Savannah's Page - April/May, 1998

Thursday, May 21st 1998/,/b> - Quick update on Savannah too. She is becoming more social each day. Each day brings new words from new experiences. Her latest is almost rated "R" -- "Daddy's Peeing". Other phrases include "Up-we-go", "Down-we-go", "Way-up-High", "A Big Truck". It's wonderful to hear the changes. That's it for now.

Sunday, May 10th, 1998 - Happy Mother's Day!! We've returned from a wonderful trip down south. Savannah has really learned some wonderful social skills. She turns her head when she wants nothing to do with you. She plays kind of a 'peek-a-boo' when she wants to interact. Then, once she warms up she is ready to be your best friend for life. She really seems to be developing in a little girl. Her tantrums have dropped dramatically, although she is really learning to 'test' us. We have set some pretty strong limits at times, and other times we let her have her way. At least she's been sleeping better these days.

Savannah seems to really hate to be inside the house anymore. This weekend she was going crazy staying inside due to the downpours we had on Saturday. Today, she helped me in the garden. We planted some basil and oregano. Mommy did 'lots' of weeding. Savannah was more interested in using her new watering can to water the rocks/grass, oops, I mean the plants . When we finished the planting, Savannah rode in the wheelbarrow while mommy piled the mulch in with her. We made numerous trips around the yard (finally starting to lose that last 10 pounds). It was tons of fun. It was the quintessential Mommy/Daughter time that I had not enjoyed for quite awhile. Meanwhile, inside asleep, Daddy and Jacob were only "dreaming" of their gardens. I think Savannah is a real 'do-er' who likes to get things done. I hope she stays that way. See ya!

Tuesday, April 21st, 1998 - The two's have truly started at 18 months. The last month Savannah has really learned how to push those buttons. Seems it's been the worst since the time change. She has never been a particularly sound sleeper. This time change has been traumatic on her wake/sleep schedule. To make things worse, we are pretty certain she suffers from night terrors (fairly common among toddlers too). She has learned to tantrum whenever she does not get her way. Sometimes easily distracted, others NOT.

In spite of all this, she is still VERY affectionate. She has become much more independent. In some ways it's great. She is very outgoing, loves to play with her friends at child care. She loves the playground which we go to at least once a week. She loves to go smell the flowers in the garden and on the trees. She brings you things even without asking. She loves to pick the flowers in the garden (grrrr) and bring them to us (how sweet). She loves to help out with cooking, and sometimes cleaning. She tries things without asking for help. Those aspects are wonderful.

I think what amazes me most is how she has learned so many things. She has a bit of a fetish with the alphabet. I love to sit and watch her work on her alphabet puzzle. She takes the pieces out and puts them back in. She takes them out, then asks 'this' (which means what's this mommy). I tell her what it is and she usually tries to say the letter or the associated picture. She truly knows the following letters -- 'B', 'D', 'M', 'O'. She points them out on signs and billboards (which S. Jersey has a lot of). She is very tactile oriented. She loves puzzles and dolls. She still has very little interest in coloring/drawing, unless she sees me writing (so Mommy is trying to write more now too). She loves to organize her toys. She continues to show very analytical tendencies. She really learns best by 'copying'. Perhaps this is all toddlers, but it's pretty neat.

Her vocabulary focuses around food, but especially the word 'cookie'. By the way, crackers no longer equal 'cookie'. Mommy is now trying to teach her to say 'COOL BEANS'. Her vocabulary has expanded 3-fold since last month. Mostly 2 word combinations. 'Hi there', 'help please', 'Mommy / Daddy', 'Hi aa-cob', 'mor peas'. She still resorts to 'uhhh-uhhh' or 'na-na-na-na' when she is frustrated (translation - help meeee!). She loves to pretend on the phone using entire paragraphs to carry on imaginary phone conversations. Still reverts to that nighttime bottle during book time in the evening. Tried going cold turkey on the bottle, but it wasn't worth it to ANY of us. Besides, she really has no other security object, what's a little bottle (no comments required here). Til next time...

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