July 23rd

Dear Maya,
You amaze me everyday. YOu are so self-motivated to achieve. I hope that this never holds you back if you hold expectations too high as I tend to do! You have been potty training yourself since you turned two. I have given you independence, time, choice, and space. Sometimes you choose diapers, sometimes underwear. This week you have wanted to wear underwear everyday and no accidents. Dora is your character of choice these days. I think you would wear your Dora underwear and Dora pajamas all day everyday if you could. You picked out shorts to wear this morning and I suggested you go back down to get the green shirt with yellow and white flower and up you came with that shirt. You have dressed yourself for quite sometime, but I was so impressed when you came down to show me you zipped and snapped the shorts all by yourself! Today in the pool I was again amazed. You fell underwater and you didn't freak out, you were a little nervous but you came back up on your own and you didn't swallow any water in the process. Daddy started to teach you to put your face in the waater and some safety tips and you are already on your way. You put your whole face in the water and the look of pride you have when you do it fills me with Joy.

Love,
mommy

Dear Savannah,
You are pulling yourself up and standing for quite sometime. You are crawling so fast. I think I might be in trouble. I might have to take child proofing to a whole new level!

Food and Words!

Dear Savannah,
You are loving food! You of course, like your big sister, prefer feeding yourself than being fed pureed food. You love sucking food out of your mesh feeder and feeding yourself finger food like peas, pears, and puffs. You continue to have a cute growl and we call you tiger sometimes. You growl when you are happy and when you don't want something to be taken away. Crawling is official as of last week. You were moving around a lot, but now you have put all the coordination together for the crawl in time for July 4th! You seem to be saying "hi" in response to others. This has been happening for a couple months now, but now I am more convinced. Your babbling is so fun to listen to - you seem to be carrying on little conversations. Definitely have the /g/ and /d/ plus a vowel combination. You had your 9 month check-up yesterday and are just fantastic! You measure 27 inches long and weigh 21 pounds, 2 ounces with a head circumference of 44 centimeters. The doctor was pleased with how strong you are and how well you can support your weight on your feet....which also reminds me that you really love to pull yourself up and hold on standing up.

Love,
Mommy

Dear Maya,
You are not really a "why" kid (yet anyways), but you have always been curious and have asked questions for as long as I can remember. Your most recent is asking what words mean. Just today you asked, "Mommy what does splendid mean?" Of course, you disagreed with my answer and said that splendid means trouble. This is all related to the song about the Captain Brown song. I love listening to your sentences and vocabulary. When we went to Davis Farmland today you saw a sign with pirates on it and said, "Mommy, look a skull." Really..you know what a skull is? You are creative and continue to make up stories and songs. As always that smile melts my heart. You held a kitten today at the Farm and you were so instinctive and gentle with her. You also loved putting hair clips into the mane of a miniature horse! Oh and your love of motorcycles continues.
Love,
Mommy