Montessori Style Nursery: Pros and Cons + Baby Toy Wish List

On hot days, shirts and shorts are optional especially with my cute Charlie Banana cloth diaper.

I love having a space in our home where I know Ollie can play safely and independently. Obviously even in his Montessori style nursery, there are things that we need to move and tweak as we realize he can get to or hurt himself with. I decided to write some of the pros and cons down so far, especially now that he is crawling and the floor mattress is a blessing and a curse.

Pros:

Oliver can choose and access any of his toys neatly presented on his shelves.
He can move around the room freely, with a only baby gate at the door.
He wakes up in the morning or from his naps and can start playing in his room. It is the sweetest thing to hear him get up and find his books or hear the ball rattling around in his Object Permanent Box.
His room is so child-centric, simple and beautiful. I love hanging out with him in there. I do my exercises while he crawls around (mostly on me) and has a good time.

Cons:

He crawls off the floor mattress and stands at the baby gate and cries when it’s nap time. I have to go put him back on the mattress a couple of times before he falls asleep by himself. He is already doing this less and less so I know he will grow out of it, it’s just tiring when it happens seven times at 2:00 am. I could obviously pat him to sleep (he loves that) but we are over doing that so he is learning to soothe himself to sleep.
There are still some things in the room that he should’t play with like the blinds (which I pull up when he is awake, but close when he is almost ready to sleep) but inevitably he does. He also has knocked his teeth/chin a couple times on the windowsill (I’ve been right there but not quick enough) as he tries to get down. This is not necessarily a problem related to his room, but I don’t like leaving him alone when he is standing at the windowsill. He’ll grow out of this soon as he learns to lower down with more control.

Montessori style toys wish list:

I haven’t bought him any toys in absolute ages and I think it’s time to slowly start introducing some developmentally appropriate ones in the next few weeks. Obviously pots + pans, cardboard boxes and the tupperware drawer are still big hits, but I also like these toys below for him to use different skills and have fun. Here are some of the items in my Amazon Wish List that I will be buying in the next few months…