Disney World 2011

Last weekend we had a very last minute trip to Disney World.  It was a little sooner than we had planned on going.  I had hoped to delay Oscar's planning until Savannah was at least 3 or 4 years old but some friends of ours from San Francisco were going and asked us to join them down there.  So we decided "why not" and down we went.  Even though Savannah is only 15 months old, I think she had a super fun time.  She loved watching and pointing to Mickey and Minnie until they started to head her way and then she started screaming.  It was like seeing Santa all over again.  She must have issues with people in costumes (how in the world did Uncle Harlan pass that gene on to her?!).  She also loved riding the rides as long as it didn't get too dark in the tunnels. 

Savannah wearing her Minnie dress and getting ready to leave for Disney World!!!

Saturday morning we had breakfast with Donald, Minnie, and Goofy.

Savannah is thinking, "Don't take one step closer to me or else!"

Minnie came closer so she got yelled at by Savannah.

Entering the Magic Kingdom

The park is only this empty when you go right when it opens.

Savannah's first ride--Snow White and the Scary Witch 

That witch was pretty scary!

on the carousel

She was in awe during It's a Small World. 

Soooo excited to ride Dumbo!

Not so excited when it went up really high.

She LOVED the Winnie the Pooh ride.

Quick family pic

We LOVED the tea cups!!!

Dancing in the street during the parade. 

Checking out Mickey from afar---just how she likes it.

ohhh, pretty fireworks!

Nap time--can you believe she actually slept for an hour like this!?

Sooo great to see the Berkovits family

Me and Savannah with Jared, Sophie, Nina, and baby Zane.

On Sunday we visited the Animal Kingdom.  One of the great things about having a toddler is that she rarely sleeps in so it makes it really easy for us to get the park before they open and before the big crowds arrive.  We were totally finished with the park and never had to wait for the more than 5 minutes to do anything.  The coolest thing here is definitely the Safari ride but I think Savannah would argue and say that the petting zoo is the best.  She absolutely LOVED petting all the goats and sheep.

entering the Animal Kingdom

on the safari ride

lazy hippo

see the hidden giraffe?

It's amazing how close we got to some of the animals!

Savannah loved seeing all the animals!

There were sooo many elephants and even one baby!

"This is great!!"

a white rhino

"Let's go pet some animals!"

"Ewww this goat stinks--I'm not touching this one!"

"Now this is a nice goat!"

"These are good ones, too!"

"I really like this little black one!"

What a great weekend!!  It was so fun to watch Savannah experience all the new things.  It's like being there for the first time all over again.  We already can't wait to go back in a couple of years.

Savannah at 15 Months

Wow, I am exhausted from this month!  I'm not sure how moms of multiples or even moms with 2 under 2 manage to keep up.  It sure makes me thankful to only have one wild toddler and boy, is she WILD.  My sweet Savannah Grace is slowly losing the sweet and gaining the stubborn.  Everyday starts a new battle that I usually end up losing.  But I guess if I'm going to lose, at least I'm losing to a super cute opponent :)

Savannah Grace at 15 Months

Here's what Savannah has been doing the past month:
~food: She seems to have gotten her appetite back after what seemed to be a short diet last month.  Some of her new favorites are apple juice, blueberries, ritz crackers with cheese, and bologna.  Things that were once her favorite and are not anymore include bananas, corn dogs (she picks the hot dog out and no longer eats the batter), beans, pb&j, and waffles.
~table manners: we're still working on these.  Sometimes I have to pick my battles and if she's actually eating then I may let some of the other things go for the time being.  A perfect example is the following picture...

~talking: "mama", "dadeeee" (referring to Dad or Lilly the dog), "jooze" (juice), "hot" (when pointing to the fire place or food in the microwave/stove), "teeet" (aka teeth--she says this when she wants toothpaste on her toothbrush), "mooooo" (aka cow).

one of her favorite chores--brushing her teeth

~tv shows: she LOVES Imagination Movers and Fresh Beat Band.  She's not a big fan of animated things--she prefers real people who sing.
~taking showers: she has taken showers with me since she was a newborn but in the past she always played with toys.  Now she walks into the shower on her own and proceeds to stand under the water the whole time.  She'll even push me out of the way if she no longer feels the water on her back.  I think it's like a mini-massage for her.
~walking around outside: she learned to walk right when the weather started getting cold and yucky so she's never been able to walk outside on her own.  Now that we've had a couple of warm days we've been going outside and she loves to just walk through the grass and chase the dogs.  
~tea parties: she LOVES to have tea parties at her little table in the kitchen.  She knows to turn the teapot upside down on top of the cups and then she pretends to drink it---soooo cute!

 ~coloring: she is finally at the age where she no longer eats the crayons but she actually colors with them. This and playdoe have become two of our favorite things to do together.

 ~"helping" around the house: she loves to clean up after Max and Lilly.  She tries to sweep the food up and put it back into their bowl.  She also tries to unload the dishwasher with me and she uses the duster as a broom to sweep around the house.

~becoming a girlie girl: she is ALWAYS carrying her babies around the house---taking them for rides in her car or the grocery cart and trying to dress them.  One of her new obsessions is to always be wearing her "fancy jewels", aka mardi gras beads.

she is actually trying to dress her baby

~creating hiding spots: I recently found her hiding under the bar with the barstools angled towards her.  I think she's trying to make a fort.  I've even seen her try to hide inside the barstool---that never turns out well.

 ~i-pad: Is it terrible that my 15 month old has her "own" ipad?  According to her dad, it is hers but I tend to disagree.  He definitely spends more time on it but if Savannah happens to see it around the house, it becomes hers.  She likes to sit and watch her 2 favorite tv shows on it.

~reading: yep, this is still an all-time favorite activity and thankfully she has added a couple new favorites to the tried and true Pinkalicious series (so excited for the 4th installment).  We now read every night The Pout Pout Fish and we rotate Fancy Nancys and Giraffes Can't Dance.  Somehow she managed to find the Christmas book collection so we're back to reading Yes,Virginia.. every day, as well.

~singing: she loves to hum along to songs on the radio and she really loves to watch music videos while Dad runs on the treadmill.  She's definitely partial to Rihanna--I think she could watch the video Only Girl all day.  She's also very demanding when she wants me to sing to her.  She attempts to snap her fingers and yells at me until I start singing, and even then she will keep yelling and snapping until I sing the particular song that she's wanting.  Usually The Itsy Bitsy Spider works or maybe The ABCs or Twinkle Twinkle.  And if those don't stop the yelling then I have to do tv songs.  For someone who doesn't sing, I sure feel like I'm singing all the time now.

here she is singing along with the tv

~identifying facial features: thanks to the book Where is Baby's Belly Button and Toes, Ears and Nose, Savannah can point out eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, feet, and hands.

Just a few side stories:
It really is so much fun to watch her little brain at work nowadays.  She does some of the funniest things.  For instance, she can't stand for lids to not be on whatever it is they go on.  As soon as I take the lid off the milk, peanut butter, coffee canister, toothpaste, sippy cup, etc, she is already trying to put it back on.  Things that once took 2 seconds to do now take closer to 2 minutes to finish.
Also, Savannah gets a kick out of rolling her balls under the furniture just so she can go get the swiffer or duster to try to push them out.  This activity alone will amuse her for at least 20 minutes.

"I know it's under there somewhere!"

I thought I had created the coolest bath EVER when I added the balls from her ball pit to our whirlpool tub one night.  Savannah, however, didn't think it was that great.  She just looked at me like, "seriously, Mom, how am I supposed to bathe with these balls all over me?!".  

Savannah had her 15 month doctors appointment today so here are her current stats:

Age: exactly 15 months 

Weight: 23 lbs 9 oz (65%)--gain of 1lb 1oz since 12 months

Height: 31 inches (70%)--gain of 1.5 inches 

Head cir: 47 inches--gain of 1cm
Teeth: 8 front teeth and 2 top molars
Clothing size: a few 12-18 month but mostly 18-24 month
Diaper size: 4
Shoe size: 5 1/2

I sure do love this stubborn, prissy, wild, smart, loving, happy little toddler!!!!

A Quick Between Month Update

For most of the month of December Savannah was battling a cold--or so I thought.  She had all the symptoms of a cold--runny nose, cough, grumpiness, messed up sleeping schedule, etc.  It turns out that she was actually cutting her first two molars.  Last weekend I did a teeth check, just to see if anything new was coming in, and SURPRISE!  That girl has two full top molars!!!  Apparently I'm a little out of it as a mother to not have realized this development sooner.  Oh well, at least now she can successfully eat more foods :)

Another new development--my little 14 and a half month old somehow managed to climb out of her crib on Wednesday.  After voicing her displeasure of being forced to take a nap I finally went to check on her 20 minutes later.  I open the door to her room and hello, there she is standing by the door.  Imagine my shock! First I was super concerned that maybe she fell out and landed on her head but as soon as I picked her up the tear show stopped.  Then we came downstairs and off she went to play.  So I can only assume that she safely managed to climb out on her own.  So now we've got a super smart and athletic little toddler on our hands.  Of course I called Pottery Barn that night to see about ordering the conversion kit for her crib and in true PBK fashion, it's unavailable.  Just GREAT!  So I guess we'll wait and see if it becomes available (the sales reps say maybe in February) before I consider buying a toddler bed.

Here comes Trouble!!

"Who you calling Trouble?!"

There's never a dull moment in the Alvarez household!

How Big is Savannah?!?

SOOOOOOOOOOO BIG!!!!!!!!

I started noticing that several pairs of Savannah's pants--ones that I always had to roll up--are now more like capris.  So I did my best attempt at checking her height and we learned that she has grown approximately an inch and a half since she was last measured on her birthday.  That means she's up to a whooping 31 inches!!  Now whenever I say, "how big is Savannah?", she stretches out as far as she can and raises her arms to the sky---it's the cutest thing ever!!!!

The 14 Month Update

I'm sure at some point I will stop doing monthly Savannah updates but I feel like as long as she is doing memorable things then I should continue documenting them.  Also, I need some way to remember all these whens, hows, and whats so hopefully when number 2 comes along I'll be better prepared for what lies ahead :)

My sweet Savannah Grace

At 14 months, here is a brief rundown of Savannah's developments:
~She is obsessed with hugging anyone under the age of 5 even if she's only just met them.

~Her new favorite food (still trying to decide if it's actually considered food but if so, then I'm adding it to the vegetable group) is Ketchup.  It doesn't even have to be on food--she'll take it on her finger, too.

~She LOVES playing with her baby dolls.  She is always carrying one around with her either in her car, grocery cart, tent, stroller, etc.

~She is now eating almost all her food off a plate and with a fork!  This is a big deal since she practically refuses to have anyone feed her anymore.  If she can't do it herself, then she prefers to not eat.

~She LOVES to put on lipgloss.  I have a slight obsession with chap stick so after observing me apply it every 15 minutes she now believes that she, too, needs it.  Once again, don't try to help her because she has to do it herself.

~Snack time every afternoon has to take place in her recliner while watching cartoons.

~She has become quite the littler helper (when she wants to).  Max and Lilly make a mess with their dog food so I often find Savannah in their zone cleaning up after them.

She even goes to get the dustpan and brush by herself.

just a little dusting

~Her newest obsession is talking on ichat/skype.  I'm still trying to decide if it's talking to the grandparents that she likes or if it's just sitting on the desk and playing with all the pens/papers/mail/etc.  Usually about 5 times a day I find her yelling at me from the computer.

~speaking of yelling----yep, she's still having those temper tantrums.  Hello terrible twos a year early.

her reaction after being told to get down

~She has become much more agreeable when it comes to diaper changes.  I'll usually ask her if she needs a dry diaper and if she does then she'll walk to the gate at the foot of the stairs and wait for me to take her up.  It only took about 13 months of diaper changing to finally get to this point.  
~she hasn't made much progress in the talking department but I've come to not expect it anymore.  I've been reading and talking to other parents and pediatricians who all say that if a toddler is physically advanced (which they say Savannah is) then she'll be more delayed in speech.  It seems that they usually only advance in one area at a time.  So I guess she'll run before she can say what she's running to.  But I am almost certain that I heard her say "peeeeze (please)" the other day when she wanted another french fry :) 
~It looks like she's entering the mommy attachment stage.  For the first time yesterday she had a meltdown when I left her in the nursery during church.  I'm told it didn't last long but it sure was hard to leave her.  


I think that about sums up all developments from the past month.  I can't wait to see what she has in store for this month :)

Kickin' off 2011

This year we spent New Years Eve at our good friends, the Riepl's, lake house along with 2 other families. It was so nice to have a relaxing evening with good friends, good fun, and lots of entertainment (aka other kids) to keep Savannah busy.  We spent the evening in our pjs watching football and having girl talk.  I don't think anyone managed to stay awake til midnight, in fact we were in bed by 10:30---that's my kind of a New Years celebration :)

Here are a few pics from our stay at the lake house:

the lake was so calm and peaceful

a few lingering snow spots

Savannah's favorite spot in the house was this old rocking chair

dinner time

second favorite spot was climbing up and down the stairs

all the kiddos

Then it was back home on Saturday to start the much dreaded taking down of the Christmas decorations.  There is nothing that I hate more than taking down my decorations.  The house always looks so plain and boring afterwards.  This year I had my own little helper follow me around and insist on "helping".  Needless to say, it took me a little longer than expected to get everything down and put away.

I typically don't make new years resolutions but I heard an interview on tv this morning with Taylor Swift and I think I'm going to steal her resolution.  This year I'm going to try to be more thankful for all the wonderful people and things in my life and to just be more appreciative every day.  I think it's something that we should all strive to do more.  So let's cheer to 2011!