Good morning! I hope your weekend was wonderful.
We have visitors so instead of taking away precious time from them by writing and publishing a weekend in review post, I’m posting a Lula update instead.
Embarrassingly enough, the last Lula update I did was at 11 months old!
I’m sorry I didn’t keep up after that as I just read it again and it was so fun to take a look back. At least her baby book is pretty much updated- phew.
It’s hard to believe that she is already a year and a half old.
18 months is such a fun age. When I think back to the days she relied on me to entertain her 24/7, it was hard.
There is no other way to put it.
Fast forward to the present and most days are a lot of fun. I don’t even mind if she doesn’t end up taking a nap. She has fun playing in her crib and I still get a break.
She is walking, walking, walking.
She started tentatively walking in December and left crawling behind for good mid-January.
I have to be on the lookout because she will suddenly show up right next to me…let’s just say that has startled Mama from time to time.
She loves Frankie.
If he’s around, she is constantly hugging him, laying her head on his stomach, or laying directly on top of him.
It’s pretty cute to watch, as long as she doesn’t go overboard, which happens frequently.
We have a play corner set up for her and she enjoys making a huge mess and looking at her treasures while she chatters.
If I am working in the kitchen, this is her go-to spot.
I’ve been doing a lot of deep cleaning lately and she is right there with me.
Sometimes she mimics me with a dust pan and broom and sometimes occupies herself by ripping a Kleenex into the finest shreds I have ever seen.
She also enjoys pretending to water the plants after she sees me do it.
We go to story time every Tuesday morning and she has a great time intereacting with the other kids. She has recently taken to wandering the entire library once the librarian starts reading. I don’t mind…I like her to be active.
Our other stomping grounds include Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Target and the park. I am looking forward to getting back to the park once the snow is gone and things dry out again.
Cloth Diapers: size M in gDiapers, double overnight
Clothing: 18-24 month
Shoes: size 3-4, impatiently waiting for her Minnetonka moccasins to fit her!
Eats: As many fruits and veggies as we can convince her to eat!
LOVES sugar. We rarely give it to her. I figure it’s going to be enough of a battle once she gets older, why give it to her now?
Here was a typical day of eats last month.
Attitude:
Sunshiney disposition most of the time.
When she gets frustrated, she starts swinging her arms and sometimes wants to hit Ma or Pa. She has also been known to yank on her face or hair. We’re working on it.
She is very determined. Most of the time, when we redirect her away from something she shouldn’t be playing with, she will calmly attempt to find another way to get the item in question. I don’t want her to be defiant, but Pa and I both like that she perseveres and doesn’t give up easily.
She has some “imp” characteristics in her as well.
She seems to enjoy making others laugh and doesn’t take herself too seriously.
Lula is very observant. In new situations, she watches for awhile before she is comfortable enough to involve herself in what’s going on.
She is incredibly curious and loves soaking in the world around her.
Language: Dada, mama, nana, lala, baba and recently added, blah, blah blah. She recognizes a lot of words. If I ask her to get her shoes, she will go pick them up for me. However, saying them? She isn’t quite there. She has her own language that she uses constantly.
She points a lot at what she wants…
…and frequently asks, “dah?” in the sweetest little voice when she wonders what something is.
Nursing: No longer- she wrapped up at 17 months on her own and doesn’t seem to miss it one little bit.
Naps: I change her diaper and read her a few stories around 11:45 AM and she is in her crib at 12.
Somedays, her nap consists of playtime in her crib. She loves it and I can’t think of the last time she started crying in her crib…unless she was really overtired.
If she doesn’t take a nap and we have errands to run in the afternoon, she usually sleeps in the car.
If she does nap, it lasts until 1:45 which is when I wake her up.
We found that she really can’t sleep much past 1:45 without having a hard time at bedtime…especially now that it’s lighter out later in the evening.
It’s pretty common for her to wake up on her own and play in her crib until I come get her.
Nighttime: We had a rough go of it when we got back from our Christmas travels.
A combination of poor sleep, lots of extra attention, co-sleeping when things got desperate, and teething while we were away led to quite a few overnight wake-ups upon our return.
Most wake-ups were less than a minute of crying, two lasted for over an hour. Mid-February, she found her way and rarely wakes up overnight anymore. She is a heavy sleeper.
As proof of this, Pa has gone into her room in the evening to pull out a chirping battery from the smoke detector, Frankie often races up and down the hall and meows loudly overnight (he’s crazy), and we are pretty loud and active once she goes to bed.
We live in a split-level and the kitchen and living room are right down the hall from her bedroom, so she sleeps nearby all our evening fun.
I’m grateful and hopeful this deep sleep continues once Baby 2 gets here since their rooms will share a wall.
She is a wonderful baby and we love her so much.
It’s fun to see how she has grown and how much she is able to do, especially compared to those first three months.
Since she turned one, time has gone so quickly and I know there is no stopping it!
Happy year and a half little Munchkie!
I found them on sale this week so that craving has been fulfilled.
It was amazing.
