, but that’s one thing less to worry about every morning for working mothers like me.

In spite of this they were affordable (a very relative concept in Dubai)… The spring term is generally just over two months, with most nurseries charging the same fees as the three month terms. This actually put a lot of the nurseries out of our reach financially – I mean Dhs.10,500 for a three month term is Dhs.3,500 per month, but for a two month term is Dhs.5,250 per month!!! Golden Beach was priced reasonably, we negotiated an 11 percent discount and they allowed us to pay monthly. Also, since their term was for 2.5 months, they turned out to be less prohibitive than some of the other options.

It would have been nice if they would have a few vendors coming in like Dubai Drums, Baby Arabia or Super Skills. It would also be nice if they had a proper pool and the LO could learn to swim during his time here. Also, I wider selection of books is definitely recommended. Just a few recommendations from a difficult Dubai mom!!!

So my LO had a nice time there yesterday with us in the same room with him. But today we left him in the classroom for one hour, while we watched him on the CCTV!!! And he cried!!! We were told that this is normal and is to be expected and that soon he would adjust. So tomorrow we will leave him for 2 to 3 hours and slowly ramp up… Let’s see how it goes… Fingers crossed!!!