Susannah update: Almost 17 months

I haven't written an update on Susannah lately, so I thought I would take this opportunity to list some of her recent developments and antics.  

1.   She is eating almost everything with her own utensils now.   After two weeks of practice, I would say she gets about 80% of the food into her mouth.   She is VERY independent and doesn't want my help at all.   Except sometimes when she gets to the bottom of her yogurt and then she wants Mommy to dig for the last couple of hard-to-reach bites.

2.   She is starting to be very type A......(Where in the world does she get that from?)   She loves to clean up and organize.  She has certain books that go on certain shelves and she can entertain herself with a napkin or paper towel for 20 minutes.....just wiping things.   She also loves to put her dirty clothes in the hamper and her shoes in the shoe drawer.  

3.   She knows all the animals in her Noah's ark toy and can identify several of the objects in her books.  (ie.  Where is the red balloon?)   She can also successfully do her shape sorter and her first puzzle.  

4.  She loves to be chased and will run when I say, "Let's go get dressed" just so I will chase her.  

5.   She loves to be tickled and to jump on our bed.  

6.   She loves to swing and go down the slide.....the higher the better on both.

7.    The petting zoo goats are still her favorite part of the zoo.   This week when we were there, she would pet one goat and then wave bye-bye to it, then go pet another and wave bye bye to it and so on.   So funny

8.   She is learning the hand motions to "itsy, bitsy, spider" and loves to practice.

9.    Her current favorite books are  "Good Night Moon" "The Night You Were Born" and "There is a Wocket in my Pocket."   Just recently, she has become more picky and if she doesn't like the book I pick out for her, she swats at it and tries to close it.  

10.   She is very loving and gives me so many hugs and kisses throughout the day.   She gives a fair share of both to Meadow too.

11.   She is wearing 18 month clothes and just moved up to size 4 diapers.

12.   Her favorite food is still cheese, hands down.   She eats oatmeal, yogurt and fruit for breakfast.   A granola bar, string cheese, some kind of fruit, and spinach baby food for lunch.   And sphaghettios or a sweet potato for dinner, usually accompanied by some kind of fruit.   Her favorite snack right now is raisins.  

13.   She still doesn't have many words beyond Mama and Dada, but she talks ALL the time.   So I guess I shouldn't say she doesn't have words......She doesn't have words that I understand.

14.   She officially has her own "big girl potty" in the bathroom.   As you will see in the pictures, she isn't quite sure about it yet.   Planning to start the actual training in July.

15.   She is a great sleeper.  She usually sleeps from 7-7 at night and then takes a 2 hour nap between 1 and 3 every afternoon.   She loves bath time and bedtime.   Our routine is:  Bath, Pj's, rock and read a story or two, sing a song, and then into the crib she goes.   As long as she has glow baby, dodo, and her blanket, she is good to go.  

  Here are some pictures of the past few weeks:

Where is Susannah?

There she is!

Riding the tractor at the park.

Being glamorous at the park. 

Meadow loves to go with us on walks.   She is so well behaved at the park by our house, but gets to excited at the bigger Spreckles Park. 

Learning to use our spoon.

"Can you clean my fingers please Mommy?"

Smiling because Mommy has been chasing her around the back yard.

A fearless climber at the playground.

Going down the slide like a big girl.

Meadow Kisses

Learning her colors.

Such a happy toddler.   (At least most of the time.)

I think she looks so cute in her cuffed jeans and crocs.

"I love swinging!"

Mommy finally caved and let me start watching Elmo sometimes. 

The Goat Whisperer

Potty Training, Day 1

"Mommy, you have your work cut out for you."

"Okay, maybe this won't be so bad after all."

Running in the backyard.

"Chase me some more Mommy!"

This is blurry, but I had to include it because if I forget to close the door to the porch, this entire bookshelf is cleared in minutes.   She never tears the pages, but she loooves to look at Mommy and Daddy's books. 

I sing "You are my Sunshine" to her often and it is true......  She is my sunshine.  The past few months have been such wonderful mommy-daughter bonding time and I am so grateful for this sweet sweet face.  


 

  Hope all of you are having good weekends!   We miss and love you all.

Easter 2012

This year was the first year that Susannah was old enough to participate in all of the Easter fun, so I decided to make sure we had a big day by throwing a little egg hunt/potluck in our backyard.   It was a great afternoon full of friends and food.   Here are some of the day's highlights.....

These first few pics are a little blurry, but I decided to post them anyway because Susannah looked so sweet in her dress.

Looking at the flowers.

Squinting in the bright morning sun.

Going in for a kiss for her best friend, Meadow.

And another kiss......

LOVE this picture of my two girls.

Susannah's Grammy bought her Easter dress......I think it is the sweetest dress.  

Susannah liked it too.

But she wanted to add a little bling so for the egg hunt she busted out some cool accessories.

Her best friend Leyton brought her Easter bunny to share.

We enjoyed so much good food.....Honeybaked Ham, potato casserole, deviled and dyed eggs, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, salad, sandwhiches.......it was quite the spread.

And we had so many desserts, they needed their own table.

The peanut butter cake balls and the bunny feet cupcakes were the favorites.

My friend Brittany made these adorable Bunny Tail treats to go in the kids' goodie bags.

The Easter egg hunt was a big hit......we had 7 kids and they had a great time.

Susannah wasn't completely sure of what she was supposed to do.....

Leyton was an egg hunting pro though.

And these guys were really on top of their game.

Susannah wanted to take the eggs out of her basket.

And inspect each one.

"Oh look, this one is blue!"

"Now what do I do with it again Mommy?   Put it in the basket?"

Susannah let Leyton wear her cool sunglasses for the hunt.

After multiple attempts, this was the best pic of the four best friends......Maybe one day we can all look at the camera at the same time.

Thanks sweet Susannah for giving your Mommy such fun Easter memories.   I love you!

Hope all of you had an equally fun Easter.   Stay tuned for the next post.......It will include lots of messy pictures of our newest adventure into the world of feeding ourselves with our own utensils.  

Tennessee!!

After our time in Georgia, we were very excited to make the 4 hour drive north (Thank you Poppy for driving us and being so gracious about Susannah's less than enthusiastic travel mood.)  to see our Tennessee family.   It was a wonderful week filled with lots of family time, friend time, food, and even a half marathon.   Here are some of the highlights:

 Grammy and Susannah were so excited to be reunited! 

Grandmama and Jim bought Susannah this super cool Minnie Mouse bike.  She loved the horn.

Susannah especially enjoyed eating some of Grandmama's famous sphaghetti.

Grammy bought her some new toys too......this singing push toy she really loved.

We also were able to spend the day with my childhood best friend and her adorable daughter at their new house.   This is Ellie.  She was so sweet to share her toys (and her super cool hat) with Susannah.

Ellie showed Susannah how to color on her coloring table.

And Susannah loved lounging in Ellie's pretty chair.

And running down the hill in the backyard was super fun.....especially for this toddler who is accustomed to life at sea level.

We went for a walk around the neighborhood.  

And the girls wanted to stop to check out some of the neighbor's mulch.    Such special memories that I'm so thankful to share with my oldest friend.

Susannah had lots of playground time, including at these swings behind Grammy's subdivision.

My other childhood friend, Amy brought her daughter Scarlett over to Mom's for a little afternoon playdate.  

Having all six of us together for the afternoon was so so fun.

Susannah loved her morning walks/playground time with her Grammy.

They explored all around.....

And found some flowers to pick.

We ended the trip with a really special memory......I ran the Knoxville Half Marathon with my cousin Caleb.   It was his first half and he did an amazing job!

Lyndsey, Nick, and Ellie were my cheering section at the finish line.

Ellie's hug was a great post-race treat.

But my hug from this sweet face was my biggest reward.   She loves to wear my medal as a necklace.

Aunt Susan loves to give Susannah presents and this time she really outdid herself......

Susannah got this purple ball

And these awesome sunglasses.

And this very glamorous tutu bathing suit!  "Thanks Aunt Susan!  Next time Mommy will be sure to get a picture of both of us with all my presents!"

Susannah loves her Grammy.

Bedtime stories.....

It was hard to say goodbye, but we are already looking forward to our next visit.

Grandmama and Jim drove us part of the way back to Georgia.   While we waited on Poppy to arrive, Susannah seized her opportunity to rest on the front porch of Cracker Barrel.

This is how we felt about leaving our family after such an amazing 2 week visit.  

But we know that we will be going home again soon and, of course, everybody is always welcome over here on the west coast!   Thanks again to everybody who made our visit so wonderful.   We are so blessed by each of you.  

Next post:  Easter Eggstravaganza 2012!!!!!