Getting back in the swing of things

Sonia is mostly back on track with her sleep, thanks to Dr. Ferber. I have been keeping sleep log for about a month now (using a chart that I created on Excel, of course!), and it's really satisfying to see how much her sleeping has improved (KNOCK WOOD). I'm impressed that she was able to improve so much despite teething, holiday bustle, and a lot of houseguests (who were very helpful and understanding!). The upshot of it is that Sonia is now sleeping through the night very regularly, almost always goes down to sleep with less than 10 minutes of angst (and often no angst at all!), and naps for at least 40 minutes every afternoon. If only she would wake up later than 5:30am and nap for at least 90 minutes....

It makes me feel guilty that I worry so much about Sonia's teething and sleeping (both of which are well within the range of normal) when I personally know several families whose infants/toddlers have much, much larger issues. I am making a New Year's resolution to try to put everything in perspective (and to try to be better about dealing with sleep deprivation when it occurs).

Now that the holidays are over, our schedule is getting back to normal. Sonia still misses her cousins and grandparents (yesterday, she handed me the phone and said "JoJo"), but she has been so happy to see her little friends!

Bits and bobs:

- Sonia has been going pee in the big potty (usually using a potty seat topper, but sometime just sitting precariously on the seat, giggling) several times a day, just for fun. I don't think her communication skills are quite ready for full potty training, but she definitely understands what a potty is for and has an interest in using it. I'm going to give it a few more months before we go full steam ahead....

- Jus this week, Sonia has started to add more consonants to her words. Rather than saying "buh", she is now saying "book". Her list of intelligible words is well over 100, and a lot of times I can get her to tell me what she wants rather than just guessing what each grunt means.

- Sosini loves to hug her friends! She often asks me about them, though she can currently say only two of her friends' names (Ike and Max).

- Girlfriend LOVES to dress herself. Anytime she sees something resembling an article of clothing, she attempts to put it over her head or jam her little legs into it. If I ask her to put her shoes on, she can do it about half the time all by herself (with just a little help from me to fasten the velcro tightly enough).

And now, a photo essay about a toddler who really, really wants the candy canes (which are wrapped in plastic, of course) that are hanging on the little table top Christmas tree:






Ohhhhhh, Sonia. You are a major goofball.