It's time.....

....for that post about how Savvy is growing up. I'm trying really hard to believe she's actually only 11 months still, but the evidence that she is NOT is right in my face. Unavoidable. Mounting with each day. Demanding to be acknowledged and acclaimed. She will be two--TWO!--years old the end of May. I feel like I've been tricked, like this last year went by in a blink, and that somehow my calendars (and the rest of the world's) are completely off. She's about 22 months. My stomach spasms a little every time I say that.

With all this newfangled growing stuff, her latest and greatest tends to be pretty entertaining. That's the good thing--even as she is blowing me away with the speed of time, she is cute. Which makes it ache about .1% less.

Her favorite thing is to be thrown into the air, then caught, by Phill. She says wawy for ready, then says twooooooo........twooooooooo.......REEEEEEEEE.......REEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Sometimes it's two-ree-fy (2-3-5) and then REEEEE. You just have to wait to hear which number she emphasizes to know when she's ready to fly.

She has mastered intelligible versions of don't, no, stop, and done. All very important when you are the youngest and the only girl.

Savvy is obssessed with shoes. It is one of her first thoughts when she wakes and her last before she sleeps. We hear her wake up, and it goes like this: "Daddy!!" rattling crib rails....."Mama!" rattling crib rails....."SHOE! SHOE! UH-OH, SHOE! WIZZIT?" (where is it) And before she will cuddle with you in the morning, before she will even consent to walk out of her room, you have to put her shoes on. With her pajamas, even. If by chance she sees a pair of shoes I haven't yet put on her, say, some hand-me-downs that I just pulled out, she pants. And squeaks a little. And pleas with you until they're on her darling feet.

My three-year-old obssession was Chap-Stick and gum. (And panties, a little later on.) That hasn't changed much in the last 22 years, so I foresee implementing a shoe budget for our girl.

When the phone rings, she says, "Poe!" If I don't answer it, she becomes very concerned, using the convincing argument of what-if-it's-dad. "Poe, Mama! Daddy! Poe!!" This morning as I lay in bed ignoring the phone, with Savvy laying next to me, she got right in my face, nose-to-nose, saying frantically, "Poe! Daddy! Poe!! Mama, Poe!!!"

She loves clothes. She frequently pulls things out of her dresser and brings them to you, requesting help to put them on. Sometimes she puts them on herself, with some creative interpretation. (Shirt-pants. Try 'em.)

She is cuddly and even more enamored with Phill after his little absence. She was mad at him for about fifteen minutes when he came home, but once she was certain again that he was ours, and had been punished enough, she would not let him go. (Still hasn't.) If he holds one of the boys, she becomes angry and tries to pull his arms open and pull Jax out. (Very aggressive.) She's usually okay with Phill holding her and one of the boys at the same time, but not him holding another baby and her. That's extremely offensive to her.

Yesterday she decided to join the big boys and got a cup out of their drawer, went to the fridge, and looked at me expectantly. I put about an eighth-inch of water in the cup and watched her take 45 seconds to get it all down. She then handed it back to me with huge happy eyes and said, "Peez? Mo?" I don't think she's ready to give up her night-time bottle, but it may be that she is strictly a cup-drinker throughout the day from now on. That's very, very sad to me. And not just because of the wet floor.

I think she would make her own breakfast if she could. (Sound familiar, Lara?) Yesterday she accidentally dropped her cupcake on the floor. She ran into the kitchen, went straight to the drawer where I keep kitchen towels, carried one grandly over to the spill and began to clean with a strikingly maternal expression on her little face. When she was finished, she looked up, smiling, to our applause and praise. Sometimes when she cleans, she sings under her breath, "'Lean up....'lean up.....'reebody 'lean up.....'lean up"

She loves nursery, the highlight being music time, when she can sing her two favorites, Wheels on the Bus and Ring Around the Rosie. Last Sunday we sang (to the tune of Once There Was A Snowman): "Once there was a baby, small-small-small. Now it's growing bigger, tall-tall-tall." And wouldn't you know it, I got all achy and lump-in-the-throat over that. She's so big and so little and so cute and growing up so, so fast.

Oh, Savvy B. Can you please slow down just a little? I need to catch up.