Toddlerizing Desmond's room

For months and months I looked forward to the day where Desmond was able to have enough core strength to sit alone and to have the attention span of our dog Pirate (not asking for much there...Pirate is a special needs dog) to play with his toys.  I know that everybody always says, "Cherish these moments!  They go by so fast!  They don't last forever!"  Yeah, yeah...but truthfully, it was painful having to come up with ways to "play" with Desmond when he was a little guy.  I would play peekaboo with him, but would only get through 5 or 6 iterations of popping up from behind the green trash can in his changing room before I would start to get bored of the whole thing and stop.  Talk about limited attention span.

But building blocks and kicking around a ball and crunching leaves and playing with a beautiful wooden construction truck is a lot easier for me.  These activities require more imagination on my behalf and I really try to get into the role of co-player.  I sit down on the floor with him and try to build a bridge of blocks (my engineering skills desert me and I usually stop in frustration when I have built two towers of blocks, not knowing how I'm going to connect them), I collect beautiful autumn leaves and point out the colors to him in Spanish and then he takes them, crushes them in his hands and throws them in the air; and  I make construction truck noises (he knows exactly what they are because there has been some constructing going on in the park down the street) as I pick up his toys using the truck and then "dumping" them into their appropriate baskets.  Oh!  And the cutest thing ever, I'm trying to teach Desmond to put his toys away after playing with them by doing it myself and singing a little ditty I invented on my own ("Put it away, put it away, put it away, put it away," genius, eh?).  Although it's hit or miss whether or not he puts his toys away, I sometimes catch him humming some version of the song to himself.

So, although it's getting easier and easier to play with Desmond, I still wanted to provide him a place where he's able to go and be by himself and pull out toys and books on his own.  I wanted to make his room accessible to him so that he wouldn't have to need me to pull something down the shelf for him (also, because his wants-me-to-do-something voice is borderline high-whine/cry.)  I put an old IKEA futon on the floor for him and took out my huge monster pillow and pushed it against the corner.  I laid his stuffed animals on one side of the bed and put his little rocking chair next to the window (which we usually keep closed).

Entrance to D's room.  The art on the wall to the right is a collage that Billy had made years ago from the covers of all of his CDs.  It's bright and colorful and, more than anything, gives me something to look at when I'm trying to put him down for a nap.

Desmond's futon bed.  Notice Monster pillow splayed out in the corner.  I think this is his favorite part of the room.  The first time he walked into the finished bedroom, he immediately ran to the futon and flung himself on it.  The look of excitement and happiness made this whole room worth it.

I set up the heavier toy-filled baskets on the bottom two shelves and used the upper toy baskets for stuffed animals and smaller toys.  He's got a little work desk that currently only has one of those wooden bead toys, but I want to get him a LEGO kit eventually and then, when he's ready to express himself artistically, I'll buy him a little chair and use the desk for painting and such (again, it's an IKEA desk.  Probably cost about 15 or 20 bucks).

The framed sign up above D's little play desk is supposed to say "Desmond" in needlework.  It was a gift for Desmond's dedication from his Aunt Azalea, but there must have been some miscommunication with her and the person who was making it because it says "DesmonT."  I put it up because I think it's 1) really good needlework (or whatever it's called) and 2) pretty funny.  

I set up a mirror so that he could sit and stare at himself (or make funny faces or whatever toddlers do with mirrors).  For the piéce de résistance, I got a piece of plywood (4x3), sanded it, painted it with 3 coats of magnetic paint and 1 coat of chalkboard paint, and made it into a large magnetic chalkboard.  I also printed out pictures of friends and family members who we don't see very often so that we could play memory games with them and in the hopes that he will recognize faces when he sees them during the holidays.

Small mirror.  The little cow on the door plays music when you pull on the handle.  Sometimes, although it's happened only rarely, Desmond will pull on that and the Rock-a-bye baby song would start playing.  That's when I know that he's ready to come out or has just woken up from a nap.  'Tis a far better sound than hearing him cry so that I could come and open the door for him.  

Here's the magnetic chalkboard with pictures.  Although now I don't feel the necessity of writing words or pictures on the board, I will do so eventually.  

I've been reading this book called You are your child's first teacher: What parents can do with and for their children from birth to age 6.  It's writings are based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the guy responsible for the whole Waldorf education movement that emphasizes allowing creative and imaginative play being the emphasis for learning in small children.  (By the way, I only came across Waldorf philosophy because I was googling how to play with your baby and came across different websites touting early childhood philosophy, like Montessori (which is where I got the idea to put everything at toddler level in Desmond's room) and Waldorf.)   From wikipedia:

Pedagogy and theory of child development

The structure of the education follows Steiner's theories of child development, which describe three major developmental stages of childhood, each having its own learning requirements, as well as a number of sub-stages.^[20] These stages are broadly similar to those described by Piaget.^[21]

• In early childhood learning is largely experiential, imitative and sensory-based.^[22] The education emphasizes learning through practical activities.^[23]

• During the Elementary school years (age 7–14), learning is artistic and imaginative, and is guided and stimulated by the creative authority of teachers. In these years, the approach emphasizes developing children's emotional life and artistic expression across a wide variety of performing and visual arts.^[20][24]

• During adolescence, to meet the developing capacity for abstract thought and conceptual judgment^[23] the emphasis is on developing intellectual understanding and ethical ideals such as social responsibility.^[20]

Waldorf education is unusual and perhaps unique in the consistency, thoroughness and creativity with which it implements a K–12 curriculum that is based upon children's academic, emotional and physical development; its underlying principles continue a pedagogical tradition initiated by Comenius, Pestalozzi,^{[25]:p. 31} and Herder^{[5]:p. 58} Its methodology encouragescollaborative learning.^[26][edit] 

Pre-school and kindergarten: birth to age 6 or 7 

Waldorf schools approach learning in early childhood through imitation and example.^[27][28] Extensive time is given for guided free play in a classroom environment that is homelike, includes natural materials and provides examples of productive work in which children can take part;^[20] such an environment is considered by Waldorf pedagogues to be supportive of the physical, emotional and intellectual growth of the child through assimilative learning.^[28] Outdoor play periods are also generally incorporated into the school day, with the intention of providing children with experiences of nature, weather and the seasons of the year. Oral language development is addressed through songs, poems and movement games. These include daily story time when a teacher usually tells a fairytale, often by heart.^[21]Aids to development via play generally consist of simple materials drawn from natural sources that can be transformed imaginatively to fit a wide variety of purposes. Waldorf dolls are intentionally made simple in order to allow playing children to employ and strengthen their imagination and creativity. Waldorf schools generally discourage kindergarten and lower grade pupils being exposed to media influences such as television, computers and recorded music, as they believe these to be harmful to children's development in the early years;^[22][29] this is consistent with the UK National Literacy Trust^[30]The education emphasizes early experiences of daily, weekly and annual rhythms, including seasonal festivals drawn from a variety of traditions. Though Waldorf schools in theWestern Hemisphere have traditionally celebrated Michaelmas and Martinmas in the autumn, Christmas in winter, Easter and May Day in the spring, and St. John's Day in summer,^[31]such schools are now incorporating an increasingly wide range of cultural and religious traditions,^[32] and schools located where Jewish, Buddhist, or Islamic traditions are dominant celebrate festivals drawn from these traditions.

It really resonated with me how the book urged parents to just let their babies and toddlers be.  It insisted that in our current culture of "my baby needs to be the best," we have created an environment where parents want their children to crawl, walk, talk, multiply, and debate first and to do it better than the other children they know.  Instead, we need to let them play by themselves more often than not (supervised, of course) and not try to step in every time they are playing with a toy wrong or try to explain what's going on.  Yes, talking to a baby and toddler are important, and I do so a lot every day, but also letting them run around in the backyard without you constantly explaining things to them allows them the time to think about things in their own little ways and to figure things out on their own.

We are currently signed up to participate in the Shining River's Parent Toddler Program (a local Waldorf school).  The Parent Toddler Program gives parents the chance to go to the school with their 18+month-old and to do some of the Waldorf activities for children.  These activities include helping to bake bread, crafting hand-made toys, singing, watching puppets, and listening to stories.  Although I'm not 100% committed to the ideals of Rudolf Steiner (i.e. we have few natural toys and I expose Desmond to lots of music throughout the day) and I don't know whether or not I'm going to enroll Desmond in a Waldorf school once preschool time comes around, I'm excited to get a chance to learn new stories and songs that we can sing together and to watch Desmond's creative and imaginative side be nurtured.

And yes, I'm excited to learn how to use my imagination and learn how to play like a child again.