Babies Build Toddlers [Paperback]

Wow. This was so. good. There aren’t a ton of Montessori books aimed at the 0-3 age range, and I think I’ve read most of them - both The Montessori Toddler and The Montessori Baby; Montessori From the Start; Aubrey Harris’s Baby’s First Year Milestones; How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way - and now this one.

Even though I’d read so many others, somehow there was still lots of new information. I love the way the author organized all of the different important threads - movement, hygiene, language, etc - and then showed how they all fit together. Like a really great grad school thesis with annotations and everything. But! Still easy to read and understand. And the illustrations are beautiful. Add in all the inclusive language - it’s just a really thoughtful, well-done book with so much knowledge and goodness packed in. It’s something I return to again and again as my child grows. Thanks, Mariana! - Lauren A.

Babies Build Toddlers

A Montessori Guide to Parenting the First 18 Months

Babies Build Toddlers is a unique parenting book with an innovation illustrative approach that makes child development information both accessible and actionable for everyday readers. Author, Mariana Bissonnette tells the powerful story of the child during their most essential storage of development: infancy.

The first 18 months of life lay a critical foundation for a Childs future emotional, cognitive, physical and social well-being. But this early time is often the most difficult for parents! Many find themselves in “survival mode” until toddlerhood, something that overlooks the incredible potential of this early time. Moreover, dodders are remarkably determined to be independent - a feat that is either emboldened or limited by their own abilities and skills that grow over time. The infant, therefore is the one who builds their own capacity to be independent in toddlerhood. In short, babies build toddlers.

Babies build toddlers offers readers a window into this intersection of development, education and parenting through

• Clear developmental timelines for the first 18 months of life, including movement, language, eating, sleeping, hygiene and bonding

• Practical suggestions for how to use child development information to come up with solutions to common parenting problems, as well as day-to-day, scientifically founded suggestions and recommendations

• Illustrations from a team of illustrators who celebrate the fullness of each parents joinery and provide an authentically diverse representation fo children and their development

Mariana Bissonnette (she/her) is an early childhood educator with AMI Montessori teaching credentials for ages 0-6 and has extensive work with children and parents as a parenting coach and classroom teacher. After seeing a gap between parents and early childhood educators in the first years of life, Mariana founded a community program, PEACE (parent Education and Child Empowerment) to connect with parents through life’s earlier and most critical stage of development. Mariana was nor, raised and is currently residing in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband (also a Montessori educator), two children and two dogs.

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