Etu had a difficult day yesterday. Her mouth is filled with hills and valleys where new molars are poking up through the gums. She slept or followed me around crying during the day. But in the evening, from the time the other girls came home from a birthday party, DQ played with Etu until shortly before she went to bed. They played with a cup filled with craft jingle bells. Etu dumped the bells out and then filled the cup with them. Then she shook the cup so that she heard the jingles until several fell out again. Very Montessori, except it was so natural. That's what most of my issues with any particular curriculum are: they don't come to me naturally. They don't fit in to a normal day's work. But that's another post entirely. She played this way with DQ for HOURS. Sometimes the best toys are no toys at all. Etu was so happy to have her sister to play with that she barely noticed me.
Etu surprised us further by taking five independent steps. After happy exclamations, she practiced over and over again. By Christmas, she'll be solidly on her feet.

