Growing Up!

I've been a bit of a blog slacker this past month, but it hasn't been because I've had nothing to report! I was thinking this morning about how grown-up Savannah is becoming and all of the new things that she's into, so I decided I better document it all before I start forgetting all the little details!

#1 - Understanding and Following Directions
I've been kind of surprised to discover lately just how much Savannah understands. If you say "Get your bear and bring it over here to Mommy" or "Put your baby dolly in the shopping cart" she will do it, no problem. She's been following a few simple commands like "Put your paci in your bed" or "Lay down" for awhile now, but it seems she understands more than we've been giving her credit for. This morning I said to her, "Mommy really needs to exercise" and she ran over to the treadmill and pointed at it! Then she wouldn't give up on the idea, so I actually had to lace up my sneakers and work out! She's a good little motivator. ;-)

#2 - Adding new words to her vocab
When Savannh first started talking, I was very careful to document each new word. Now I've kind of lost track. But some of the new words she has been using are: Help (I taught her this because she kept dragging me all around to help her with various toys. Now I hear it all day long! It sounds kind of like "hup" though),  Papa, Play (sounds like pay), Mouth (she leaves off the -th), Yes (sounds like sssthsss), Nose (sounds like no), Head (she leaves off the d), Belly (sounds like be-y), Night Night (Nigh nigh), and More (Mo) and her all time favorite, BABY! Oh, and just this week we added pear, apple (app) and push (puuuuu!!). I can't think of any others right now! She is also at the stage where she will imitate nearly any word that you say. Her daddy enjoys getting her to say "Aw, man!" and I think it's cute when she says, "Happy!"

#3 Improving her fine motor skills
Savannah has been great with her gross motor skills for awhile now, but lately she is getting interested in sitting and playing with her ring stacker, shape sorters, and puzzles. Yesterday she actually managed to do the ring stacker in the proper size order - yay!

#4 Gaining Independence
For a little while now she has been doing great with getting dropped off at church and MOPS, which is good, because we do this at least twice each week and three times every other week. Sometimes she makes a bit of a sad face, but usually she seems happy to play with her friends and the new toys. I am also encouraging her independence by having her walk alongside me holding my hand in some (not crowded) public spaces (usually church on a week day) and climbing up our staircase at home. I mostly do these things because she is breaking my back! (Although, her weight gain seems to have slowed waaaaaay down.)

#5 Making Animal Noises
She's got lion down, and she's starting to do monkey sounds and cow sounds. Although, when I tell her cow says Mooo, she kind of makes this noise that's like an elephant trumpeting, so I'm not sure what's up with that! When the weather warms up the zoo should be super fun for her this year.

#6 Going Down to One Nap a Day
I was pretty nervous about this, but knew it was coming. She was taking great morning naps, but her afternoon nap kept moving later and later and getting shorter and shorter. Bedtime was also getting later. (Although, it seems since about 13 months she FINALLY sleeps through the night until 6 or at least 5:30 every morning. Praise the Lord!!) Then she stopped being able to sleep at all in the afternoon. I decided to go with a one nap a day schedule just about a week ago. We are still transitioning, but today she did great at making it until 12 to sleep without any tantrums this morning. Also, over the weekend she started sleeping longer for that one nap (for the first few days she would only sleep one hour!). We've moved bedtime up temporarily to help compensate for less sleep during the day. Hopefully we will get a predictable routine that we can stick with soon!

#7 Giving Kisses
If you tell Savannah to give kisses she will go "Mmmmm-uah!!" Sometimes she does this while putting her face right up to yours and somtimes she blows you a kiss with her hand. Too cute!




Such a big girl, giving Mommy the stink face because I told her to get down!
(She was climbing up this book case right before I took the picture!!)

 Those are the important things I can think of right now! We've basically been trying to keep busy and occupy ourselves during this dreary and cold wintertime. I loathe winter and CAN NOT WAIT for spring, so let's hope it comes early this year!