Savannah: 8 Years Old – Trav and Erin + 3

I’ve been telling Savannah for a while now that she wasn’t allowed to turn 8 years old, but she went and did it anyway ;) She is just getting so big! Savannah makes us so proud to be her parents.

At her recent checkup, Savannah was 50 3/4 inches tall (50th percentile) and 53.5 lbs (50th percentile). Perfectly proportional! Savannah grew almost 3 inches and gained over 5 pounds since last year. She is about 1.75 inches taller than Brooklyn was at 8 years old, so it will be interesting to see who ends up being taller when they finish growing. Savannah is still wearing 7/8 clothes for the most part, but I think she will be out of that size soon and moving up to size 10. She is wearing about a size 2 or 2.5 in most shoes. She is still at 6 lost teeth so far. I’m pretty sure her hair is currently the longest it’s ever been, and she gets regular comments from others about how beautiful it is. She has a love/hate relationship with her hair because it’s so thick and it’s hard to brush out the tangles. She talks about wanting to cut it shorter, but we’ll see what she decides at her next hair cut. She recently had an assignment at school where she had to decide which body part was her favorite and why, and she told me that she chose her legs because they help her run and play soccer :)

Savannah is a pretty good eater these days and isn’t as picky as she used to be when she was younger. She does have her favorite cereals that she likes for breakfast (Cheerio Oat Crunch – cinnamon flavor, Reese Puffs, and Special K Vanilla Almond). She prefers PB&J or PB & honey sandwiches over other kinds like ham and cheese or grilled cheese. But she will eat almost everything I cook for dinner now, even if it’s not her favorite. She likes almost all fruits except pineapple – she says it burns her mouth ;) She also loves desserts of all varieties. Savannah got an alarm clock for Christmas, so I am no longer waking her up for school in the morning. It’s a little bittersweet because I used to find her in the funniest positions in her bed in the morning. But she feels like a big kid because she can set her alarm like Brooklyn does. We aim for a bedtime of 8 pm, but sometimes it’s closer to 8:20 before we finish tucking her in. She wakes up at 6:25 AM for school, but will usually sleep until at least 7 AM or later in the summer.

Savannah has done well in 2nd grade this year, although I don’t think she enjoyed it as well as 1st grade. Her teacher was great overall, but they did more computer work and not as many crafts or activities that Savannah really enjoyed. Ms. Kuenzli’s personality was also more sharp than Savannah’s previous teachers, so I think Savannah just never got as comfortable in her classroom. She struggled a bit at the beginning of the year because she only knew one kid in her class starting out, and it wasn’t one of her good friends. It took her a while to warm up, but she eventually found two friends (Lillian and Aubrey) in her class that she loved and really clicked with. Despite some of the challenges this year with making friends and warming up to a new teacher, Savannah learned SO much academically. She did well on all her 2nd grade objectives and even progressed into learning her multiplication and division facts up to 9 already. We continue to be impressed with how well she listens, observes things that are happening around her, and how her mind is always processing information and wanting to understand things.

At 8 years old, Savannah continues to have many of the same interests that she has had for a while. She really loves soccer and takes it very seriously. She has played with several of the same girls for multiple seasons now, and they play so well together. Savannah is very competitive and doesn’t like the other team to score a goal, let alone win ;) She will be moving up to 10U soccer in the fall, which means she’ll be playing on a bigger field with more players on the field and a goalkeeper. It will be interesting to see how she progresses in that setting. At home, you can frequently find Savannah in her room reading, writing stories or writing in her journal, cuddling with Gabby, or working on a craft. She also enjoys drawing, making creations out of perler beads, and playing with her American Girl dolls. She likes helping me cook dinner and frequently asks if she can stir or help. She still says she wants to be a baker when she grows up, but has also mentioned maybe being a teacher too. I think she would be great at either of those jobs!

Savannah values her alone time, but also plays pretty well with her sisters. She has been playing more with Abigail lately because Brooklyn is frequently in her room reading or doing her own thing, but she also enjoys playing with Brooklyn when she gets the opportunity. They enjoy playing outside together and playing “Lion King” in the playroom sometimes too.

Savannah has a very caring personality is generally quick to think of others. It makes me smile when she brings something home from school specifically for her sisters or makes a card for someone who is sick just because she thought it was a nice thing to do. Most people don’t get to see Savannah’s silly side, but it frequently comes out at dinner when she and Brooklyn pretend to be reporters and talk in “reporter voices”. We’ve noticed that she can also be very emotional and hard on herself and tends to have a negative/defeatist attitude when she encounters difficulty. She has a strong moral compass and is bothered when she sees kids at school that don’t follow the rules or listen to the teacher. There are lots of big emotions wrapped up in that caring heart, and we are trying our best to help her work through them appropriately. Parenting is not an easy task, and we are learning as we go!