So what is today.... the BEST day of the whole year?

Savannah finally got her long- awaited Valentine's Day. A day early.
Two days of Valentine's Day... this girl is on cloud nine. Not sure why she *loves* this holiday so. I wasn't even aware of this until the other day, and since then she could. not. wait. for it to be Valentine's. This morning she was so excited to have her party at school today and bring her valentines for her friends and teachers.

I forgot to get pictures of her and her valentines this morning. We made made heart shaped crayons for her friends and she was especially excited to bring the strawberry "flowers" for her teachers today. I forgot to take a picture of her with the bouquet this morning, but here's a picture I found in the magazine where I got the idea...
I think it turned out great and it was pretty easy... I painted wooden skewers with green food coloring, we dipped our strawberries in white chocolate, added a little greenery, and used a cute white ribbon with red hearts on it wrapped around a little vase. Savannah made a great card and they loved it! I'm going to have to remember that idea for showers and stuff!


When I picked Savannah up from school after her party, she was all excited and couldn't wait to tell me, "Mom! Tomorrow is the real Valentine's Day!"

She would have been just fine with one day of valentines. I'm afraid my few treats tomorrow are just no match for the party at school today, her bag full of cards from her friends, and then her "goodies" from her grandparents that she got to open when we got home today.
Here you go; I actually got a couple of pictures of her -and what is this? Did she actually look at the camera?!?
























And to be fair, after all the pictures and blabbing about the little brother, I did manage to get a few shots of Savannah yesterday. She sat decently for me in her new chair. This is her first purchase with her own money! It was quite exciting, and I was very proud of her.
See, she has the habit that most three year olds do, of standing way too close to the tv. Like basically with her nose touching the screen. So being tired of nagging her about it, I sat down with her and had a discussion about how to solve this problem. We decided she needed a "spot" to sit.
Well, then a few days later we saw that Target had these neat little chairs on sale so we went and looked at them and talked about it and Savannah decided she wanted to buy one with the money she got in the mail for V-day (thanks Great-Grandma and Grandpa!). She picked pink, of course. So now she pulls that out when she watches tv and has her own spot to sit. It looks pretty stinkin cute in her room too! Take a look...





















We've been working with Savannah to make a few other changes around here too. Her whining and crying and not so nice behavior was becoming more the norm than a rarity anymore, so we came up with some "plans" for her. She is all about charts and lists and the routine and consistency those types of things provide. I guess she probably gets that from me. And it's a good thing I think like that, because apparently that kind stuff may be all it takes to get a jumpstart on getting her straightened out.

We've had a lot of talks lately. And this past weekend we made up some plans and some charts...

#1 was a So-mommy-and-daddy-can stop-nagging-everytime-I use-the-bathroom Chart (remember to wipe, flush, wash, turn off light).

#2 was a No Whining Chart. She has to put an x in a box every time she whines or throws a fit. Three strikes, and no tv or movie the next day. So far, since putting up this up, there has been zero whining. She went from whining all day long about anything, to none. Honest.

#3 is for her hair. Anyone who is close to us knows Savannah's hair has been a sore spot for all of us lately. She has just increasingly over the past year hated more and more to have anything to do with taking care of her hair. Washing, drying, brushing, braiding, touching; she HATES it. While attempting to brush her hair before school, one could expect anything from whining and complaining, to full-on screaming bloody murder. Not fun.
We were waiting on her first haircut, growing it out to be able to donate it to make children's wigs. Now that it's been long enough for months, Savannah has decided she doesn't want to cut it until she turns four. Don't know why, but she is adamant about that. But the struggle to keep her hair cleaned and out of the way is becoming too much for me. Out of anger and frustration about her carrying on, I threaten often to cut it off, but then I feel so bad. I don't want a haircut to be a punishment... she loves her long hair. But I can't deal with us both getting so upset about doing her hair anymore.

So now she has a chart. She has two colums; happy faces for cooperative hair days, sad faces for not. If she fills the one column, she gets a treat. If she fills the other column, that tells us it's too hard to take care of all that hair and we're going to get a haircut. So then it's just a consequence and not so much a punishment, right?
Anyway, so far... three happy faces.
Much nicer mornings and bathtimes, thank you very much!





Alright.
This is looking like a record for the most consecutive super long posts ever.
Wow. Thanks for hangin in there with me!
I'll cut down and keep em' short and sweet for awhile, I promise!