Flashcards

A friend who’s son has outgrown them let us borrow her “Your Baby Can Read” set. Savannah has no interest in the DVDs – they are crappy – but she LOVES the sliding flashcards! She’s only had them a couple days but squeaks in excitement when she finds the “Dog” card and claps like crazy with the “clap” card.

California Wedding

We just arrived back from California concluding Savannah’s 8th flight so far (at just 17 months it seems like a lot!). Since Bakersfield is a tiny airport – 9 gates – we were on a small plane. Not so small as to require seating based on everyone’s weight like flying back from white water rafting but only 50 passengers to fill the plane.

Even though we were really busy and all over the place for the two days Savannah was amazingly good. Yes, I still get surprised although no one else seems to be anymore. I know she’s a wonderful girl and well behaved but I was expecting and would’ve fully understood a couple meltdowns. Nope, not one. She took short (or no) naps, went to sleep late each night and up early and still all smiles and laughs. Which makes it funny the only picture we took of her at the wedding she had this face..

During the coctail hour between the wedding ceremony and reception we went walking around the country club and noticed a tennis ball on one of the courts. Marc gave it to Savannah and she walked around a bit with it then they started throwing it back and forth. I didn’t realize she could catch and throw so well, she doesn’t with her various balls at home.
Throwing and Catching


At dinner she mainly wanted the fries – the same thing happened the night before. She had a couple bites of fruit but barely any of her chicken and what is really rare she didn’t even want to try hardly any of our food. She missed out, it was sooo good! Chicken.. chicken.. you know i love it! there was other food but the chicken was yum!! Not to worry though, she didn’t go hungry.. There were chocolate “Oscars” on the table to go with the Old Theatre theme and mommy gave it to her to play with. She figured out immidiately that it was food. Best pictures of the weekend!

Grandpa Wienke stopped by the table not realizing what was going on so I asked if he wanted to hold Savannah for a couple minutes. “Sure!” he said. And came SOOO close to taking her but we had to stop him and bust out laughing.. He – nor anyone at the wedding – could believe the mess!! It was pretty bad.. While I didn’t eat any of it I ended up with chocolate on my arms, legs and face.. And that was before I picked her up to go to the bathroom to clean up! We did bring some extra smiles and laughs to the guests that saw it though. :)

After the clothing change and a quick scrub down Savannah danced with Daddy and he sung to her – telling her that “Brown Eyed Girl” was not his and her song instead of his for me. He’s such a sucker for his little girl! :)
Dancing with Daddy
And the cutest pictures are of Savannah with three of our pups after we arrived home. They are sooo cute..

A Walk Around the Park

I was able to complete some of my Monday work over the weekend which left us with plenty of time to visit the park by our house. Great timing since Savannah wasn’t having the happiest day and a change of scenery usually helps.

It took a little bit to get there since she was distracted by the light pole, passing cars and rocks. I had to carry her part of the way since she really wanted to go into the street after a dog on the other side of the road. When we got close enough to the park to see I pointed and then the smile came out.

First she sat in the sand but since I forgot the sand toys it got boring pretty fast. She took a stroll around then climbed up the side of the playset to head to the big slide. We went down it and she smiled and giggled like crazy. A couple times sortof by herself on the little slide then a woman walking her dog caught Savannah’s eye and she took off down the path after them. Of course, they walk a lot faster and had a head start but she was trying complete with saying “DOG!” and patting her leg (sign language for dog). When she arrived at the bottom of the hill she wasn’t able to see the dog anymore but there were a bunch of big rocks – landscaping – to play with.

After about 10 minutes organizing the rocks with sticks then putting them back she was ready for some more walking.. And boy did she walk and run! Up and down the hill, across the grass, in the rocks and an attempt to climb up a hill of big rocks which didn’t end up working.

Talking a Walk 1

Taking a Walk 2

Interactive Reading

In the past couple weeks Savannah's favorite books have been her "first words" books. She brings them to us and points to the pictures for us to tell her the words as she flips through. She gets extra excited about the ones she knows the signs for. She knows at least a couple dozen now although a few look the same (ball, more and shoes).

She's also saying more words we can figure out - uh oh (when something falls - half the time on purpose since she laughs with it) and book are the ones that come to mind. Honestly I think she's saying a lot of them that I can't decipher but we're trying!

Thankfully she likes to show us the books on the couch or Ottoman downstairs - I'm already uncomfortable getting on the floor in the corner to read with her even though I've only gained a couple pounds since getting pregnant!

Today's Fun

Today was the best and easiest day I've had home working with Savannah in a long time. It's not that other days have been bad but today was amazingly great, she has been super happy and funny all day. So much that I totally forgot about nap time until 2PM!! Even then she was still playing and happy as can be but I took her up for a nap anyways in fear of a night time meltdown if she didn't get any nap.

Over the weekend she found (or Marc gave her?) an empty dog bowl in the pantry. It is now a drum that stays with her toys along with a metal piece from the over the door pantry shelves we used in the old house. She finds it hilarious. She uses her hands to drum some but mostly the metal piece. I'm sure her wooden mallet (from another toy) will also be a drumstick when they happen to be in the same area at the same time. 

Drumming Video

Marc also gave her a box containing a couple old cell phones with their chargers and books that she likes to play with. Mostly emptying everything out of the box then putting it back in. One of the phones has become her favorite - my old Blackberry. I has no charge - I don't even know if it has a battery - but she grabs it, puts it up to her ear and starts talking. Today she did this but then started walking all around the house saying "bye!". May be coincidence but I had been on a couple conference calls today where I was walking around talking on the phone so she may have been mimicking me. Either way, I was cracking up!

Walking and Talking Video

Christmas 2013

Christmas this year was a ton of fun for and with Savannah! While we didn’t get our ornaments on the tree it still looked nice with the lights. And even better with the presents around!

We were lucky that Savannah slept in a little bit so I could put together the water and sand table before she came down. Also unwrapped were the toy presents from she had opened at Grandma and Grandpa’s house the night before – a monkey rocker and a corn popper. As soon as she saw them she was all excited and happy.

After some playing we convinced her to come back to the the tree to open some more. She did great at opening presents this year! I don’t know where she learned it but it was a joy watching.

When she opened her first set of books she stopped to look through each one. It is so cute how she “reads” them all, she also points at things for us to tell her what they are.

A bunch more books to open took quite a while including reading them all.

 

Then all of a sudden she was done. Not out of presents but done opening them. I had put some cinnamon rolls in the oven so we took it as time to eat breakfast. Savannah was not a fan of the cinnamon rolls! She picked at them, put a piece in her mouth then dropped it.. Then she wanted to play outside so off we went. She drew a little with her chalk then took a short car ride complete with silly faces..

 

An hour or so later we ended up back by the tree to open some more presents. She was having a blast with the paper! While she was reading Marc and I took the opportunity to open our gifts – most of while Savannah took from us. :)

Another break was needed so we watched a Curious George Christmas movie and had some Cheerios. She looked like such a big girl sitting on the couch with her snack!

Since our fireplace is in the family room our stockings were there and we brought them down for her to see. I had found a sock monkey stocking for Savannah that was just too cute. She did her signature grab and hug to let me know she liked it too. Daddy showed her that he was holding stuff she could take out which peaked her interest again. It was full of finger paints, bubble bath and stickers (which she is still sticking on our face everytime she sees them).

It was now almost noon (we started before 9) and we were down to three presents left. Marc and I tried pulling a little bit of the paper up for her but she wasn’t interested. I’m sure it was a very overwhelming day already and she was playing with all her new toys.

The remainder waited until after nap time to be opened and ever since she has been walking around with the shopping cart (last present opened)! Of course she plays with all the toys and reads almost all of her books (a couple were put out of reach as they are rippable) but the shopping cart we got her last minute is her current favorite. She grins ear to ear and laughs as she walks circles around the house.