Welcome Mama Asheri! 🙂
Some of the CM principles that I use with my 17 month old so far..
Lots of picture study ; we look at paintings, pictures, etc and I point things out with him such as the small bird painted in the tree, or the train far in the background, or the snowy mountaintop, etc.
Paying close attention to nature and directing his attention to those things. Nightly we look out the window and point to the stars and the moon. Every morning we look out at the birds and I point out the differences in them, I show him the sunsets and sunrises. If it were warmer here, I would take him outside regularly. I can’t wait for spring. We garden, and I’ll have him in the dirt right along with us. I’m sure he’ll be finding lots of bugs and noticing many things come spring time. Maybe I’ll start a nature journal with him. Of course, until he’s bigger, I’ll take the pencil and sketch them for him – while he watches me. 🙂 What fun- I can’t wait!
Everymorning we look at a beautifully painted childrens bible that has simple verses to read to him. We go over the same verses everymorning and look at the beautiful paintings that go with each verse.
Everyone in the family reads aloud to him every day out of his special book basket with carefully chosen books.
We play LOTS of music throughout the day and encourage him to “listen to the pretty music”.
As far as habits go, we try to train him to work along side everybody else. Thismorning, he was pushing the broom, wiping the slider window, and dusting the bookshelf (of course, he can’t REALLY do a complete job but he thinks he’s helping and feels good about doing it) We teach him to pick up his toys whenever he’s done playing with them. I figure if he’s big enough to take them out of a toy box, he’s big enough to put them back in. 🙂 However, we make it fun and sing the “pick up” song.
Discipline is such a personal issue and I know its not easy but, IMO, its important to begin teaching and training toddlers to obey right away. I’ve found that our toddlers were much happier when they knew what their boundaries were.
I’m sure there are many MORE CM Moms here who have more experience than I do. I look forward to hearing the other responses because I, too, would love some more ideas.
Its good to have you here with us!
God Bless
Heather