Growing up

Both of my babies are growing up.


Connor has always been smart and he hasn't slowed down on his learning and understanding. He is very interested in learning how to read, write and tell time. He knows all the sounds of the all the letters. He's learned to say the sounds of the letters in the words for the most part but hasn't figured out how to sound them out fast to hear what the word is. He does have close to 30 "sight" words that he can read. He's very good at tracing letters and is still working on writing them without tracing. He's pretty good at his name. As far as telling time - he drives me crazy with it sometimes - in a good way. He constantly wants to know what time we're leaving or going to bed. I'll tell him whatever time it is we are doing whatever we are doing. He'll then ask what time it is right then. I will tell him. Then comes, "What comes after that?" He will ask that question until I make him stop! He also wants to know what numbers make whatever time it is. I'm hoping he'll learn that in school this fall because I really don't know how to teach him that!


Savannah is at the age where they learn so much so fast. She has so many words - it's amazing to me. She's forming sentences - of course most of those start with "I want...." Last night we were fixing supper. She said, "I eat! I eat!" I told her, "We'll eat in a few minutes. Mommy's fixing supper." She said, "I want suppa." She tries to sing so many songs. She gets every 4 or 5 words right. She even loves singing regular songs. There's a song we sing at church called, "Say So." It's upbeat - she and Connor both love it. The chorus is, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, say so, say so." She gets the Say so in every time. She's even learned the beginning. When it comes on she starts saying "Say so. Say so." She's also gotten so big that she's recognizing before she goes to the bathroom. For the last couple of weeks she would say before she would go to the bathroom. I would ask her if she wanted to sit on the potty. She's always said no. Today as I was changing her diaper she said it and I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty. She said yes so in we went. I sat her on the big potty for a change. I wish I could have captured the look on her face but didn't have a camera - or my phone - close by. She loved it. Within a few minutes she had gone #1. We waited a few more minutes and she went #2. She totally blew my mind. I had not even pushed it. I don't have any panties, so I'll be going out tomorrow to get some. We tried 3 times after her, once right before she went to bed. the first 2 times nothing & had gone a little in her diaper. But right before bed she did go again. Yay! I don't know if this is really going to happen but I'm willing to try it for a little bit to see. If it doesn't, it doesn't'. No worries!

They are also growing up in the way of fighting and bickering . It feels like for the past week and a half all I ever say is "Connor, leave her alone." "Savannah, stop whining/yelling." "Connor, she can play with it the way she wants to." "Savannah, it's Connor's turn. You'll have a turn in a minute." "Lightnin, stop/get back/get out of the trash." Savannah throws fits A LOT and I am trying to just walk away and ignore her. I'm at a bit of a loss. During all this Connor is having some jealousy issues I think. I will get onto Savannah for doing something and right after I get onto her he does whatever it was she did. He's been whining and pouting A LOT. He's starting to not listen as well as used to - which I know is to be expected. But when you've had as close to a perfect kid as you can for almost 3 1/2 years it can kind of throw you for a loop. He's been crying a lot more when he doesn't get what he wants. I feel bad for him because he's so sweet but don't think it's ok for him to cry over everything. So, anybody who has any advice - my ears are wide open!!

Playing catch up

I am so far behind on my blogging....

First off - at the beginning of June Danny and I took a trip out west - to LA and Las Vegas. I tell you this mainly to tell you this story...

We went and ate at Ivy by the Shore - known for some celebrities to make appearances. We were sitting there and this guy sat came in and sat down not too far from us. Turned out it was Billy Crystal - he's the one in the red hat. I debated with myself - although I did try to get Danny in on the debate but he wasn't much help - on whether I should go up to him or not. I mean - he's eating supper and so I didn't want to interrupt him, but he's a celebrity and should kind of expect it. So, when we finished they were just about finished and I decided I was going to go up to him. I thought if I didn't I would probably regret it since he's he first movie star I've even been close to. So, I went up, squatted down next to the table and started apologizing. I told him I was from Tennessee and he was the first celebrity I had seen. He asked, "Do you not have any there?" I told him we had Dolly Parton, but I had never seen her. I did ask for a picture, but he didn't want to do it in the restaurant. So, I asked for an autograph and he was more than happy to oblige. I told him I always had paper in my bag because I have a 3-year-old who likes to write. So, he asked my name and my 3-year-old's name. The autograph said, "To Valerie and Connor, My best, your first. Billy Crystal" I was very excited and felt a little bit like a dork but I knew that I would always wonder what would have happened. We also went to a taping of Chelsea Lately - on E! at 11:00 pm every night. It was cool to go to a show taping period but we love her - she pretty much makes fun of people in the tabloids. We had a good time in Las Vegas too!

We took a quick trip down to Panama City with the kids. Well, driving that far with 2 kids really isn't as quick as it used to be. We had a blast! The kids loved the beach. Connor loved everything about it - the sand, the water, the toys. Savannah loved the sand and toys; she wasn't too sure about the water when she was standing or sitting. I think the sand washing away from underneath her freaked her out a bit because if I was sitting in the water and she was on my lap she enjoyed it. We rented a pontoon boat one day and went out to Shell Island. Connor had a lot of fun looking for shells. There was also a school of fish that hung around where we were the whole time. When we ate lunch on the boat we threw some food over for the fish. The kids LOVED watching the fish go after the food. We couldn't have asked for better weather! I of course had to take the kids down to the sand with jeans and white shirts on and take their pictures. I do have to say that some of them turned out very cute - of course that's because of the cute kids in them!

I'll stop now with the updates so this blog won't be too long. I'll catch you up more later.