Finally! It was about time that L has his little self-care corner. Since we have the narrowest bathroom in the world it took me a while to find items that will actually fit into our miniature bathroom. Also, we are not allowed to drill tiles in our bathroom so that was an additional challenge in finding an appropriate setup. I was scrolling through the Internet looking at all those beautiful Montessori bathrooms online for months and in one moment I got pretty frustrated because nothing I liked could fit into our bathroom. But, where there’s a will there’s a way!
One day I went to Ikea and spent five hours there. I refused to leave until I find something that I can use for our bathroom. So almost everything you can see here in photos is from Ikea and it really didn’t cost us much.
For now, in his self-care area, he has a small towel, toothbrush, hairbrush, and a mirror. In a basket underneath he has few books about what are potties for, some diapers, and baby wipes. With time I plan to add this small bowl so he can pour himself some water and wash his hands, face, and toothbrush. Also, we yet need to add some tissues and learn how to clean our nose.
He also has access to a potty, although we haven’t officially started any kind of potty learning yet. For now we are just doing standing diaper changing and if he asks to sit on a potty then we remove the diaper and he sits on the potty while reading a book about potties 🙂
Since we set this little area for him I noticed that every morning he just goes into the bathroom and starts to brush his teeth and his hair on his own. He is brushing his teeth and his hair simultaneously so sometimes he starts to brush his hair with his toothbrush and vice versa 😂 but then I gently remind him to do one thing at the time and it usually works. The only problem we are having now is a transition when we finish brushing our teeth. If it’s up to him, L could brush his teeth for half an hour or more now when he has a mirror. Almost always he refuses to put down his toothbrush without a fight. My plan is to buy one of those teeth brushing sand timers so he can know in advance when it is time to stop.
So there are still few minor things to finish but I feel like we made huge leap forward since we set up this self-care station. L’s interest in self-care has significantly increased and he feels much more confident and relaxed when he plays main role in his self-care. Also, he stopped to wander around the house with his toothbrush while brushing his teeth and is now really doing it mindfully in front of his mirror.