In the summer 1996, while I was pregnant with my daughter, Sarah, I attended the CMTE/NY infant and toddler program with Virgina Varga. One series of lectures concentrated on designing the environment. While the other students -- professional teachers and child care providers -- were busily taking notes and on how to improve or set up their classrooms, I drew a floor plan of my one-room apartment and tried to figure out how I was going to create an environment for my future baby.

The Montessori philosophy is unique in its approach to infants. The key concepts of Montessori are communicatiing respect for the individual child, the importance of freedom of movement to aid the child's physical and cognitive development, and allowing children to participate in daily routines of self care and care of the environment to assist learning and the development of independence.

Infants learn through their senses -- they learn by watching and moving freely. How was I going to apply this concept to my own apartment -- and in fact our lives, in a way that provided Sarah with what she needed to meet her needs -- for freedom of movement, independence, and safety -- without turning our whole apartment into a child care center?

I wanted Sarah to know she was a welcome addition to our family. It was important to me that her “things” would be integrated into every room of our house. At the same time, I didn't want babyhood to overwhelm our relatively small one bedroom apartment.

The Montessori approach gave me guidelines to follow and decisions to make. Whereas most parents buy cribs, playpens, high chairs, and walkers, I was making other choices to support and respect Sarah's freedom of movement, sense of order, and independence.

Some of the choices I've made have resulted in creating additional responsibility for me -- and giving me more work to do; but like the cloth diapers and covers I use, I feel it is worth it -- because I see the results every day as I care for, observe, play with, and love my infant girl, Sarah.

In our living room, I choose a corner near a window to set up an area where Sarah could play and explore -- and where we would keep her toys and materials. I took the books off the two bottom shelves of our book shelf and here placed her books and a few select toys: a colorful woooden bead carello, a cloth ball, a silver rattle that was a.gift from her Aunt, a wooden merry-go-round, a teething ball, and her Discovery Basket (a cloth basket which I fill with items of different textures, shapes, and sizes, such as a ribbon, a brush, a metal measuring spoon, a plastic cup, etc.).

From the window I hung a butterfly mobile -- from the Michael Olaf company. What is so special about the butterflies is that they are accurate and true to life from the top and bottom -- so as Sarah looks up at them from her lying position she sees the delicate and beautiful stripes of an orange Monarch and yellow Swallowtail butterflies. There is a slight draft from the old windows, and the butterflies shift and sway in the light breeze.

On the floor I placed a wonderfully soft lambskin rug. When Sarah was newly born the soft fur was a pleasure for her against her delicate skin. Now at 6 months, she enjoys rolling around, on and off the rug, going from the softness of the rug to the hard floor. Along the wall, and to hide an outlet (which I none-the-less covered with a baby proof outlet cover) I have a long horizontal non-breakable mirror (this also from the Michael Olaf Catalog, where, by the way, I registered for my baby shower.gifts!). Sarah adored seeing her reflection from early on. Just recently, the two of us where lying together on the mat on our tummies -- she with her back arched and her head ever so high looking at herself in the reflection and suddenly she turned to look at me and smiled the biggest smile as she realized that I was the person next to her in the mirror!

In the corner, I have a low cube with a shelf in the middle (from Hold Everthing). I set this up when Sarah was first born, although she could not reach the items on the shelves. Now she can reach the toys on all the low shelves. And when she begins to crawl, sit up unassisted, and later stand, she'll be able to reach the higher shelves. She knows already that these are her things and where each can be found as each is in its own place. The sense of order helps Sarah have a sense of security. As she develops and increases her exploration she will begin to integrate the external order of the environment into her “inner” order.

Sarah's area is directly across the room from my desk. I sit at the computer and write in the mornings while she plays; my husband works at the desk in the evenings, and can watch Sarah too.

In her own little corner, she gets a balance of time with us and time on her own . I am just four steps away from her if she needs my assistance or she can just look up and see me if she needs a little reassurance. I am amazed at how her concentration has lengthened and extended in these past few weeks. I am careful not to interrupt her when she is playing, even if she just looking at her hands -- which of course she does with great fascination. I think this respect of her has helped her to be the calm person she is.

I choose Sarah's toys and furniture very carefully. I try to offer her toys that are made out of natural materials, such as wood and cloth, and real objects from my kitchen, rather than plastic. Natural objects give her a sense of the beauty and complexity of nature, and help her learn about what makes up the world. So much of children's toys and furniture are made of plastic, which puzzles and disturbs me. Children are the most vulnerable to the dioxins and other poisons which leech out of petroleum products, such as plastic). While it may be easier for the adult to wash and clean plastic, it is far better for the child to be surrounded by the beauty, texture, smell, and touch of natural materials. It is, after all, the child who has the awesome and important task of learning about the world around her so she can grow to know and understand it, and in a very short time integrate herself into her culture and surroundings. And yet we, encouraged by mass marketing, toy companies, and children's stores, give children the artificial world. Do we adults sit on plastic chairs, eat always from plastic cups, bowls, and plates, walk on plastic mats, work with plastic tools? I do give Sarah a few plastic things to play with (Tupperware bowls, a measuring spoon, a little nail brush), as plastic makes up part of my world, but thankfully not all of it. Dr. Maria Montessori put it so beautifully when she said, “Adults admire their environment, but the child absorbs it. The things she sees forms her and becomes part of her soul.” She recognized that infants and toddlers take in the world around them and out of this generate themselves.

I keep a bouncer chair -- the Baby Bjorn one -- in the kitchen. Sometimes I'll put Sarah in the chair while I'm preparing her lunch or dinner -- or cooking our own. Before she could sit up, I used to feed her solids foods in the bouncer chair. I had a low stool for myself and I would sit opposite her. Boy! Was that ever a mess! But I was determined not to have a high chair for Sarah. (On some days, when the rice cereal and the sweet potato got smeared all over the cloth chair, and I had to totally dissemble the chair and wash the cover, and then try to remember how to put it back together again, I wished for the convenience of a plastic chair). But high chairs account for over 10,000 injuries to children a year. In addition, they clearly are not about fostering independence. Feeding Sarah first in the bouncer chair, and now that she is able, at a low table helps our process of separation and individuation -- and enables her to move toward eating independently and “doing it herself.” You should how she sits up so proudly in her own wooden chair at her little table!

At the low table, we use a weaning chair -- from the Lord Company. I sit opposite her and feed her with a small spoon. As soon as she is able, she will feed herself. I also have introduced a small glass cup -- rather than a sippy cup-- from which she drinks water and juice. Again, this choice requires vigilance and care on my part. She is still learning to swallow from a cup so I must be careful not to give her too much too fast. And of course, she really doesn't have the hand coordination to hold the glass yet and drink herself, although she so wants to! So I help her as little as possible as she learns to do it herself and sometimes that means pear juice all over the table and floor! But I think that learning the skill now can only help her later. She is refining her dexterity anyway, and later, she won't have to learn how to drink from a cup -- she will already be doing it. She smiles with delight when the food part of the meal is over and it is time to drink from the glass cup. What is nice, too, is that we both can see how much liquid is in the class. I use a small, bottom weighted juice glass. She wraps her hands around the base, and every day she does a better job of holding and sipping.

I always keep fresh flowers on Sarah's dining table -- as I do on my own. Living in New York City has some benefits -- the grocer on my corner has beautiful, inexpensive flowers all year round. Every day is filled with discovery for Sarah. So often we pollute our infants world with plastics, make-believe, and cartoons. Yet the miracles of the real world are truly wondrous enough for them. She in turn is bringing renewed richness to my own appreciation of the beauty of a yellow daffodil or a fragrant hyacinth.

In her different areas -- in the living room, near her dining table, and near her bed, I have hung prints of art at her level. I have pictures of animals ( From Mommy Its a Renoir by Aline D. Wolf) -- an Albrecht Drurer of two squirrels eating hangs near the table; a pretty watercolor of a horse by Franz Marc hangs near her bed (and hides the outlet). In few weeks, I'll go to the museum.gift shop and get some new ones. I'd like to get some picture of small children or babies. If they don't have small scale prints, I'll buy postcards -- which are an ideal size and scale for Sarah.

In our bedroom is the most controversial and wonderful of objects -- the low bed. My friends and relatives come into our room and give me a confused look, “Isn't that cute,” they say, “But where does Sarah sleep?” “She sleeps in the low bed,” I tell them. “Doesn't she roll out?,” They ask. “She knows where the edge is,” I tell them, but they don't believe me. Neither does my husband, so we keep two large pillows alongside her low bed. She rolls all over the rug in the living room, but she has never rolled out of her low bed.

I could have used just a mattress on the floor, but I decided I wanted her bed to have a frame, and be a little off the ground because of drafts, so I purchased a toddler bed (from the Natural Baby Catalog) and cut the off legs. The mattress is a standard crib size. She was in a large Montessori bassinet from the Birth Center in Rome until four 1/2 months, when she outgrew it. Sarah will stay in this bed until she is 4 or 5 years old. Once she can crawl -- and even sooner when she can slither backwards -- she will be able to get out of the bed, so I “baby proofed” our entire bedroom to be safe for her. The commitment to a low bed is a large and important one, but it make such a difference for her sense of independence and to permit the freedom of movement which is an essential characteristic of life and one of the most central means to healthy development.

My cousin has her child in a low bed. When she is tired, little Nicole crawls into bed herself to take a nap. When Nicole wakes up in the morning, she gets out of bed and sits on the floor in her room, playing quietly by herself. How different is her experience of sleeping and waking because she can do what she wants by herself -- without having to ask (or scream or cry) to get help from an adult. My hope is that Sarah, too, will learn to help herself fall asleep when her body needs to without being imprisoned behind the bars of a crib.

As Montessorians know, the environment plays a vital role. Sarah's environment helps convey to her a sense of trust and belonging in the world. Our home will help her chart a map of order within herself, enhance her independence, and nurture her self-esteem. The spaces I have created for Sarah are the places in which she lives and grows and help her to define the very person she will be. I have tried to create an environment of order, simplicity, dignity, and beauty; a place of safety, nurturing, respect and love, with the hope of assisting Sarah's physical, emotional, and cognitive development and the miracle of her marvelous unfolding personality.

The potential of Montessori approach has only scratched the surface. Certainly, if Montessori philosophy and education were to be more fully accepted in our society, we would see dramatic changes at many levels, for example: preparation of parents and teachers; changes in the design of child care centers, schools and institutions; polices that effect families and children -- such as maternity leave or the requirements of licensing of child care centers, toys and equipment that are manufactured and sold, how people treat their children from the moment they are born and as they grow, learn, and develop. Ultimately, if we were to fully incorporate the ideas of Maria Montessori, and the reverence of the child that is central to Montessori thought, we would transform the lives of all children and, in fact, the kind of world they will create in the future.

Resources:

Michael Olaf's Essential Montessori Catalog: 707-826-1557
Shatterproof mirror; some favorite wooden and wonderfully-made toys such as: cube and bell rattle, carello (Sarah's all-time favorite), teething ball, patchwork ball, squish, rattles, wooden toy gym, butterfly mobile, and much more!

The Natural Baby Catalog: 609-771-9233
Low toddler bed (I cut the legs off for Sarah), fabulous wooden toys, sheepskin rugs, and clothing too!

The Lord Company: 502-737-7265
Low table and chairs

Mommy It's a Renoir: A Parent and Teacher Handbook for Using Art Postcards for Art Appreciation by Aline D. Wolf, Parent Child Press, PO, Box 675, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648

K.T. Korngold lives in New York City, with her husband, Michael Whaley. Their daughter, Sarah Korngold Whaley, was born this past September. K.T. received her B.A. in 1985 from Wesleyan University, where she majored in English. She received her Masters Degree from Columbia University Writing Division in 1990. In 1995 and 1996, she attended the Center for Montessori Teacher Education/NY Infant and Toddler Program. K.T. has published articles about infants and toddlers in Montessori Lifeand Tomorrow's Child. She wrote this article at home while Sarah played in the Living Room.