How is it possible that our sweet Savannah girl is FOUR?! She is growing up too fast…I wish time would slow down. We love our little girl so much!
Savannah is currently weighing 36.2 lbs (75th percentile) and is 40.5 inches tall (75th percentile). She wasn’t standing up perfectly straight when the nurse measured her last week, so I think she may be even taller than the official stats. Regardless, she is definitely tall for her age. A lot of the shorts that Brooklyn wore when she was four are considerably shorter on Savannah right now, and I don’t think it’s because they’ve shrunk in the wash ;) Savannah is mostly wearing 4T sized clothes right now, although I’m pretty sure she could wear 5T too if I pulled it out of the attic. She is wearing size 9 or 10 shoes depending on the brand. Savannah prefers t-shirts and comfy clothes over dressing up and will often complain if her shirt has a tag or is itchy. She is pretty good at getting dressed by herself and putting on her socks and shoes by herself (when she wants to), although she still needs help with some things.
Savannah is a pretty picky eater these days, unfortunately. I try really hard not to cater to what she likes because I don’t want to make things worse. It’s honestly hard to pinpoint exactly what she does and doesn’t like…it is often different from one day to the next. She likes almost all kinds of fruit except pineapple (she says it burns her lips). For breakfast she will usually eat a bowl of cereal and some fruit. Up until a couple of weeks ago, she was eating a PB&J sandwich EVERY single day for lunch, but she is now on a grilled cheese kick. She definitely doesn’t mind eating the same sandwich for days in a row :) She also likes chips, pretzels, goldfish crackers, animal crackers, popcorn, and trail mix. Supper is usually hit or miss. I never know what she’ll eat or not, but we give her the same things everyone else is eating and sometimes she just chooses not to eat very much. She is not doing well with vegetables at all. I can’t really think of any that she will consistently eat. I usually make her try at least one bite of them anyway ;) She is a pretty good meat eater and is much more likely to eat meat than veggies. She loves desserts of almost any variety. I’m afraid she’s got my sweet tooth, but that’s not too surprising. I’m hoping that as she gets older she will get less and less picky. We’ll see!
Savannah is a very good sleeper, at least at nighttime. She generally goes to bed around 8 PM and wakes up between 6:30 AM and 7 AM most mornings. The unfortunate thing about being on the school schedule with Brooklyn is that EVERYONE wakes up early now, even Savannah and Abigail who could sleep later. Savannah used to sleep late (as late as 8 or 8:30 AM), but I can’t remember the last time that happened. So sad! She sleeps with lots of stuffed animals and her pink blanket each night. She frequently talks about shadows and monsters, and I think she’s going through a stage where she’s a little afraid of the dark. Naptime has also been affected by Brooklyn’s school schedule. We have to leave the house around 2:20 PM to pick up Brooklyn from school, which doesn’t leave much time for Savannah to fall asleep for a nap. I typically have her lay down around 1 PM, but she rarely ever falls asleep anymore. She usually just reads books and plays in her bed until we leave to go get Brooklyn. She will sometimes fall asleep in the car or on a Saturday afternoon, but that’s about it in terms of napping. I can tell she gets irritable and cranky in the evenings, but I can’t force her to fall asleep during naps, so we just muddle through :)
Savannah is practically famous for her scowl these days. If you’ve met her in person, you know what I’m talking about. “If looks could kill” is a good way to describe it ;) I’m sure people that don’t know her very well think she is just mad at the world! The Pookie scowl definitely comes out when she’s angry or upset, but it also comes out when she’s feeling shy or uncomfortable around people she doesn’t know very well. I’m not even sure she realizes the face she is making, but we get comments about it all the time. We joke that she is going to scare away all of her potential suitors one day, so maybe Daddy won’t even have to chase them off!
Behind the angry scowl though is an extremely sweet and caring little girl. You just have to break through the wall that she puts up. Savannah is VERY motherly these days. She loves her stuffed animals and dolls and is always carrying at least one around with her. She pretends to feed them part of her lunch (they always “eat” the bite before she does) and she holds them up where they can see the TV while she is watching a show. She doesn’t really have a favorite stuffed animal; she will get attached to one for a few days and then move on to another one the next week. Savannah is VERY quick to share toys with her sisters and her friends. I won’t say she always shares with a smile, but more often than not, she willingly gives her toys to Abigail or Brooklyn for them to play with. Savannah honestly shares better than Brooklyn does most of the time. She is always giving Abigail one of her toys or stuffed animals to hold in the car. Anytime Abigail cries or gets hurt, Savannah will run to get her a pacifier or an ice pack from the freezer. She even let Brooklyn sleep with two of the stuffed animals that she got for her birthday on the first night she got them and only kept one for herself to sleep with. Maybe it has something to do with being the middle child, but she just seems to naturally have a generous and caring spirit. I hope that never changes because it warms my heart so much!
I am starting to see some of my personality coming out in Savannah in that she frequently expresses a lot of worry and fear. She is already nervous about going to kindergarten and talks about how she’s not sure she’ll know what to do. She talks a lot about how she’s afraid to be a grownup one day. She’s afraid to go to college. She told me one time that she was afraid to drive a car because she “didn’t know where it would take her.” It reminds me a lot of myself when I was little. I used to have legitimate fears about our house falling down and my parents being killed. I can still remember some of the nightmares I had as a child about scary things happening to my family. Even today, I would say being a worrier is one of my biggest flaws. Some of that worry and fear may be naturally ingrained in Savannah, but hopefully we can help her work through it as she grows.
Savannah has really come out of her shell in a lot of ways over the last year. She is still pretty reserved around people she doesn’t know very well, but she is definitely getting more confidence to go off and play instead of sticking right beside me. She will talk to adults that she knows and “big kids” after church services and is doing better at speaking up when adults ask her a question. I hear that she says her memory verse and answers questions in Bible class, which makes me so proud! She has really enjoyed meeting some new friends that live in our neighborhood this school year. There are 3 other little girls who have big siblings that walk home from school, and all of them are pretty close in age to Savannah. She is also getting more confidence in her relationship with Brooklyn. Savannah doesn’t let Brooklyn just boss her around all the time; she isn’t afraid to say what she wants to do and voice her opinion.
Random facts about Savannah – She still has sensitive skin and is just going to be a “rashy” kid, I think. She had bad eczema as a baby, and it still pops up from time to time. It mainly shows up on her thighs and back, especially after a bath (even when I use soap that’s supposedly meant for sensitive skin). Even when she doesn’t have the eczema rash, her skin just feels rough. I guess we need to start doing daily lotion again. Savannah has the sweetest dimples on her face that I just love. She also laughs when she gets upset or frustrated. It’s not uncommon for Abigail to snatch one of Savannah’s toys and run off with it. Savannah will then chase after her, laughing the whole time (even though she’s mad, not happy!). Because Savannah is laughing, Abigail thinks it’s a game and it just happens over and over again. It’s pretty funny. Savannah is speaking pretty clearly these days and pronounces most words correctly. Some of her cute mispronunciations that I can think of are: “sweeping” (sleeping), umbre-wella (umbrella), and “Brooke-win” (Brooklyn). Savannah’s nickname is still Pookie, and we call her all sorts of variations of that as well (Pooksie, Pooks, Pooky Poo, Pookie Bear, and Pookie Wookie)
Likes: riding her scooter and bike, taking care of her stuffed animals and dolls, singing, playing with her sisters, coloring and drawing (she is starting to color in the lines now!), and bath time
Dislikes: being the center of attention in a group, most vegetables, spiders and most flying bugs, not being treated like a big kid, shadows, and villains in the princess movies (she now refuses to watch Sleeping Beauty because of Maleficent)
We are so thankful for you, Savannah! You are such a sweet girl, and you make us so proud!!
