This has been an eventful month for Hannah. On her first birthday she was diagnosed with her first ear infection. That, combined with teething, had made for a cranky few days before that. Her sleep was also disrupted during this time. About a week after starting the medicine for the ear infection she developed a rash. It didn't seem to bother her and went away after a few days, so I don't think it was anything serious.
The third week of the month Hannah got her 12 month needles, and 2 days later started with a fever. I didn't think much of it considering that is a common side effect of the immunizations. The next day, however, she started with vomiting and diarrhea. We watched her carefully for dehydration and it went away after 3 or 4 days.
After she recovered from those illnesses I expected to see my happy little girl return. However, it seems that during that span of several weeks, she got a little 'spoiled.' She wasn't sleeping well for naps or at night and was almost impossible during the times she was awake. She would cry and cry if she didn't get what she wanted immediately. So, we got a little tougher on the routine and she has seemed to resolve most of these issues in the last few days.
Hannah is still taking two naps a day, but I think I am going to have to shorten the morning nap this month. I find if she naps well in the morning she won't sleep at all in the afternoon. Currently she takes a 90 minute nap in the morning and in the afternoon. I think I will try shortening the morning nap to an hour and go from there. She is once again sleeping 12 or so hours at night. Yay! She went through a period of almost 2 months where she was up every night. So glad to get a full night's sleep again!
Hannah has started to wean herself from the bottle. She was having two 6 oz bottles a day (one in the morning and one in the evening). She currently will only drink about half of each bottle. Unfortunately, ever since she had the flu and we were basically forcing fluids down her throat, she does not like to drink at all. I have had some success with putting a straw in a regular cup and will continue with that for now. She will only drink milk or water. We have tried different kinds of juice with no success. I'm not too worried about that, but it would be nice if she would drink a little bit of juice.
Hannah eats everything in sight. She shovels food in like it's going out of style and doesn't seem to be picky at all. I would say at this point she eats as much as, if not more than, Nathan. I assume that will slow down at some point. At her 12 month appointment they asked if she was feeding herself with a spoon. I hadn't even given her a spoon to try and eat with yet so we've attempted that the past few days. She can get the spoon to her mouth, but much prefers her hands.
Hannah has learned to point, clap, and wave this month. She points to things she wants, which is much nicer than screaming. She claps all the time, and she always waves when she sees herself in the mirror. It's fun to be able to 'communicate' with her in these ways. She continues to babble, although this month it seems like she expects us to understand her sometimes. I feel bad that we still have no idea what she's trying to say! She has added intonation to her speech patterns so that we can tell when she is asking a question or making a statement.
Hannah got her third tooth this month and the fourth is just about ready to pop through the gums. Thankfully these ones don't seem to be causing any problems.
Hannah has started to really play with toys this month. She is observing how to make things work and will mimic what others do to get the results she wants. Nathan has a little zoo that she loves to play with right now.
We have started sibling play time this month. While it usually consists of the two kids playing with separate things in the same room, occasionally they cross paths and it's fun to see them playing together. So far I stay in the room for this play time but will hopefully begin to step out for a few minutes at a time in the next few weeks.
Hannah still does not enjoy being read to as much as Nathan did at this age. I think it's due in part to her personality - she is so much more rambunctious than he was. The other part is probably because she hasn't been read to as much as Nathan had been by this time. We've instituted two reading times in our day and I'm hoping she will grow to love those times.
As I mentioned in her 1 year summary, I really wanted to work on Hannah's independent play time this month. Since she was sick for basically the first three weeks of this month we were in survival mode and didn't get much done with this. The past week I have made a concerted effort to try independent play time twice a day and she is doing much better. We have started with 15 minutes at a time and will work up to 30 minutes. Yesterday she did both 15 minute sessions without crying!
I think that's about it for Hannah this month. She is still changing so much from day to day that this has become almost a novel!
For the upcoming month I want to continue working on Hannah's independent play time. In addition to that I will work with her on using a spoon. I think that is enough for one month :)
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