February Recap

I'm a little behind on blogging so before I get to February's recap let me include the short visit with Grams from January 23-27.  Grams came to spend a week with us and like always, we put her to work sewing.  This visit included making pillows for our bed and recovering the bench at the foot of our bed.  Not a lot but with a busy toddler in the midst of EVERYTHING even small tasks became huge feats.  The rest of the week was spent going to S's gym and music classes and just hanging out at home.  Saturday came way too soon and Grams headed back to Texas.

Savannah wanting to help Grams sew

Now on to February......this month has flown by!!

Our Valentine's Day was very low-key.  Savannah and I went to my gym and then her gym.  Then we bought V-day balloons, baked a pink cake, and had a yummy dinner at home.  

wearing her Lilly Valentine's dress at gym class

helping to mix the batter

taste testing

We had a family get-away to Wintergreen Resort in Virginia over President's Day.  Since we had never been we only went for one night just to check it out and see if it's worth going again to spend more time.  It was such a cute little ski village and so close--only about 3 hours away.  It started snowing as soon as we arrived and continued all night.  Apparently the resort wasn't prepared because the roads were a mess.  People couldn't get on or off the mountain.  It took Oscar 2 hours to get our dinner---first he got stuck in the truck going up to the restaurant so he had to slide back down and then walk there, secondly the restaurant staff couldn't get up the mountain to work so preparing the food took longer than expected, and thirdly he had to walk back to our place in the dark.  Other than that small catastrophe we had a wonderful time.  Savannah loved tromping through the snow and she LOVED tubing until we were told she couldn't ride in my lap and had to do it alone.  That she wasn't quite ready for.  The resort also had an arcade type place with a huge bounce house.  When all else fails, a bounce house will keep her occupied all afternoon.  

our room

heading out into snow for the first time 

the snow is just beginning to fall

first time going up to tube 

warming up in the teepee

using the marshmallow skewers as drum sticks

fun times in the bounce house

learning how to play foosball

attempting the drive back to our room during the "blizzard"

this is our model pose for the North Face catalog 

my cute little snow bunny

blazing her own trail

she's stuck!!!

Michael just got stationed at Camp Lejeune on the coast of NC so he and Rachel stopped by for a short visit on their way.  They arrived early in the morning on Monday the 27th and stayed until early Wednesday morning.  Savannah absolutely LOVED having two additional buddies around the house.  Too bad Uncle Michael couldn't instill some of the military discipline on her while he has was around.  Thankfully he'll be stopping by more frequently so hope is not yet lost :)    

walking back for showing Mike and Rache the horses

sidewalk chalk time

the beginnings of our crime scene

trying to teach Uncle Mike how to hoola hoop

doesn't everyone get hung upside down by the uncle at some point :)

this made her super dizy

bounce house time

the ball hoarder

S trying to put her makeup on Uncle Mike

checking out Rachel's game

maybe just a touch of makeup right there

**Savannah update:  She is such a busy body and she's constantly getting into things she shouldn't.  She's gotten much better at controlling her aggressiveness around her peers.  She's constantly reminding herself "no hit, no push, no kick".  I've had to add "no bite" after a couple of random chomps to my leg.  Ms. Carolyn from the gym nursery has even noticed Savannah saying these phrases to herself which has led to fewer time outs....hooray!  If only she would control herself better at home.  I'm really doubting the effectiveness of time outs around the house as evidenced by a recent episode......S was having problems listening and following directions the other day so I told her if she didn't do as she was told then she would have to go sit in time out.  She then proceeded to do sit in her time out chair and said she was taking a break.  That's not quite the outcome I had intended.  That girl definitely keeps things interesting around here.

On a better note, Savannah has improved by leaps and bounds with her talking.  She is stringing words along wonderfully and she even says full sentences.  I've noticed lately that she has pretend conversations with Grams on her phone.  Her one sided dialog cracks me up!  Still, her articulation is great but as long as it's improving I'm thrilled.  Everyday she shows me what a big girl she is becoming.  Unfortunately, potty training isn't improving as rapidly.  She goes a couple of times a day but for the most part she's content with using her diaper.  Well not really a diaper---it has to be the pink princess pull-ups....go figure :)  We're not really to the point where I'm ready to push her and get more serious about it.  Maybe by summer we'll both be ready.
Here are a few random Savannah pictures from this month:

watering the dead flowers

my sweet 27 month old girl

she loves these little dogs!

her first umbrella

Who knew it would bring such joy?!

notice the new Rapunzel pool shoes

We've had issues keeping her clothes on nowadays--she prefers to run around naked!

a rainy winter day spent at the mall playzone

and a warm spring-like day at the park with Dee

check out her hair after a very humid morning run....yikes!

visiting the horses

yes, she picked this outfit

best buddies

her first Barbie-type doll, Rapunzel of course

modeling Rapunzel's hair extension

hair extension + crown = one happy girl

Savannah's solo

Savannah started the spring semester of her Kindermusik class last week and in her new packet she received two harmonicas.  She figured out how they work pretty quickly and has been playing them non-stop for the past several days.  I thought I'd share this little video I made with my phone.

She is such a big fan of music that I hope she didn't inherit Oscar's and my bad singing voices.  I can already picture her performing in her high school musicals :) 

My little chatterbox

Savannah just turned 26 months and it seems that since her speech evaluation last month, she has verbally blossomed.  She is throwing out 2 and 3 word sentences left and right.  Her articulation has only slightly improved so I often have to translate for her to others if they don't know the context in which she's speaking.  But after so long of her simply babbling, this is a huge milestone for her.  I love hearing her sweet little voice even if most of the time she's barking out demands: "Ma, wait!; "Ma, hold me!"; "Ma, come back!"; etc..   Thankfully she follows most demands and questions with "peeeezzzzzze" which makes me very happy.

She is also singing a lot more so much so that I am actually able to figure out which song she is attempting. One of her favorites is the happy birthday song.  She started that one on my birthday and is still singing it to me.  She also sings a few of the songs from the Fresh Beat Band--Rockstar, Let's Go Bananas, etc.  At this rate, she'll be able to fully sing along with the band at their April concert.  

Here is a brief list of the most common things coming out of Savannah's mouth these days:

~all of the above demands

~"Dee, no touch my stuff!"

~"More milk (water, juice) pleeezzze"

~"I be back"

~"I hold Max"(the dog)

~"I go wash" (referring to hand wash)

~"I go get......" (toys, lovey, cup, random objects)

~"I need help!"

~"I potty." or "I poop."

~"My turn" usually followed by "Ma's turn"

Just a couple of other new things....

Every day is a princess day around here.  Savannah is constantly wearing either a Disney princess dress or princess logo attire.  Thankfully Grams and Grandad got her several more Disney shirts for Christmas because I wasn't able to keep up with the laundry.  

Rapunzel in her kitchen

1 of many princess jammies

Belle jammies

Savannah is currently battling her second ear infection.  I thought her 2 year molars were coming in but after a temperature of 104 degrees I took her to the doctor to get checked out.  My poor girl was so sick that she almost slept through the entire exam.  For a child who normally screams bloody murder from the moment she sees a nurse, this was a definite sign that something was terribly wrong.  She's been on an antibiotic since Friday but I'm having a very difficult time administering the medicine.  She's definitely not an easy patient.  Hopefully she's getting enough down and she'll be all better in a couple of days.  While we were there we managed to figure out her current weight.  I say managed because she wouldn't let me put her down so the nurse had to weigh me holding her and then weigh me alone.  I'm not divulging my weight but she is a whopping 30 pounds.  No wonder my back muscles are so strong :)    

Welcome 2012

After 2 years of sleeping through the ball drop, I finally saw it this year; however, I was in my pjs in bed.  Oscar coincidentally woke up for a bathroom break just in time so we can say we rang in the new year at midnight together :)  

I woke up early on Sunday morning and began my most hated task of taking down my Christmas decorations.  For me, January 1 is the most awful day of the year.  I spent the entire day, minus an hour and a half at church, returning my house back to it's normal boring condition.  Oscar took down the outside lights during breaks of football watching.  And Savannah did her normal thing of destroying the parts of the house that I had just cleaned.  Only 326 more days until next holiday season!!!!!

quick family photo session after church (our tripod is broken, hence the closeup)

future Cowboys cheerleader all ready for the game

I have no resolutions this year and even if I did, I tend to forget all about them by March.  Instead I intend to live more in the moment.....Savannah is growing up so incredibly fast so I want to cherish this one-on-one time I have with her because next year she'll be off to preschool and who knows---maybe she'll have a sibling on the way :)