Dwelling in Possibility: Action Requested

I write a lot of posts about dreaming big and making it happen for a few different reasons:

1. I love Mary Oliver's question: "What will you do with your one wild and precious life?" Life is too short to dread getting out of bed in the morning or to spend all your time complaining about all the things that are going wrong. Each day affords us the opportunity to uncover and move closer toward our most authentic selves. I hope that by sustaining a dialogue about dreaming, planning, and then doing I can help at least one other person make their dreams happen. 
2. Writing about my goals and my processes in a public forum holds me more accountable. If I talk about doing stuff in a very public space, then I'm more likely to actually do it. 
3. Sharing my dreams and action steps (and insecurities!) in this space helps me cultivate a community of support. I can turn to you for guidance, wisdom, commiseration--the list goes on! 

It is in that spirit that I turn to you now, my Community of Support. Our book is making its debut on Amazon, and I would be beyond the moon if you could support the nonprofit organization I'm starting (Montessori For All) by purchasing a copy. Kylie (co-author), Angie (designer), and I (co-author) volunteered countless hours, days, weeks, and months to this project. We wanted all of the proceeds from the book's sale to go directly to Montessori For All.

Even if you don't have young children (yet or ever), this book would make a great gift for birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. Think about how far ahead you'll be if you start ordering presents now!

With just a few clicks, you can help education in our country focus more holistically on our children's minds, hearts, and bodies--rather than just their ability to bubble in answers on reading and math tests. 

Thank you--in advance--for your support and your belief in possibility. 

And check back all day long for related posts!

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Getting Healthy

I'm not the kind of person who believes "everything happens for a reason," but I do believe everything that happens eventually leads to good things as well as bad things. 

When I found out our baby was dead, I wracked my brain trying to think of some of the good things that might be in store for us because of this sad event. It was difficult to do. In all my thinking, all I could come up with is:

• Suffering a miscarriage meant that I was no longer pregnant and could therefore eat junk food without worrying about cholestasis or my baby's healthy development during my two-week vacation. I ate lots and lots of ice-cream and French fries. 
• If I'm able to get pregnant and sustain a pregnancy again, it will mean that Henry and the second baby are farther apart in age. The older Henry is, the more independent he will be and the easier it will be to welcome another child into our lives.
• I won't have to go on maternity leave any time soon, which means we can save up more money for the house we're building.

That's all I've got for now! It was a difficult process, for sure.

After two weeks of eating junk food, I feel disgusting (although it was very comforting in the moment). Plus, I'm ready to look forward and put my energy into getting ready to try and conceive again. I'm eagerly awaiting the start of the next Purposeful Conception course. In the meantime, I'm going to do this two-day detox.

It's not one of the detox diets that makes you starve yourself so you can lose a whole bunch of weight really fast. It's legitimately a two-day cleanse that helps flush toxins out of your body and helps support the proper functioning of all the organs related to removing harmful substances from your body. 

I also signed up for three months of Weight Watchers for $57. I really like their approach to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. They help me develop a more accurate perspective about how much food I can eat to maintain or lose weight. They also help me figure out how much exercise translates into being able to increase my food intake. I think three months will be a good amount of time to help me recalibrate my eating habits. 

I'll let you know how it goes!

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REMINDER: The next Purposeful Conception Course: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy starts July 30. Register today! We'd love to have you join us!

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Henry and the Banana

Kylie wrote the nicest post about our book collaboration yesterday (well, I'm not really sure which day it was, since the time difference between the United States and Australia is pretty discombobulating to me).

Then in her most recent post, she linked to a video of Henry peeling a banana. Coincidentally, I had just filmed a new video of him peeling a banana. His independence is growing every day. It's the sweetest thing to watch. 

I took Henry out to lunch for some Ethiopian food with colleagues today. One of my friend's said, "Henry seems so independent and comfortable." I explained that it's probably because we implement Montessori in the home. Another friend said, "It's probably because of who his parents are." 

But honestly, who we are as parents can't be separated from the Montessori method. The Montessori principles shape our overarching approach to life with Henry. We know that we should try not to do things for him that he can do for himself, and we know that involving him in the practical life activities of our home is very important at this age. Just today, he put his diapers in the pail, carried his snack plate of grapes and cheese cubes to his weaning table (well, he made it halfway there before stopping to eat a grape), he helped Matt carry the compost bucket, he put away Hoss's leash after our evening walk, and he fed Hoss. He seems to love doing these things. I think it helps him develop in all the right ways (fine-motor skills, coordination, problem-solving, critical thinking, gross motor skills), and I think it helps him feel important and useful. It feels like we're helping him build the strongest possible foundation of confidence and self-worth. I am so eager for him to start attending an AMI-credentialed Montessori school in August.

In the meantime, I need to order some kid-sized kitchen equipment, so I can start teaching Henry the skills in our book.

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Dreaming Big: A Strategy for Starting Small

The other day, I created a Google Form to solicit information for our Staff Directory. I asked the basic questions (name, birthday, address, phone number, etc.) but then decided to include more personal questions, since we're all new to the organization. I asked "What's something no one would ever suspect about you?" (My answer involved something about thinking I had prostate cancer when I was in the 7th grade.). I also asked the standard, "What are three adjectives that describe you?" One of my adjectives was "willing to dream big and do something about it." 

It was interesting to me that my adjectives have changed over the years. In college, one of my adjectives was always "cerebral." Now I consider myself more practical than cerebral, although I am still over-analytical. 

Also, I feel like I've become a dreamer/doer just in the last decade. I think part of this can be attributed to learning more about setting and achieving big goals, primarily through my work with Teach For America, and the strategies I learned as a teacher using Understanding by Design. I also think I picked up a lot of time management and personal organization techniques over the years that have really helped me be more effective. 

It wasn't until I read a snippet in O Magazine the other week that I realized there might be another reason I now feel more and more comfortable dreaming big. The snippet talked about the importance of setting and achieving small goals, in order to increase your confidence. It's such a simple--yet revolutionary--strategy. When I look back on it, I realized that I totally practiced on smaller goals (for an entire decade!) before I felt comfortable undertaking larger goals, like starting Austin's first public Montessori school. 

For example, in 2004, I put together an elaborate superhero costume for Halloween. My friend Jamie and I made and passed out lunches for homeless people and then campaigned for a democratic congressman. We had so much fun planning and executing that experience!

Then in 2005, I planned a big birthday party for myself. It involved pulling together a planning committee (seriously!). I made an agenda for our meeting and everything. We had t-shirts printed, I made a Random Acts of Kindness scavenger hunt, we had two live bands play, and we passed out CDs with music related to kindness.

Later that year, I planned and saved for a year-long sabbatical, so I could travel to India, take classes at a folk art school, and learn how to make hammocks and tofu at an intentional community.

I'm realizing now that each of these goals helped me build my confidence. It helped me trust that I could set a goal for myself, backwards-plan all the smaller steps needed to reach the goal, and then work relentlessly to achieve the goal.

It's not magic at all. Like anything, it's practice, practice, practice.

P.S. Meghan, I'm still waiting to hear an update about your dreaming and scheming. With chart paper, no less!

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Declaring E-mail Bankruptcy

My dear friend Maia just published a book (can I toot my own horn and say I'm featured in it?) called The Together Teacher: Plan Ahead, Get Organized, and Save Time!. One of the things she talks about is e-mail management, and it reminded me that I am failing terribly with my e-mail management strategy these days (or lack thereof).

Here's my current strategy: 

• Read e-mails (on my phone or computer)
• Sometimes respond right away, sometimes not
• Leave e-mails sitting in my inbox to wait for a response (even if they just need to be deleted)

Letting e-mails sit in my inbox waiting for a response (or waiting to be deleted) has resulted in an inbox with a whopping 6,593 e-mail messages (I just deleted one of them, so now I'm down to 6,592). 

Wow, that's embarrassing to admit. (And I'm really sorry if your message is one of them and I never got to it!). 

I need to reclaim my inbox once and for all. 

Step One: E-mail Bankruptcy

• I am declaring what Maia refers to as "E-mail bankruptcy." But instead of deleting all the messages, I'm going to archive them in a folder called "Archive." That way, I can still search for something I need. (G-mail actually has a neat button for this, but I prefer Yahoo! because I can have several messages open at once and toggle between them.)

Step Two: Effective Inbox Management

• I will still let myself read e-mail on my phone, but I will promise to delete it right away if it's not something I want. 
• If it's an e-mail digest, I will move it right away to a folder entitled "To Read"  to help keep my inbox clear. I can go to that folder and read stuff when I have time.
• If the message requires two minutes of action or less, I will take care of it as soon as I'm in front of my computer. 
• If the message requires significant action, I will record it on my to-do list and move it to a folder entitled "Action Plan." That way, it's on my to-do list and won't just get buried under more recent messages.

Step Three: Daily Maintenance

• At the end of every day, I should have an entirely empty e-mail inbox. I will have deleted messages I don't want, moved messages I can read at my own leisure to a folder, responded to quick messages, and made a note to follow-up on longer messages at a later date.

I'll let you know how it goes!

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Order Now: Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook

It's here! It's finally here! 

I am thrilled to announce that Kids in the Kitchen: Simple Recipes That Build Independence and Confidence the Montessori Way is now available for purchase.

As a former Montessori teacher and the founder of Montessori For All, I partnered with Kylie D'Alton--the brainchild behind the popular parenting blog: How We Montessori--to create the book we couldn't find in stores.

As I've mentioned before, it can be difficult to get your hands on specific and detailed resources that explain how to implement Montessori in the home, especially for young children. This book helps to fill that gap. It includes step-by-step directions (with checklists!) for setting up the kitchen in a kid-friendly way for children as young as 18 months. Then it explains how to prepare your young child to work in the kitchen by teaching them the foundational skills in a sequence that aligns with their development. Finally, it includes ten simple recipes that are illustrated with photographs, so children can follow along independently, even before they can read. 

I get chills when I think about what it means for a child's development when they participate in food preparation and then serve it to others. They learn focus, concentration, problem-solving, critical thinking, fine-motor skills, intrinsic motivation, and self-confidence. Plus, they learn grace, courtesy, and care for others. 

Are you looking for ideas about how to bring your children into the kitchen with you? Or do you know someone for whom this book would make the perfect gift? Colleagues? Neighbors? Family members? Friends? All proceeds will be donated to Montessori For All to help more children in diverse communities nationwide have access to a public Montessori education.

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In Need of Wedding Photos

Do you want one of your wedding photos to be featured in a wedding book about how to plan a meaningful and memorable wedding without losing your savings or sanity? If you have high-resolution, royalty-free photos to share, please e-mail me. Thank you!

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