A room of one's own

A friend of mine sent me a link to this lovely kids room. It is based on Montessori values (which I don't know much about in detail but have a generally positive attitude to. In fact Zoe is on the wait list for a well-reputed Montessori preschool near us) and looks serene and beautiful. I have yet to actually pick out style and acquire interior for Zoe's room apart from her crib, which is white. She also has a changing table with baskets for toys but her being 21 months, I don't see her needing that for more than 6 months to a year longer. Besides a dark red wall and three really cute owl pictures by Jennifer McHugh that I bought in San Diego, her room is a blank canvas. Apart from the oddity of this room having been fitted completely with chair and table before the baby was even born (Scandinavian superstition prevents us from having anything inside the house for the child before the baby is born), it struck me as pushing a few values that, while sensible, made me feel slightly inadequate as a parent of a flybaby. The link to the montessori furniture and accessories made me realize that Zoe has absolutely no 'everyday tools' that are her own, apart from her toys. For example this weekend I stopped her from taking out her own clothes from her baskets because I couldn't face the 10 minutes of straightening out that it would take me afterwards, leaving her complaining very loudly. And she still sits in a high chair with a baby rail, which means I have to help her up and down at dinner. She doesn't have a small table and chair, despite me trying to find one for ages; I can see she loves those, she is drawn to them and sat at each one she found in Ikea. But I am settled on finding a secondhand (cheap), vintage (unique) set and not cave into something like the Sundvik chairs that shine Ikea standardization and cheapness. So the Montessori principles are hard to find in our home.

Zoe's little nook in the bedroom

Our home is based on ad hoc solutions and minimizing transportation of stuff. Instead Zoe likes to make her own little nooks with a blanket and pillows; she pulls in whatever other cloth-type thing she can find (this weekend it was a towel and one of Mark's dress shirts), brings her two dolls and a book and sits there reading for hours. She has a nook in each room now: the corner next to the table in the living room, under the desk in Mark's study/her own room (it is two parted, separated by a half wall) and behind the curtain in our bedroom. Her increasing independence and feeling of security in our new apartment makes me happy and I can see that she enjoys playing with whatever is available at hand. I guess that is also a consequence of raising a toddler while moving and traveling as much as we have done. Now it is time to start settling down and get some furniture for Zoe (and perhaps a bit for ourselves too).