Her major milestones this month are her verbal skills. It seems she can say a new word every day and this week her favorite is 'Santa!' She points to his picture everywhere we see it, but of course the couple of times we have gotten near a real one, she has gotten really scared and started to cry.
So what is Luna up to these days? Here is her typical schedule:
Morning:
-Wakes up between 7:15-8am and we know she's awake when we hear, "mama!" I am trying to wean her from breastfeeding, so Todd usually gets her up in the morning since she wants her 'milk' right when I enter her room and gets extremely upset if she doesn't get it. So Todd fixes her a cup of milk right when she gets up.
-She eats breakfast from 8-8:30am and loves strawberries, blueberries, yogurt, cheerios, oatmeal, and applesauce. Not all of them at once, we rotate a few out. Oh, and she is now liking eggs! yay!
-She plays in the morning, unless we have an errand to run like Central Market on Mondays, Kindermusik on Thursdays at 9am or Mom's Day Out on Wednesdays at 9am. Here is her MDO schedule for December:
-Luna eats lunch usually from 11am-11:30am and loves eating avocado, turkey, cheese, fruit, pasta, PBJ sandwiches, black beans, tomato soup, grilled cheese, and peas
-She naps from 12-3pm and requires 3 stories before bedtime and it is so great that we can just put her in her crib and she falls asleep on her own- much improved from where she was at 9 months vs 19 months! The Ferber method really worked and glad we did it then
Afternoon:
-After nap she wakes up and we play, have a snack of Annie's Bunnies or cheese/crackers, or PBJ. We then either have 1 errand to run or if we are lucky, can stay in and relax and play before dinner. I always feel so bad if I have too many errands to run with Luna. I hate strapping her in her car seat, then strapping her in her stroller, then strapping her back in her car seat, that by the time 1 errand is done, I just want to go home. I feel like she needs to roam around and not be so confined. That is why we are lucky there are play groups in the afternoons sometimes or park play dates!
-As for play, she is really into pretend play, wanting to put diapers on her dolls, pushing her stroller around. She also loves to dance and when I play her Kindermusik songs, she will re-create the moves we do in class, so cute! She copies EVERYTHING we do and it is so interesting to watch her learn. For instance, the other day little Honey Bear was outside going to the bathroom, squatting down, and Luna watched her then also squatted down next to her! So hilarious.
Evening:
-Luna eats dinner around 5:30 and will have whatever I have fixed for dinner, such as pasta, beans, chicken, soup, chili, etc. and her only veggie she eats now are peas so I have to try to sneak in some pureed broccoli somehow. It's play time after dinner, before bath at 6:30pm. We always sing the clean-up song before bath and clean up her toys, and off to bath.
-After bath, she brushes her own teeth, then we comb her hair, lotion, PJ time and then storytime. She still also sleeps in a sleep sack for her size and I think it helps her sleep better and not wake up. She loves to pick out her own books to read and right now her favorite is Pat the Christmas Bunny! I rock her in my arms for a short lullaby and then she goes into her crib. Sometimes it takes her about 15 minutes to fall asleep but then she is out. Of course we have the occasional night where she wakes up and is standing up, so we go in there and lay her back down and she goes back to sleep. I think she wakes up because goes through spurts of separation anxiety and wants to make sure we are still there :)
Overall she is growing up so fast! She no longer is having as many temper tantrums because she is able to tell us better what she wants. Although I swear the days I have more errands to run, the more cranky she is. She loves staying at home!
We have also been busy the past few weeks with Christmas parties and Santa and went to one party where Luna got to design her own ornament! Here is a picture of her feeling oh so excited!