A Natural Rhythm

In some of these Montessori books I've read they talk about establishing rhythm in your day.  I figured they probably weren't talking about musical instruments and that's the only rhythm I knew about so I really had no idea what they meant...until yesterday. 
I love days when we get together with friends for a play date, or run errands, hopping around town from one place to the next.  Places to go, people to see!  It's so exciting!
But lately, I've really enjoyed time at home with no where to go and nothing on the agenda but play time.  When we let the day unfold on its own, we find a natural rhythm for ourselves. 
We spent most of the day outside.  The weather was amazing!  Not too hot, not too windy, not too cold!!  Perfect! That rarely happens in Oklahoma so we had to take advantage of it. 
We played with play dough and bubbles...

And then when Maddie was finished with that we naturally moved on to the sandbox...

We played the Bury The Foot game

Maddie would sign, "again" after each round...

We went on for at least 20 rounds...and then we naturally moved on to discovering other things. At this point Maddie did her own thing and I picked some lettuce from the garden. 

Sticks became toys...

After lunch and nap we naturally had to do some painting...

After that we naturally made our way to the cherry tree and found our first cherry of the season!

And naturally, a day of play would not be complete without a run down the hill...

 So that's how we fell into a natural rhythm yesterday, and I get it now.  Our day was unscripted and Maddie set the pace.  We had a general schedule for lunch and nap time, but other than that, she decided when we moved on from one activity to the next.  It was her curiosity and natural sense for discovery that dictated what the day would bring.  We had a full day of play and incidentally, she slept really good last night!!

Happy Friday!!