Sleeping:
I have started putting her down closer to 2:15 and this has helped her naps run at least until 4 and some days until 4:30. After 2 weeks of dry diapers at nap time, she started taking naps without diapers on October 21st. Now we are moving on to nighttime! About the beginning of this month I decided it was time to start teaching her to sleep under a blanket. I have a child size blanket that has silk along the edges and knew she would like this. Faith likes to thrash around prior to falling asleep and this would twist the blanket around her and she would cry for me to fix it. After one night of this I told her the next night that if she cried even one time I would take warm blankie away. I've only had to take it away one time; she loves that blanket. She only gets it for nighttime sleep, not for naps because she sweats like she is in a banya during her naps. I am continuing to bee firm on the no getting out of bed, no matter what the reason, and I am glad for it because at my parents' house she sleeps in the basement and I am upstairs, I don't want her walking around at night in a strange house and potentially up the stairs to tell me she needs to go potty!
Eating:
The only real food issue we have is with broccoli. On days when we have broccoli, the meal usually degrades into her standing in the corner to finish her 2 bites after the rest of us have finished eating. She also dislikes lettuce but I don't make salads too much for myself so she doesn't encounter lettuce that often. She eats everything else without issue, some days eating like a horse and others like a mouse but in general she loves food. She really enjoyed helping to make Rebekah's birthday cupcakes and she even passed them out to all the guests before feasting on her own!
Play:
With Rebekah's birthday during this month, Faith has had a vast swath of new toys to play with. She really enjoys the coin purse part of the Melissa and Doug purse she got for Rebekah. She helped me wrap it and talked about giving it to her sister for a week, it was very sweet. She also really likes the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Picnic Basket (also Rebekah's) and while we were staying with cousin Sophie, she played a great deal with Sophie's picnic basket, setting out a meal for Dolly and everything. Faith loves the seasons books that I got as a baby shower gift when pregnant with her. She enjoys lining them all up in a row and reading through them. When she shares with her sister, Rebekah is always given the green one. As for sharing, Faith does extremely well. I am glad we work on it so much because it really is paying off. I try to have Sister Play for about 15 minutes a day and will start increasing that soon.
Skills:
She has really started to do well at quantifying (only 1-3). Anything more than 3 is now 5 (a few weeks ago, anything more than 2 was 3). I am impressed every time she tells me how many of a certain color car she sees. In addition to numbering things, she is doing incredibly well at recognizing letters. She knows all her capital letters, we haven't started on lower case yet, and she is very proud of herself when she recognizes them on anything: signs, books, the milk container, anything. She is starting to recognize that letters are everywhere! She is also doing very well at putting on her clothes. She can put on her sandals and a few pairs of other shoes by herself, getting them on the correct feet about 90% of the time. Shirts are still hard for her to get on herself but hey, she still is only 2 1/2!
Our Schedule:
0800 - Up and Ready for the Day, Breakfast, Bible story, Prayers
0900 - Sister play, Free play (Errands if needed)
1000 - Chore, Snack, Craft, finish chore if needed
1130 - Helps Prepare lunch1200 - Lunch
1230 - Outside time
1415 - Nap
1600/30 - Up, Snack, Solo play
1800 - Dinner, After Dinner Activity in AR was Park, Library, etc., now that we are in Utah we use this as Reading time and it has worked well so far.
1915 - Bath, Bible Story, Bedtime o/a 1950
