Day 570 - Words about Savvy's Words

Written March 17, 2012. 


Savannah is 570 days old today (18 months and change). I know this because Savvy shares a birth date with the daughter of blogger, Chasing A Miracle, who tracks the days. Another twitter friend I've kept in contact with since we were both pregnant has written complete catalogues of her SAHM days, down to the minute, a couple times since her baby was born, like this post: Tick Tock and You Don't Stop. Such a great exercise, so I'm stealing the idea as my inspiration. My focus is on Savvy's language - I originally just wanted to keep a running list of every word/phrase she said, but thought adding the framework of what we were doing all day made more sense. She speaks a ton, loves her routines, talks about the same things everyday and her pronunciations are so adorable, I want to make it a point to remember her voice at this moment in time before she starts speaking full sentences. I hope reading this post will always bring me right back to this moment. This is a long post (read at your own risk) and represents a very laid back Friday (although getting her to nap is usually a 10 minute job, not a third-time's-a-charm fiasco - a lack of pooping this morning probably contributed to her no-nap mood. Or a sniffly nose. Always guessing.). Savvy's words are in bold/italics. 


Hi, Hiiii. Hi. Mama. Mama up.
This is how Savvy wakes me up each morning from her crib which is next to our bed. I pull her into our bed and she asks for boo (boob) - yup, still nursing at 18 months. Never in a millions years thought that would be the case! But it works for us.


Dada! Wakes up daddy. We look at the clock. It's 8:10a - late wake-up. Yay!


We all chit chat in bed and play the Nice Baby game my family used to play with me. Savvy says Yeah Baby instead of Nice Baby. We find this hilarious. Hi, hello to each of us as she goes from parent to parent. Sings her tapping on the table song from her "school" - more like dap dapdapdapdap, hitting hands on the bed.


Mama pee, she commands or simply predicts. She knows the first thing I do when I get out of bed is pee, so she likes to hurry along the process so she can play. A cheerful, loud BYE to daddy. 


She plays the Hi, Bye game in the bathroom while I pee. She opens the door HIIIIEEEE, Closes the door BYEEEEE, knock knock knock "Who is it?", Door opens HIIIIEEEEEE, repeat.


Tee (teeth) - She climbs on her stool at the sink.
Hah (hot) - she often says the water is hot even when it's not
Tee. Wah (Teeth Water) - "You want your toothbrush?" I ask knowing the answer.
Yeah - She brushes her teeth
Hine (hand) - She gives me her toothbrush and washes her hands.
Mo mo bubble (more more soap)
All done! BYE!


Bow - requests a bow for her hair. She always taps her head when she says bow. In fact, we never used sign language but she uses gestures almost every time she speaks to help me understand -- pointing, mimicking, etc.


Daddy's out of bed and he and Savvy do their secret handshake. Savvy does it to me after she and daddy do it and she counts Wah doo weee (1, 2, 3).


Off - She announces when her faux ipod stops playing music.
Mama book - we read a story


I've been in and out of the kitchen making oatmeal and coffee. Rob gets ready for work.


Ahmna - Oatmeal
Shereo - Cereal
Those are the choices - Savvy chooses Ahmna, which I make with peaches and blueberries.
She runs to her high chair and says hi chai - new word!
Nin nin nin nin nin - I know she's saying this b/c she's hungry since this means dinner so I joke "You want dinner?" "Nooooooo." Breakfast?" "Yay."
Says muk (milk) but doesn't want her sippy of milk. I give her a second sippy of juice to drink w/ her breakfast.
PBS is on in the background - Curious George - so she makes monkey sounds; says "bah" for a box she sees on tv.
Chee! - She clinks her 2 sippies together to cheers and tries to drink them both simultaneously.
Hah- Points to my hot coffee. She likes to point out everything she knows throughout the day. "Yes, my coffee is hot." I say this every time I drink coffee.


She's done with breakfast and plays independently and talks to herself when I pull her out of the high chair. Says "How bout that?" over and over. I must say that phrase often because she picked it up a while ago and says it randomly throughout the day but rarely in the right context.

Daw (draw) - She goes to her table and picks up crayons to draw. A crayon falls "Uh oh". She invites me to color with her by tapping the floor next to her where she'd like me to sit.


I pull out a few fresh sheets of construction paper - I basically describe everything I do all day long "Mommy's going to get more paper." Peepoo - she imitates the word paper for the first time. 


She wants me to draw too. "What should I draw?" "Apple...Elmo"


Savvy draws circles. I ask her what she's drawing - Bird. Elmo.

Circles are the doodle du jour

BYYYYYEEEEE DADA - Rob leaves for work at 9:05.


Beak - she said beak! New word. I ask her if she drew a beak. Yeah. It even looked like a beak - a small v. I ask if it's ok if I draw the rest of the bird. Bird teet teet teet teet (tweet).


Bop! (paint) - She's been saying Bop for paint ever since we went to her first art class at 74th St Magic where they taught her to pat the paper with the brush and she said "bop bop bop bop" as she patted. "You want to paint?" I ask even though she's pointing to the paints and trying to grab the painting paper. "Okay. I'll get the paint. Put your crayons back in the box and I'll get the paint ready." She puts all the crayons in the box except for 2 she couldn't jam in, Uh oh!, while I got the paints, brushes and wet washcloth for messes and taped the paper down to the table. She also helped by getting her smock, but I decided to take off her jammies and have her paint in her diaper since it was warm in our apartment.


Sings the tap tap tap song while she's painting. 


Robot. Sees robots on TV. I turn off the TV.


She paints for maybe 3-4 minutes. Picks up wash cloth. "Baby". She goes off and washes her baby doll with the wet cloth and plays her piano while I keep painting to use up the paint I already squirted out and have a moment of zen.

Savvy's half of the paper - painted with brushes and cotton swabs

I bring out grape tomatoes and orange (onya) wedges for a snack. "What color are these tomatoes?", I asked thinking she wouldn't get it right since I'm not convinced she actually knows her colors or just says colors at random when asked. "Red". Ok then. I also made a mental note to stop quizzing her today so I don't artificially inflate her day's language. I try not to quiz her in general but it's hard not to sometimes.


Yuck. Tomato fell on floor. Throw it in the garbage.


Starts saying Nonna (which means Nonna and/or any grandparent), Dada, Noonoo (for her Uncle Richard who we dubbed Uncle Noodles in Florida since they bonded over a shared love of chinese noodles). I call this the "Who do you love" game. "Nonna." "Who else do you love?" "Dada." "You love Dada." Who else do you love?" "Nonna." It goes in circles, haha.


I hang her painting to dry. The empty table has her asking for more crafty things. Ahh. Arc. "Art, you want to make art?" "Ark" she says pointing to the art box stored out of her reach. But she didn't want her crayons when I pulled them out. Eventually after a failed attempt to get her interested in pipe cleaners. "Ohhhh, you want your markers?", I ask realizing ark is markers. "Yay." Make mental note to set up a craft area at an accessible height so she can get her own supplies.


More coloring. I note the time: 9:45am. Full morning so far. Feels later.


We go into the bedroom. I do a diaper change, have her blow her nose since she has a bit of the sniffles and then get out the trusty aspirator. She doesn't want me to suck out her boogers with the aspirator so I tell her "Just one more." After the last nose suckie she declares "NO MAW" (no more). Right-o.


Wants boo. Mo boo. Ok fine. I want an excuse to sit down.


I drink luke warm coffee while we snuggle. She calls it juice. These are some fantastic snuggles. My hair was still super messy from sleeping and she noticed, pushing my hair out of my eyes, saying uh oh. Says "cheek" as she takes my hand and puts it on her cheek then transfers my hand to my cheek, back and forth. She plays with my lips so they make that funny smacking sound, she puts her hands around my neck and plays with my hair.


We're back up a few mins later. 
Loon (balloon? this is new.) - She points to our hot air balloon wall decals. She likes to be lifted up so she can touch them. 
Duck - says duck for no reason...???
Up - wants to touch more balloon decals


I say "Let's get you dressed so you're not cold." 
Brrrrrrr


I get her leggings on. She walks away.


Mo mo meow - touches cat decal
Tchee - touches tree decals


I go to the bathroom - more Hi, Bye, knocking game. She plays with her magnets and hands them to me. Also, lots of ooh ooh ahh ahh monkey sounds.

Ooh ooh - monkey sound face

She sees the washcloth from our painting time hanging to dry. 
Mama wah (wash)
Baby
You want to wash your baby?
Yeah.
You already washed your baby.


I go back in the bedroom to get dressed and put a shirt on Savvy. I get the Victoria's Secret shopping bag from yesterday where I bought a much needed new bra in the right size. Yay for bra fittings! And after I told Savvy what I was doing - getting the new bra - she mimicked me over and over - New bah, new bah, new bah. She also took the new panties out of the bag and put them on herself over her pants, walked around the room, then turned them into a head band, while I chose my outfit. She cracks me up.

Nothing like a small child to make average size panties look gigantic

Time for makeup. Savvy runs to the closet to open it up so I can reach my makeup bag. She calls makeup "mah".


I hand her the bag - this is seriously her favorite part of each day. She pulls out my concealer - eye - she says while pointing to her own eye and handing me the concealer. "Yes. I put this under my eyes." She plays with a L'Occitane hand lotion sample and wants to put it on her hine (hand), so I open the cap for her. (She doesn't squeeze out lotion so I can give it to her opened without worrying about making a mess.) She taps the top of the cream and pretends to tap it onto her lips and feet and toe, while I put on mascara and blush.


She notices that the tube is flimsy and decides to try to roll it. Yes, she says roll it, which she got from me rolling up salami and turkey cold cuts for her. I narrate and repeat everything ad nauseum. Guess it pays off?


She decides to pretend to go out. She picks up her baby, the empty VS shopping bag, says Bye bye to me 100 times, leaves the room, comes back, gives me a kiss, leaves the room, comes back, kisses her reflection in the mirror, buh bye!!!!


10:40. I'm dressed. We're nearly ready to go out. We head to the shoe mat by our front door.


Mama shoe, she says pointing to my red shoes. Boo, she says pointing to my boots and her boots. Socks are yock. We go into the hallway. Butt = elevator button. Ella = elevator. We're out of the building at 10:45.


Wa wa (walk) Savvy likes to say while she walks. We're headed towards the playground on foot. I didn't check the weather report. It's misting. I announce "it's raining". Savvy gestures like she's holding an umbrella and says "mmma" which also means umbrella in her language. Only Rob and I would know this. (Mmmma is pretty versatile - makeup, umbrella, banana...) I didn't bring an umbrella, so I put her hood up. She pats her head and says "hat". She knows where we're heading and starts saying weeeng weeeng nit. Weeng means swing. And nit is one of those filler words she uses constantly. We think it might mean want. It was one of her first concrete utterances that she would use when pointing to something at 10 months old. Nit. Nit. Nit. Nit. (We call her nitto sometimes because the nit was constant for months!!! Ahh!) I always thought it meant "that", but "want" makes sense too.

Wa wa wa - walk walk walk

I buy a buttered roll from the coffee cart outside the park. It's raining now, not just drizzling. Savvy says Hi and Bye to the cart guy and gives him tons of smiles. She announces wah when I pull out my wallet. 


Ree (rain). Too rainy for the park. We're wet. Back home we go. Back at our building, she greets the doorman, super and delivery guy and yells a farewell to them when we're back in the elevator. Home by 11am.


Savvy is hungry again. I guess she wants lunch. A little early but she seems tired so I want to feed her something substantial. Buttered roll, turkey, cheese. I eat half a buttered roll and make myself a turkey/cheese wrap. This is my breakfast/lunch.

Deconstructed sandwich added to her smorgasbord

Bleh (bed) blb blb lblb lblb (bed bed bed) - Is Savvy asking for a nap already at 11:20? Her eyes are tired and glassy. We go into the bedroom. She takes off her bow saying "bye bye bow". Bye bye Doe-a-dee (Dorothy). (Is Elmo's fish her imaginary friend, I wonder. I recall that my own imaginary friend as a preschooler was named dee-dee. Humorously similar to do-a-dee.)


More nursing. She hums Twinkle twinkle. Shoosh schitch choosh (switch, as in switch sides).


She's wide awake. False nap alarm. Ugh. She farts a few times. Prob needs to poop. I decide to try for a nap after she's done pooping.


I make more coffee - note the time - 11:35. Savvy plays in the bedroom while I heat up water for another cup of Starbucks Via. She starts whining at the baby gate. "uh oh pee". Did you pee? No. I give her some sips of water from a water bottle to keep her happy while I put lunch stuff away, straighten up, chug some water & sip fresh coffee. She wants me out of the kitchen. She yells MAMAAAA in a way that would rival Marlon Brando's STELLLAAAAA. Oy.

She's in a mood (lucky for me her bad moods are mild!) so I let her watch one Elmo's World on Sesame Street. I write email to my aunt who gave me an update on my grandpa's health and check Facebook.


She then whines for more Elmo, more Noonoo (more Mr. Noodle). Sorry kiddo. No Elmo.


We go to the bedroom in anticipation of nap time part deux despite lack of pooping. I sit on the floor and pull out a fresh diaper. Sav leaves and goes into the bathroom. I think she might be pooping in private. I lie on the floor enjoying a brief rest because I don't like to interrupt her when she's pooping. But no poop. She returns promptly with my hair brush. I'm already lying down so I let her climb and flop all over me and brush my hair. She announces Bye bye bruh as she puts the brush back in the bathroom.

Making mommy's hair soft and smooth

She LOOKS tired, but no nap!

12:35 eyes close
12:37 - eyes open - Dada Nonna
GO TO SLEEEEEEP I SCREAM IN MY HEAD. Decide next kid will CIO from 4mo and get formula.

Cranky meowbie. Must not have used enough physical energy to necessitate a nap at a decent time. We usually spend an hour or more in playground each morning.

She wants to brush her teeth again. I give her her toothbrush and she carries it around the apartment. I wash dishes and she plays with our shoes, brushes her teeth some more, babbles to Dorothy. 


At 1pm I put her in her stroller and we go out for a walk. I get on a conference call with Rob and our tax guy while we walk to Planet Kids to buy a birthday gift for her friend's 1st birthday. 


Toe-eez (toys) - her robotic pronunciation of toys is especially cute to me and Rob's ears. 


Toys. Dada. 
"You think of daddy when you think of toys? Me too!" I joke.
"Me too, me too, me too, me too." She copies.


We're already out, so we pop into H&M. Sav finally falls asleep. I meander through the store and try on a bunch of things. I buy a spring outfit for her and for me. Then I pop into Little Brown Chocolate Company for my favorite drink ever - a Dark Chocolate Chai Latte. It's not on their menu but an employee recommended it once and it's amaaaaaaazing. Savvy wakes up at some point on the way home but stays lying down in a trance-like state. 

Stroller nap day. City kids can sleep through anything!

We're home at 2:50. She wants mama snuggles and cries when I take her out of her stroller and immediately go to the bathroom to pee. First tears of the day. We have some post-nap wumbly snuggle time and sing some songs. She wants dada. Today is more clingy than usual. I check email and make plans for a play date while she lays on me, eyes closed, playing with her hair for a couple minutes.

Toys! 3:10 - time to go to playground with sand toys.  3:17- we actually leave. In the hallway Savvy says baby, pointing at neighbors door. "You remember baby Noah? He moved to NJ."

At the playground, the first stop is the swings. A nanny and boy we had Gymboree class with were next to us. I chatted with the nanny while Savvy pointed out pigeons. Then our friends Adele and Jack arrive. Savvy calls him a baby and tries to say Jack. Then she pretty much stopped talking! She doesn't say much to me in front of other people except for boisterous hellos and goodbyes.


We spent 2 hours with Adele and Jack which was great - I needed the adult interaction. Adele and I have very similar experiences and parenting philosophies so it's always nice to catch up with her, compare notes and talk about our transition from our old lives to our new lives. It's also always so cool to see how different our kids are when they're one on one. Savannah is content to do her own thing and watch people interacting with each other. In the sandbox, she spends equal time playing with sand as she does observing other people and listening to the moms' conversations. Jack is younger than Savvy but was an early walker so he's an uber toddler even though his first birthday is a couple weeks away - and has so many cool qualities that I attribute to his boy-ness -- explores other children's toys with little or no hesitation, doesn't play with one thing for long, obsessed with chasing balls, great throwing arm... Savvy is so dainty in comparison. She often prefers to hold my hand when climbing stairs or out of the sand box even though she can do it on her own. She is as content to sit and watch as she is to play. She wipes her hands clean as soon as they're covered in sand. I didn't take notes during this time, but in the 2+ hrs at the playground we went from the swings to the sand pit, to the jungle gyms and back to the sand box. Busy busy.


Savvy must've worked up an appetite. On the way home, when we passed the pizza place, she yelled "Pee! Yeahhhh PEE!" I ignored her request. Planned on leftover homemade chicken soup tonight.


We were home by 5:10, took off shoes and headed to the bathroom. We washed our hines (hands). BYE BYE BUBBLE (as the last soap bubbles went down the drain). Still standing on the stool, Savvy pointed to Rob's contact lens case. Dada eye. I was confused for a second. Then, "Yes. Daddy puts his contacts in his eyes." She never pointed that out before.


Soup was heated up by 5:25. I portioned out Savvy's on a plate without much liquid in case she preferred eating with her hands instead of a utensil. I separated the chicken, rice, carrots and celery into little piles so we could talk about what she was eating. Savvy says blib as she chooses her bib. Too hah (too hot) about the soup's temperature. Takes a bite of chicken, says "All done" and hands the remainder to me. She does this with several pieces. She likes to share her food with me even if I have my own. Always has. Says "minna minna buck" over and over, looking at me like I should know what she's saying. No clue.


I finish my soup. She continues to eat for another 15-20 minutes. Asks for Elmo. I concede and put on an Episode of Sesame Street, skipping to Elmo's World. Wants noonoo (Mr. Noodle). When he appears on the screen she yells "Yay, that!" This episode is about drawing. When the children show off their artwork she says "Ahht". I clean the living room while S finishes din and watches TV. Feel a twinge of guilt that we lack regular large family meals. It's hard for me to keep the conversation going when it's just the two of us. When it's more than just the two of us she can sit at the table eating for an hour or so without getting bored, but Rob's not home for dinner 4 nights a week.


Starts asking for Hop Op Pa (Hop on Pop, a Dr. Seuss book). I can't find the book on the shelf, so I grab Good Night Dog. Then she's done with dinner at 6. Mo mo book. I look for Hop on Pop again but can't find it and recite it from memory instead. We look at more books, play with her music table. I notice a text from Rob that he's coming home after work instead of seeing friends. Yay. Daddy's coming home soon.


I take videos of some of our playing because I was getting lazy about taking notes of our interactions. Savvy finds the package of silly putty that my friend Melissa sent her. Ope (open). I open it up and roll it into a ball. She loves its funny bounces and chases it all over the apartment until she's out of breath. We take turns throwing and chasing the putty. 


I notice the quiet and decide to keep the energy up with some dance music. We have a dance party to Goldfrapp followed by merengue courtesy of Pandora radio, and I set up the computer to record it on video.  Lots of fun!!! After 10 mins, Savvy lies down on the floor to relax, I scratch her back. We read books, look for Hop On Pop again, and Savvy plays with cars and babbles an entire unintelligible conversation to herself. 

She gestures to the computer where I had the Photobooth program open. I forget exactly how she clued me into what she wanted to do (a mix of hand motions, standing at the computer, etc), but eventually I figured it out: "You want to make a video of us singing 'Wheels on the Bus'?" "Yeah!" The first time she ever knowingly performed for the camera! She's officially a ham. Here's a snippet:







Daddy gets home at 6:50 at the tail end of our 5 min 'Wheels on the Bus' videoing action--first time she didn't run and greet him at the door! Too excited by the video I guess. Savvy shows daddy the computer. Then Savvy follows Rob into the bedroom while he gets changed out of his work clothes. Tickle time and daddy hugs for Savvy.  I retreat for a minute. Rob calls to me "She just said 'How bout that ball'. Write that down!" in reference to the silly putty ball that Savvy has since shown daddy. Hard to believe she said that, but I'm including it. Silly putty ball = win. Lots more giggly time with daddy, playing with his nose and playing catch. I join in for more ball playing. We eat Snap Pea Crisps and tell Savvy it's time to shower. She protests. I take my shower. Rob brings her into the bathroom and they play until I'm ready for Savvy. I bring her in with me and quickly scrub her and pass her back to Rob. He brushes her teeth, we dry off, see if she wants to pee on the potty (nope), then Rob brings her to the bedroom for lotion and jammies. They talk about animals while he's doing all this, I hear from the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, living room as I do a million random things to get myself settled. I hear Savvy make the sounds when Rob requests cat, car, tiger, monkey, dog, duck...


We all come into the living room. Rob and I collapse in a tired heap on the couch. Savvy performs the hand motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider in the center of the room.

I leave the room to do...something...I don't remember what. Maybe put the day's clothes in the laundry basket. I hear Savvy ask for Ree (Grandma Raine in Florida) on the computer. She wants to Skype. Daddy says Grandma is sleeping. 


Savvy and I put her books back on the shelf to clean up her toy area.


We say our goodnights and give kisses to daddy. 

Pause for a cheeeeeesy family photo

Lights out at 8pm. I sing Savvy the "It's Time for Bed" song I made up at some point during her newborn weeks, then I softly list the names of the people that we love and the people that love Savvy. "Daddy loves you. Mommy loves you. Grandpa loves you. Grandma loves you. Nonna loves you. Your friends love you. etc etc etc" Savvy is snoring by 8:15.

I heat up soup for Rob and pop open a bottle of wine. I forget to pour a glass until a half hour later. I upload photos and videos from today. Talk to Rob. Watch the videos, trim them. Look over the notes. Write this post. Blargh. Exhausted but happy I did this. It's already the next day - 12:26am to be exact. Day 571 of this parenting gig.