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Saturday, March 14, 1998 - Savannah did her first real baking today. She helped mommy make 2 ham quiche's. Mommy measured the ingredients while Savannah helped add them. Once added, she used the whisk to mix them up - "Mix, Mix, Mix, Mix". She was bummed that I would not let her pour it into the crust. Then comes the finale, she thought it would cook faster (remember she's only 17 1/2 months old) if she turned the oven up from 350 degrees to 450 degrees. Well, she was right in part. The inside is wonderful, the crust is well, good in some areas, but not others. I guess we need to lighten up on the alphabet and teach her temperature instead. HaHa!! Hugs.'til next time.
Friday, March 13, 1998 - Savannah went with Mommy to the local playground the other day. She loves the slides and swings. Although, she seems to like the sand/dirt almost as much! Afterwards, we went to the local pizza parlor "Dadio's" to pick up a pizza for dinner. Seems pizza has become a once a week ritual. While there, Savannah saw the Adamm's Family pinball machine. She looked up and saw Morticia (sp?) and Gomez. She pointed and chimed out "MOMMY" and "DADDY". Wow, was I proud and embarrassed at the same time. She has started calling out to any man "Daddy". It's a total normal development overgeneralization that they go through, that is just too cute. Thought you'd get a chuckle out of it. Hugs, til next time.
March 3, 1998 - This is week number three that Savannah is home again on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are so happy to have her only in daycare 3 days a week, while we work. Savannah really seems to be enjoying the extra time with Mom and Jacob. Savannah's vocabulary is expanding. Her latest endeavors are two-syllable words. She waits for a response from us after she says a new word. Her favorite words to say are: coo-kie, craa-ker, pi-zza, app-le, peas, bean (hmm, are we noticing a theme here??). She also uses the standard words like, mommy (no longer momma), daddy, baba, pain (that's airplane), bye-bye, bear, doggie, cup, and quite a few others. She is really singing too! Her favorite song over the last 3 months - 'Old MacDonald'. She continues to echo the line 'E-I-E-I-O' over and over, especialy if we initiate the singing. She still loves to play with her dolls. She continues her interest in the the felt/flannel board Mom made her for Christmas. She loves to play with the colors and shapes on the board. She plays with her little kitchen (especially the phone) more and more. We finally found her swing today. Hopefully we can hang it outside on the big Norway Maple by the weekend! And, of course, I think books and playing outside are her favorite. That's it for now. One more picture below...
Savannah at 16 months on Valentine's Day. Note: The drawer with the blue bag hanging out is "Savannah's drawer". We never know what we'll find in there! Please disregard the rest of the mess!
February 17, 1998 - Left Brain vs. Right Brain, an interesting perspective. Artistic perhaps, but not without intense effort. So far, Savannah has shown little interest in drawing with crayons, pens, chalk or finger paints. This picture was taken when I let her use the 'stick' to paint, rather than her fingers. The tears went away and the smiles came out. Overall, Savannah would much rather gather all the shampoo bottles from the cupboard and line them up on the toilet seat, or play with her baby, or go outside and run around. What does this say for our little one. Left Brained or Right Brained?
February 14, 1998 - Ahh, some peace. Savannah seems to be coping more with Jacob (and parents). She has gone back to shaking her head Yes/No most of the time when we ask her questions. She also goes or points to things she wants, rather than sitting on the floor crying and kicking her feet. It's so refreshing to see her back to where she was a few weeks ago.
Savannah is loving the outdoor temperatures, where she can run and walk until the cow's come home or until mommy and daddy drag her inside. Her favorite outside activities are playing ball and playing in the dirt. I guess we should get her a sandbox put together at some point!! We hope she'll enjoy gardening too. Right now, she would rather yank the flowers of the plants though. I guess this southern NJ weather is good for something. Hugs!
February 4, 1998 - Savannah is starting to temper (no pun intended) her anger and temper tantrums. She really loves Jacob! However, her anger is more at mommy and daddy over, what else, shared time. She is still getting TONS of attention, but not necessarily mommy when she wants mommy OR daddy when she wants daddy. Her latest thing is to copy our words, almost all the time. This past weekend we also did our first fingerpainting. Alright Mommy had to do most of it to get it started. Surprisingly -- she didn't like it very much. She kept wanting me to wash her fingers off, as if it was just tooo messy for her! The upside is she is seemingly much happier in the last week or so. We will be dropping her daycare back to part-time in two weeks. I will love having her home the extra 2 days. That's it for now!!
January 24, 1998 - So everything about our wonderful daughter listed in the bottom paragraph is true, but requires an update. Savannah is having a terrible time adjusting to her new brother Jacob. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, she has regressed. She cries a lot more, and has virtually stopped talking in the first week since Jacob has been home. The last 2 days have shown a little bit of progress, but she is downright jealous. She is too young to understand or to be reasoned with, so we are trying to give her the best support possible. Other than that, she has moments when she is positive and her normal wonderful stuff. She tried hopping and skipping tonight, after our 'dance' session with Daddy and Brooke's/Dunn. So, she is having good times, just not quite like before. We hope she get's over this stuff soon! If you have any good coping mechanisms for siblings, feel free to offer your suggestions via email. Thanks!
Jan, 1998 - Savannah is our 15 month old daughter, born 9/27/96. She was a full-term baby weighing in at 9lbs 3oz (must be the . Steblein side of the family). Savannah is walking, running, babbling, and doing all the wonderful toddler things. She has just learned how to nod "yes". Communication with her has just improved 50%. Her latest past-time has been focused on nurturing her 'baby' doll, appropriately named 'baby'. She wraps baby in her special blanket, puts baby in her special bed, pushes baby in the cart, feeds baby with a bottle and pretend food, and gives baby infinite hugs and kisses. The daycare and literature suggest she has picked this up quite early. Usually, this behavior is seen in 2 or 3 year olds. We'll stop gloating now.
We don't think she understands about Jacob yet, but we'll soon see. Savannah is such an affectionate little girl. Her eyes will melt your heart. We are so proud of her. She is such an angel in our life! In fact, being a parent really makes you look at what's important in life!
