A Strong Willed Child

I have to say that I think this is what we have . . . a strong willed child. She is so determined to have her way that it drives me insane. Two of us together and it's a constant battle around here.

Take yesterday when we tried to go grocery shopping. Savannah starts reaching over the seat into the cart and throwing my groceries onto the floor. Now the first couple of times I said no and put the groceries back into the cart, but by the time we reached the check out line I had had enough! I popped her hand and sternly said "NO" to which she responded with a scream so loud that I'm sure most everyone in the store heard. At this point, I felt as if everyone was staring and waiting to see what the first time mommy was going to do. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue what to do with her, but I being strong willed myself, I wasn't about to let her have her way so as she reached over into the cart again to throw my bread onto the floor I once again popped her hand, to which she yelped out again. I just let her cry.

Thanks to one of my student's moms advice I'm going to get the book The Strong Willed Child by Dobson. This should be an interesting read.

A Day Off for Daddy

Believe it or not, Dave actually had a day off from work yesterday. It was so nice to have him home for three days in a row!! Although it was a day away from the office, we were quite busy and even made a trip to his new office to do some cleaning. At first Savannah wasn't too happy to be at daddy's work, but after putting her in front of a pile of papers that needed to be sorted, she had a blast. I just wish I had taken the camera to get a picture of her with stickers on her dress and being completely surrounded by pages and pages of documents that needed to be filed. Thankfully she didn't shred any of them before Dave had a chance to look through the pile.

We also had fun taking a trip to the neighborhood park, washing our cars, and having take out for dinner. What a great day!!

Biter Biscuits

Well, we're still teething . . . so at this point I'm trying just about anything and everything to keep this child comfortable. Yesterday I found this new food called biter biscuits made especially for teething children and thought I'd give it a try. So right as my long afternoon of tutoring was starting, I put Savannah in the high chair and gave her one to bite on. After about 10 minutes of some serious teething on this biscuit, she was covered in cookie. I mean COVERED!!! Everything from her hair, her clothes, arms, hands, and face had this sticky cookie substance on it. It was so bad I couldn't even put her on the carpet and it was hours before I was able to throw her in the tub, YUCK!

A taste of cake

This weekend we took an exciting trip to Yadkinville to see my cousin Josh get married. It was a beautiful ceremony, once we finally found the church. Afterwards I realized that I'd forgotten to pack Savannah some dinner so you guessed it, we were scrambling for what to feed the girl. Finally, I gave in and let her taste some wedding cake without the frosting. She loved it and couldn't get enough. We paid for it later as she just wouldn't go to sleep once we were home. She was full of energy and just not tired . . . or maybe it was from riding so long in the car? I can't wait to see what she does in less than a month when she gets to dig into her own cake, icing and all!! Here is a picture of Savannah with her great grandmaw.

My new trick

Lately Savannah has decided that taking a nap is on her list of things that she fights . . . but I've come up with a trick to get her to nap easier.

I put her in the crib surrounded by her favorite toys (some keys, two stuffed animals, a teething toy, her Guess How Much I Love You book, Mr. Rabbit) and of course her comfort item (any old bib) and just leave the room. She usually sits and plays for 10+ minutes, but eventually lays down and goes to sleep, NO CRYING involved!! The extra bonus is that when she wakes up there's an extra 15+ minutes of free time for mommy while she again plays with her toys.

If I put the same exact things in the crib, but put her in laying down instead of sitting she begins screaming and fighting the nap. I think she enjoys the independence of being able to decide exactly when she goes "down" for a nap. Wonder how long this will last?

Personality

I never thought that a child could have such a determined will at only 11 months old! Just lately Savannah has started really fighting certain necessary routines . . . being strapped into the car seat, having a diaper changed, being put down on the floor to play, being strapped into the jogging stroller, and now even baths. It's interesting because I think I've figured out that she just wants to be involved with EVERYTHING that is going on. She doesn't want to sit still for a bath, diaper change, or face backwards in the car. Savannah doesn't want to play with her basket of toys while mommy tutors, she wants to help tutor. She wants to be active and moving about, exploring the world around her.

Interestingly enough, when I was pregnant she barely moved in my tummy. There were several times near the end of that 9 months that I would make a frantic trip to the doctor's office uptown and be hooked up to fetal monitors just to make sure that she indeed was fine. I just knew that she would have a personality much like Dave, easy going, since she was so calm before being born. I think that I secretly hoped for a strong willed child that would never be stepped on or heavily influenced by the crowd, but I had no idea what I was wishing for!

A perfect Mother's Day gift

This was truly a special weekend for me as I celebrated my first real Mother's Day! Dave surprised me with a gift I've been wanting for awhile now . . . my very own roomba vacuum. I have to say that although I love my new roomba, the perfect Mother's Day gift was one that Savannah actually did give me . . . she finally started pulling up! I've worried about this for way too long, but I think she was just waiting to give me a special gift on my special day. She has a ways to go, but can now easily climb up three stairs!! Now that she's found this new ability to get on her knees and pull herself up, she's already into lots of new things. Crazy. Just like the reflux, overnight things seem to develop.

Once again I'm reminded how lucky I am to be able to capture each and every first that she has. Many times this weekend through cards and comments I was told that I was a good mommy, but I have to say that being a good mom is only possible with a good dad! Thanks to my wonderful husband, I have the chance to learn how to be a good mom!

Reflux update

Well, I think I can safely say that we're finally finished with the acid reflux phase. I never thought it would happen, but Savannah has actually stopped spitting up her milk and food. It's been a long road with lots of medicine and trips to the specialist, but the end has arrived. It seemed to end overnight, right after we spent another fortune on next month's medicine, but I'm not complaining . . . just very happy to be finished with that stuff. What a blessing!! Now when she is wearing a cute outfit we don't have to cover it up with a bib!! :) Wonder if we should get new carpet now or later?

Play Date

What a sweet time we had yesterday with my friend from college, Heather Schilling Overton. Savannah and I spent the morning and early afternoon playing with Aubrey and Ethan, Heather's precious children. We had lunch and played lots. It was a nice change from our usual Thursday routine . . . and of course we made some extra time for a trip to Concord Mills since we drove right past there!! We'll be praying for Heather and her family as they being the moving process to Florida. Here is a picture of the kids.

More teething

Whew, this has been a week already! WE are still dealing with extreme pain from teething. I say we because even though Savannah is the one with the pain, her reaction to the pain is causing me pain too. I've given her just about everything I can . . . orajel, motrin, tylenol, toys, etc and nothing seems to be working. I finally called the doctor this morning and they suggested hurricane gel. I ordered it from the pharmacy so we'll so how this goes. I'm praying for some relief for us both! How many teeth do children get???????

Making messes

As most of you know I am a neat freak. Although I have to say that motherhood has changed me a bit, I am still borderline obsessive compulsive about things being in order (the clean part is what I've lost with having Savannah)! Anyway, today I was rushing through one of my least favorite tasks, changing her crib sheets, and decided to put Savannah in her closet so I could keep her out of trouble for just a few minutes. I kept the door open so I could tell if she was really messing things up, but today the phone rang just as I was finishing up the task. I rushed to the phone and tried to hurry through the conversation remembering that Savannah was left unattended in her closet. When I returned, here is what I found . . .

Thankfully, I remembered to pile the baskets on top of the shoes as those are usually what she pulls out first! Although she had pulled just about every book off of the shelf, I kept calm remembering the advice of my dear friend, Elizabeth. "If she has 15 minutes of fun messing something up that that only takes you 2 minutes to clean, then it's all worth it!"

Teething

Well I think I've discovered part of Savannah's sickness . . . four new teeth coming in all at once. During one of those precious belly laughs of hers I happened to notice some white showing on her top gums. After a little further investigation, I found that all four top front teeth are coming in at once. OUCH! That definitely explains the fussiness and irritability. Part of me is so sad that I'll never again see that big grin with only two teeth showing.

I still think she had some type of virus, but today she seems to be better on the vomiting and diarrhea front. Praise the Lord. Please just pray that the teeth come in quickly and don't disrupt her sleep.

Sick baby

Well, just when I thought that the viruses were over for the season Savannah has come down with one. This is only the second time in the child's life that she has refused milk so I knew something was wrong yesterday afternoon. I guess we picked it up in the nursery at church on Sunday, again. It's been a rough, rough day. Hopefully this will be over soon . . .