A Waldorf Approach For My One Year Old

Before I had Ocean, I knew that I wanted to take a different type of approach when it came to raising her. I knew I wanted to do a lot of attachment parent type stuff. I knew that I wanted to raise her in a Godly environment. Also, after a lot of reading, I knew that I wanted to homeschool her in an Unschooling/Waldorf type of way. I love most everything about the Waldorf way of learning, ESPECIALLY for young children. 

Waldorf learning, in the early years, "focuses on providing practical, hands-on activities and environments that encourage creative play." After my daughter was born, I was trying to research online what kind of things I could do with a baby that would start her off in the Waldorf ways of doing thins. I couldn't find a whole lot online for babies under 2, so I ended up buying a few books. You Are Your Child's First Teacher is a good one. Below I will describe what I learned from reading and experience thus far. 

When your baby is under the age of 6 months, mostly all you have to worry about is their sense of touch, hearing and soon after, their sense of sight. Consider all your baby has known up until the point of birth such as warmth, darkness, security, closeness to mother, sounds of mother's heartbeat and voice, etc. We are out child's guardians after birth. We are the only ones who choose what they are exposed to and when. The importance of touching and holding your baby often, talking with him or her and responding quickly to cries is crucial. Stimulation of the senses is so important for development. 

The thing they are most sensitive to, especially under 6 months I think, is touch. As much skin to skin contact is so important for so many reasons. Investing in a good baby carrier is a great idea. I still carry my daughter in an Ergo at 14 months, but when she was under 6 months I loved my Moby Wrap. choose fabric that is soft, warm and pleasurable to the skin. Fabric such as cotton, wool & silk! Choosing to cloth diaper is great because it allows your baby to not have to feel synthetic disposable diapers against their skin, but rather cotton or bamboo for instance. Wool soaker are amazing for nighttime and heavy wetter. They are soft and cozy against your babies skin. 

Co-sleeping is great for all the senses! For your baby to know you are near through touch, sight and hearing. Having a nice soft material to sleep on is great for their sense of touch and will most likely promote a more restful and relaxed slumber. If you do not co-sleep, having a bassinet close to your bed is another great option. The nice thing about a bassinet, is being able to drap some colored silk over it (blue and pink is the best combination). This is great for their sensitive sense of sight and creates a soft ligjt for them upon waking. Also great for their sense of touch is having them wear (especially at night and naps) natural fabrics such as organic cotton or wool if you live in colder areas. 

For your child, your voice is the number one best thing for them to hear. They love your voice. It's what they are used to. Nothing can beat your voice, whether you are talking or singing or humming, they love it. No fancy-light-up-music-playing-night-light devise can replace the sound of your voice to your baby. Paying attention to the quality of sounds that you let your baby hear can really be beneficial to them later in life. If you wish to play music for them on your ipod, chose something gentle and soft like harp, pentatonic chimes or flute.

Once they get a little older and start to sit up and crawl, we start to get into toys. They honestly do not need a whole lot at first! Something I heard said before, which I loved, was when looking for toys consider the following: 

Is it beautiful?

Does it feel good?

Does it leave room for imagination?

Will it inspire imitative play?

These are the things to look for when considering what toys to buy. 

Some great things to start off with are a few playsilks, a lovely prism (to hang in a window or door where it will catch light and cast rainbows across your room), a few wool balls, organic cotton teething toys (if they are starting to teeth), a rocking chair for you, a harp (if you cannot afford this like me, your can opt for listening to the celtic harp station on Pandora), a mirror, water/sand toys (these do not HAVE to be natural because it is harder to find, but if you can find natural items even better) & a basket full of safe items they can explore (driftwood, large shells, a wooden spoon, silk pieces, a little mirror, pieces of finger knit wool yarn, etc).

Rainbows on the floor from her prism in the window.

Sensory time with her shell, driftwood, wooden spoon & bowl.

Playing with her playsilk

Once they get a little older, I'd say at least a year old, you can start art with them! I was very eager to start this early, but there really is only so much you can do before they are a year old. Before 1, you can definitely start with finger painting. Just do one color at a time or introduce simply the primary colors to them only. 

Once they are around one, you can invest in some beeswax crayons, a wooden personal sized chalk board, natural paints & brushes & an easel if you wish (Ocean got hers from Opa for her birthday.) Ocean is JUST NOW learning what it is to color ON the paper and she is just hitting 14 months. Before this, she would just put whatever I gave her in her mouth. I did make her some natural finger paint and natural play dough, before she was one, with colorings like spirulina & beetroot powder so that they could be edible. 

Playing in her sandbox I made her.

Finger painting with homemade paint.

Imitative play is something important in Waldorf learning. Kids love to imitate whatever they see their parents do, and this is STRONGLY encouraged. This also makes it essential that you be a good role model. If you are cooking a lot in the kitchen and they like to watch you cook, then get them a little kitchen set! If you can't afford one, simply give them some pots and pans so that they can imitate what they see you doing. You can even make a simple kitchen oven top out of cardboard and a marker! If you are constantly sweeping and mopping and they see you doing it, get them their own little mop and broom set! Easy as that! 

Ocean on her wool rug that she got from Papa for her birthday, playing with her wooden vegetables.

This is a wool rug I found for $7, a piece of driftwood used for a playsilk hanger, a wooden piano I got for free at a garage sale & and organic Waldorf doll. 

A few other things I feel like I should mention are rhythm & nature . These are important in Waldorf learning. Rhythm is important for any child. I haven't incorporated this a whole lot yet, but I am slowly trying to add more rhythm to our days. I try to make sure that we do some things every day at around the same time, like visiting the park or playing outside in sandbox or water, bathing before bed, singing a special bedtime song while getting ready for bed, etc. Doing little things like that daily, as a routine, adds much needed rhythm to your child's life. Start small. Simplify your day. Try to at least do your routines such as meals, nap times & bedtime around the same time and in the same way everyday. All the gaps of time in between is when you can change it up and add in whatever fun stuff you want to do. 

Nature is important, not only for Waldorf education, but for all education. At least it should be. Being outside in nature and using natural elements as much as possible is not only great, it's free! Using natural elements like rocks, sticks, mud, sand, tree stumps, driftwood, grass, flowers, you get the idea, is great for their strong sense of touch at their age right now. It lets them feel different textures and get to know what smooth is and what rough feels like. It's also great for their sense of smell to be outside in nature, learning about different smells. (Another things I like to do, is bring some natural elements inside for Ocean to explore while listening to her harp Pandora station and burning some pleasant essential oils like orange, vanilla & lavender.) Once they get a little more into art there is SO much fun things you can do that involve nature and art, like painting with flowers for instance!

"Your soul needs the wild." -Luke 5:16

Aloe Superfood Salad

Hello everyone! Sorry for the long absence. I've been busy with my amazing child :) Ocean is ALMOST 14 months old! How fast time flies when you are in love & enjoying life! I am so thankful to be able to spend every moment with her. This picture above was her at the park.

To all my vegan friends on here, I just wanted to let you know that I have gone back to eating vegetarian. I still eat mainly raw vegan most of the time, but since my pregnancy I have added in bee products, grass-fed organic ghee, occasional grass-fed organic humanely raised cheese & eggs only from my moms hens (who she raised very humanely and with organic feed only). 

I made this amazing salad for lunch today and just had to share it with you all!

Superfood Cleansing Refreshing Salad 

Two spears of fresh aloe (with clear jell removed)

One organic mango

One organic cucumber

One organic tomato

One organic avocado

Juice from one honey tangerine

Coconut oil (optional)

Bee pollen (optional)

Fresh stevia leaves

Fresh spearmint leaves

Cut all veggies & fruit into cubes. Chop stevia and spearmint leaves. Combine all ingredients and pour juice of one tangerine on top. Finish off with bee pollen. 

Variations:

*If you desire a sweeter flavor you can add more stevia leaves, more tangerine juice or a little coconut palm sugar or raw honey. 

*If you wish for less sweet, you can add some lemon or lime juice with basil leaves & cut out the mango.

Love Tonic & Peanut Butter Cacao Cookies

Fresh juice.

Egg fruit. Tastes so good! Almost exactly like a sweet potato, except...fruity.

Egg fruit smoothies with organic egg fruit (obviously), organic apple bananas, organic dates, organic moringa leaves, organic coconut milk, organic flax seeds, organic hemp seeds, organic chia seeds (ok, everything else is organic too), hemp oil, wheatgrass powder, beetroot powder, spiraling, kelp, hawthorn berries & nettles.

Cashew butter & apples.

One extra large coconut I foraged from a neighbors house.

Ocean & I earthing outside a coffee shop.

Walking along the beach.

Tasty lunch of barley, miso, spinach, kale, carrots, agave, radish, soybeans, garlic, ginger, cranberries, hijiki & ACV.

Ocean having fun and eating clovers at the park.

Almost raw peanut butter cacao cookies:

Organic peanut butter (substitute for raw almond butter, this is just what I had on hand)

Pecans (substitute for any raw nuts)

Organic raw cacao powder

Organic raw coconut oil

Organic raw suma root

Organic raw hemp seeds

Organic raw agave

Sooooo good! Just mix, freeze, and eat! Taste like peanut butter cups.

Bedtime Love Tonic:

Purified water

Red rooibos tea

Cacao powder

He shou wu

Rose hips

Cacao butter

Suma Root

Cinnamon powder

Vanilla bean

Lucuma powder

& Raw honey

Make a strong tea with your water, rooibos, he shot wu & rose hips. Once done, add all ingredients to your blender. Blend, drink & fall in love! <3 i="">

*Variations- add maca, shatavari or any other love herb as well.

A teething baby

Today, I wanted to talk about teething! It's such an exciting time for us parents, but not so exciting for our babies. I always wonder how much cutting a tooth hurts? When I think about how much it hurts when I have tooth pain, I can't imagine being a baby, not being able to communicate while being in that kind of pain! The best we can do is try to figure out what works best to ease whatever pain our babies are in. These are the things that work for my baby.

Here is a pile of some of the things I use for Ocean's teething pains. In it, we have homemade teething oil, chamomilla homeopathic pills, teething necklace, organic teething toys, & ice cubes!

Teething Oil & Homeopathic Pills

I tend not to use homeopathic pills that have a combination of things in them, such as the Hyland's Teething Tablets (although I have heard from many people that they work great.) So far, I have had great success with straight up chamomilla pills. I only use these if she seems to be in a lot of pain, fussing and crying. The teething oil, on the other hand, can be used often and as needed for pain. I make mostly all my own "medicine", so I made Ocean's teething oil as well. I wanted it to be something that I was completely ok with the list of ingredients. (I would also like to add, that my daughter is exclusively breastfed, so this is fine for EBF babies.) The ingredients in this oil are completely safe if made correctly. (As always, with everything, first talk to your naturopath about anything you plan to give your baby and ALWAYS test on yourself first before giving anything to your baby). 

Teething Oil

*Note: In the above picture, I have Aura Cacia brand Clove oil. Do NOT use this oil in this recipe or on anything you plan to take internally. I just took a picture with this oil, because I was out of my doTERRA oil. Only use FOOD GRADE essential oils for internal use. The two brands I recommend are doTERRA & Young Living, because both sell food grade oils. You will need:

Unrefined, organic virgin coconut oil

Food grade clove oil

Food grade vegetable glycerin

To purchase my teething oil, visit my Facebook page Siren's Apothecary Shop.

Teething Toys

Under the Nile has a bunch of great organic toys to choose from! Ocean's two favorites were in the wash at the time of this picture which are the organic green bean and organic carrot. She loves those best because they fit best in her little hands and mouth. 

Teething Necklaces

My daughter has both the hazel wood teething necklace and the amber teething necklace. How these necklaces work is that they have to be in constant contact with your babies skin. They were not made to be chewed on! When in contact with the skin, the oils from the wood and amber tree resin can soak in. Amber necklaces have naturally occurring succinic acid which reduces inflammation in teething babies.  Hazel wood, on the other hand, is naturally alkaline. This works in neutralizing your child's acidity, thus relieving teething discomfort. I like to alternate these two necklaces. 

Breastfeeding 

Although difficult at first, breastfeeding usually helps soothe a teething baby. You just have to teach them from the beginning that biting hurts mommy. My daughter only bit me a handful of times before figuring out it wasn't ok. I simply said OW, which startled her, and stuck my pinky in her mouth to detach her from the breast. I don'y agree with hurting a child in any way, so I would not take the advice of those who say to flick the nose, pinch, etc. Baby is just trying to eat, be gentle :)

Ice & Ice Teethers

Most babies love ice while teething, but usually straight up ice is too cold. I sometimes wrap a piece of ice in Ocean's organic swaddling blanket while at restaurants or on long car rides and this seems to do the trick. One of her favorite toys that I found is the Natulo ice teether. The ring is maple wood and the cloth part is organic cotton that you can stuff ice cubes inside. She LOVES this thing. It's a little expensive, but I definitely recommend it. When I am at home, I use alkaline RO Ice cubes. Another thing, which would be even better, is giving your baby breast milk ice cubes. I've never used a pump yet, otherwise I would have tried this already.

I hope this post helped someone! Happy almost Autumn Equinox everyone!

A typical day, now days

Juicing for breakfast. This day it was apple/carrot juice.

We pack up for a walk to the "park"-a large tree with a decent patch of grass underneath :)

Load her up in her Ergo!

At the park with some green juice.

Playing with her Under the Nile carrot.

Lots of this.

Sometimes we paint.

She doesn't quite understand the concept yet.

I carry her around as I clean the house.

We take lots of naps together as well.

Here are some of her bedtime stories.

And then we sleep. Goodnight world!

New direction

Hey everyone! Some of my Facebook friends have been asking about why I have not blogged in a while. The answer is simply that I am enjoying my sweet daughter, Ocean. I just wanted to give all my friends a heads up and let you all know that my blog will be going in a little bit different direction now. I will still be posting vegetarian recipes, but will also be posting a lot of parenting type stuff. Thank you all for understanding! If you no longer wish to follow me, I am not offended :)

Ocean's Homebirth Story

At 41 weeks and 3 days pregnant, I started having contractions. My contractions were 5-20 minutes apart that whole day. I texted my doula, Jaymie, and she told be that I was in labor but not active yet, so I went on with my day and then went to sleep. That night, I woke up around 2:30 am. My contractions woke me up. They were a lot closer together. I waited about an hour, then woke my husband. He asked if he should call the midwife and I told him not to call yet. I wanted to make sure this was the real thing. I timed the contractions out on an app on my iphone. After two hours of contractions 2-3 minutes apart, I had him call the midwife and doula. She asked how I was doing, and I said I could still manage. She said she would be on her way in about an hour.

As the night went on, or should I say morning, the contractions got stronger. I told my husband he should probably fill up the birthing tub. I thought it was interesting how after each contraction, I would have a minute or two of painless peace. That's the awesome thing about labor. It's just a temporary uncomfortable sensation, not really the same feeling as pain. He filled it up with really hot water, and then he covered it with a shower curtain to keep it warm. The midwife arrived and checked to see how much I was dilated. She said 5-7 centimeters, it was hard to tell. She left the room for a little bit and so did my husband. I was kind of in my own zone. With each contraction, I alternated between sitting on my ball, kneeling against the bed on the floor, standing against the wall, and pacing.  Dr Lori, my midwife, said it was really good I was upright instead of lying in bed and that it would help make the labor progress quicker.

Right when I was getting pretty uncomfortable, my husband walked in and said I was allowed to get in the tub now. YES! So I stepped into the tub and it was still hot! I was fine with it, but called my doula over to make sure the temperature was safe for the baby. She felt it and gave me the green light. As I sunk into the water, it was an amazing feeling. It was so relaxing and relieved so much pressure. Jaymie checked the babies heart rate, and it was perfect. I relaxed in a sitting position with my back against the side in the warm water. It was so nice. After a while, I started to feel really warm so my husband turned our fan on and Jaymie got a cold wash cloth for my head. Jaymie was so helpful, and I feel so blessed to have had her there.

Once I was in transition, my midwife came in the room. She checked the babies heart rate, and everything was still great. At this point, I asked my husband to get in the pool with me. I did not know beforehand if I would want him in the the tub with me, but at that moment, I knew I wanted him in there. He sat behind me in the tub and I leaned my back against him. I told him where to massage when I had contractions. Dr Lori told me to start pushing whenever I felt the urge. At first, I felt no urges to push. Just contraction, contraction, contraction...and then I felt it. It was like my body just started pushing on its own. What it feels like basically, for those who haven't given birth yet, is like you reaaaaally need to poop plus cramping like period cramps. It's really not that bad.

 

My body pushed on its own for a few contractions, and then I started helping my body. That's when I started making progress. I was chanting Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, in a low tone with every contraction. That is what they told me to do. They said they could see the head, but it was still pretty far in there. This is when it got more uncomfortable. I pushed in the same sitting position for a while, and then changed to a kneeling position facing my husband. With every contraction I would grab on to him, chant, and push. I remember asking at one point, "Is her head out yet??" And they said no, but it's getting closer with every push! I didn't talk a whole lot during my labor. The only thing I really said was "Water", when I needed water. They asked if I wanted to change positions and I said no. My husband told me, "Babe, her head is stuck." Dr Lori and Jaymie immediately said, "No, no. It's not stuck, but maybe you could try a different position?" I guess in the position I was in, my baby was hitting my tailbone basically, which was making it harder for her to descend.

So I changed positions, back to a sort of sitting position against my husband, but this time I had my legs up on the edges of the tub so that there was more space for her to come out. They told me that her head was really close now. With the next few pushes, my Aaaaaaaaa's were more like AAAAAAAAAHHHH's! With my next push I felt a strong burning sensation, they said, "It's her head! Do you want to see it?" I told them no and just kept pushing hard because I just wanted her to be out! With one more hard push, I felt her body jello its way out. She was here, and she was perfect. Ocean Siren Maluhia Fajardo was born at 10:15 am on March 21st.

 

They handed her to me, and I just held her close. She wanted to breast feed right away. My husband reached around me and she grabbed his finger. I could hear him crying in back of me. Her eyes were wide open, looking around and she didn't cry until later. I was so happy to be able to give her a peaceful birth. We waited a few minutes for the cord to stop pulsing, and then my husband cut the cord. We stayed in the pool to deliver my placenta, while I breast fed Ocean. Once the placenta was out, it was such a relieving feeling. I didn't want anyone else to hold Ocean yet, but I had to give her up so I could get out of the tub. My husband finally got to hold her. Jaymie and Lori had to help me get out of the tub and walk over to the bed because I was so weak.

 

They lay me in bed and handed Ocean back to me and covered us with lots of blankets. Ocean pooped right away, so that was good. She was measured and weighed at 22 inches and 7.12 lb. Jaymie brought me some cinnamon tea. The showed me the healthy placenta, and also that I had a pretty large blood clot in it, so I had to stay in bed for three days and not do anything. I had them put my placenta in the refrigerator. Lori said that I needed a few stitches, so she stitched me up right there. It was a wonderful experience with wonderful people. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Thank you Dr Lori, Jaymie and babe so much for everything. I love all you guys, and I love you my Ocean girl. You are the queen of my heart now.