On being role models ....

Okay, so this may not be entirely Montessori related, but it most certainly has to do with the example we, as teachers/mothers/administrators send to the children in our care and to the community at-large. U-handblog has posted a fab tutorial on how to make an eco-friendly, fabric grocery bag. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)Let's all make them for ourselves, our families, and our friends. Down with the ridiculous plastic (or paper) bag!!! What a waste - here in the supermarkets they tend to double bag things. And where do these bags end up? Not in a landfill because we don't have one, not recycled, not made into interesting eco-art ... well, right now I see that one is stuck in the tree in front of my house. Arrgh. Thank you, wind.

Plus, how cool is the small pouch that it fits into? With this pouch, you can toss the grocery bag into your purse, and you will never have to be without it! No excuses!

Here's another idea I found while perusing the crafty blogosphere, for all of the Assistants to Infancy Montessorians and moms/dads with newborns:Laura provides a quick tutorial on how to remake a newborn shirt and add this binding. She talks about dyeing the old, stained baby shirts, but I'm not too sure I would use dye for the newborn. I might consider organic dyes. Laura said she found these fold-over shirts at Target. They seem like a good idea to me ... why traumatize baby by forcing a shirt over his head and arms when you could provide a kimono-type shirt? I would think that these fold over shirts could be slightly altered so that the fold-over is in the back, closed with velcro, so that when the baby is on his back for changing you can easily get his arms out of the shirt without having to lift him up. However, this is not my area of expertise. I'm not yet a mom, and I work with 3-6 year olds. Any old pro's out there - moms, A to I trained Montessorians, etc. who might be able to offer some practical advice on newborn clothing?

By the way, my cat Amelie is getting much better. She's back to bossing me around and whining for cheese. Perhaps I should have thought of her post-spay recovery time as a bit of a personal respite! But it's good to have her back to normal.