Coversations

"OK, so pretend I'm a platypus/dog/secret agent"
There has been a LOT of pretenting going on round these parts - I love it.

"So you can just drop me off - have a good trip!"
-Savannah to me as we pulled up in front of Austin and Bridget's (Gagas A&B, respectively) house. She was staying with them the weekend I was in London with Conor and was ready for Gaga time.  London pics are coming.

"Do you think they need a flower girl?"
-We are attending a wedding this summer in London (I know! How jet-setty are we?) and Savannah is willing to put her flower girl resume up against anyone.

"YES! Put the paperwork in the mail!!!!"
-Me to the admissions director at The Girl's School of Austin when she called to tell me a space opened up in the Kindergarten class and was wondering if we would like to accept it. More on our school decision later!

To end with a photo - just file this under generally awesome.

Conversations | Lab Test Edition

My emotions are all over the place from one hour to the next. I look at my outwardly healthy, happy little girl and think that nothing can be wrong with her. I also know that x-rays don't lie and there are some things to figure out and the mystery is a little frightening. I feel so much stronger and hopeful than I did last week though and know that whatever the final result, things will work out. She's going to be fine in the long run.

One of my many reasons for hope is the incredible wit of our girl. Five really is an awesome age. She's always been a hilarious child, but it's kicked into overdrive lately. Even in the middle of exams and lab tests, she's got a gem to crack everyone up.

#1
Pulmonologist: "Savannah, are you good at sitting still?" (He was explaning the CT Scan to her)
Savannah: "Mmmmm...not really"

#2
Savannah: "Mama! That. is. disgusting!"

Sooooo, in the height of my panic about CF, I searched every known symptom. One of the most obvious is a salty taste to the skin. I believe that I told Savannah I needed to taste her skin and that was her response. I'm kind of glad she's not on Facebook yet, because her status would have been "my mom is a raving nut".

#3
Savannah: "You know, everyone is a little salty Miss Mary"

Savannah to her sweat test nurse, Mary, who I wanted to bottle up and take home with me. She was such a perfect kid's nurse. Full of chatter and sweetness and patience. On a side note, she was also astoundingly positive. She was telling Savannah (for Conor's and my benefit, really) that she had to do a good job on her test because she didn't want to have to do it twice. She told her she was most certainly fine and doing the test twice would just be a waste of time.

More updates when we have them. I'll let you know what she said about blood tests next time.

Conversations + Happy Birthday Gaga B!

ACK! I forgot to put this up yesterday!! My flu head is still not quite right.

Yesterday was Gaga B's birthday and we wanted to say have a great day and we love you!

So in other news it is FREEZING cold here. Only 16 degrees, which is completely unheard of for Central Texas. Yesterday in the car, Savannah was telling me that she didn't like the cold. She also doesn't like it too hot. As she puts it, 'I only like the weather when it's a little hot and a little cold'. Fair enough.

She has a plan, though, to warm it up around here. Her idea is to 'shoot 2000 cups of hot chocolate into the universe, you know, Texas, and then it will rain warm hot chocolate and we won't be cold anymore.'

The universe, you know, Texas. I've been laughing about that for a day now.

Conversations + Photos

The other week when Conor was out of town, Savannah I were tooling around and we ended up at Sephora, which is heaven on Earth for the banana (and I like it too). It was not very busy and the girls working there were looking for something to keep them busy I suppose, so they latched onto Savannah. She got a little makeover and was sent home with her own blue eyeshadow sample and a pack of single use eye shadow applicators.

I'm not really advocating daily eyeshadow wear for my 5 year old, but it DOES crack me up when she comes to the dinner table all made up. Conor asked her the other day "Why are you wearing eyeshadow?" Her response "Because I wanted to look good".

Next...

There is a Ferrari dealership across from the Central Market we go to. I'm not really sure who in Austin is buying a Ferrari, because it doesn't really vibe with the feeling of this city, but, to each his own. Good looking cars.

Conor, being a boy, appreciates the look of a Ferrari and has mentioned this to Savannah. He's called her into the room when Top Gear is testing one and explained the fine Italian racing heritage of the car. For a while, any red car she saw, she would yell "Hey! A Ferrari!", even if it was a Chevy.

So as we were leaving the grocery store, she saw the cars parked out front of the dealer ship and said "Hey! A Ferrari!" (correctly this time). THEN she said "You know, Daddy wants one of those. They are very expensive, so I was thinking, that since I only need a little money for toys, that I could give my allowance to him for a while so he could save up and get one. Maybe you could do some extra work too Mama and then he could get one". CUTE!

Conversations

"That is EASY French" - Savannah listening to my French homework. Yup, I'm in French class.

"You are just a few layers away from Victoria's Secret model hair." My lovely hair stylist. Everyone should have someone as wonderful as her to cut their hair.

Conversations: A Doozy

S: "Mama, are you going to start doing more work soon?"
Me: "Why? Hasn't it been fun to have me around more lately."
S:" Oh yes, I like that. It's just that I want to go to Paris next summer and fly first class, so I think you're going to need to work some more."
me: {completely floored}

It's going to take a LOT of portrait sessions for that, little one, a LOT.

4 1/2

Savannah wants me to mention to you that she is OFFICIALLY 4 1/2 today.

As you were.

Conversations

Ok Savannah, please pick your friend for school.

S: (grabs a pig)

me: What's that pig's name again?

S: Amazing
me: Ok Amazing pig and Savannah, let's go.
S: No Mama. He is a pig and he is amazing, but his name is not Amazng Pig. His name is just Amazing.

Me: ok Amazing and Savannah, let's go.
S: that's better.
Me: sigh

Conversations

Me: 'Oh look Savannah! Daddy left a comment on your blog."

Savannah, on the phone with Daddy a few hours later: "Daddy, thank you for commenting on my blog. That was nice"

Let's add 'Director of New Media' to the list of possible future job titles.

Conversations

"Mama! Mimi didn't drop any of her petals! The aisle is not pretty enough!"

Said by Savannah to me right after she had walked down the aisle at Damian and Claire's Wedding. I think the other flower girl got a little stage fright (and who could blame her - this was a BIG wedding) and forgot to drop her petals.

I should also let you know that our little OCD Montessori kid basically placed each petal on the aisle. She was adorable. She would drop some petals and look back to make sure they were acceptable. It took her forever to get down the aisle, but she was super cute and serious about her job.

We were (and are) so proud of her.

Conversations

"Oh I am tired!" - overheard on the monitor at 7:20 AM. Yeah, me too kid.

"I'm not tired!!!" - heard anytime before an imminent nap or bedtime.

Conversations

Just so we don't end the week on a downer...

Me: You are sneezing a lot Savannah - are you OK?

S: Yes, it's just all the pollen from those Caesar trees.

Note for the Non-Austinites, we tend to have bad CEDAR pollen here.

Conversations: Best One Yet

This morning at breakfast.

S: Mama, can I tell you something?

Me: Sure buddy.

S: I think you are aMAZing.

Conversations

A bunch of random quotes:

"Mama, is this a good song to sing if I was going to be a rockstar?"

"I have NO idea"

"Mama, the most amazing thing happened at school today. Wills went pee pee in the BIG potty!" (I love how we all celebrate potty training.)

Singing..."I have the I miss my Daddy BLUES!"

"Let's go to the App Store and get a new game" (more on this later)

"When I grow up and live in my own house, will you come and visit me every day?" (I will be reminding her of this later on.)

"Hey, let's go to France this weekend!"

'Bad Guys'

The flip side of The Princess, is, what the boys at school call 'Bad Guys'. It's basically a run around and shoot the other guy game. You know, with fingers as guns. Savannah started shooting us in the house (pkew! pkew!) and saying some slightly violent things, such as 'I'm going to hug you so hard all your blood comes out!' 'Let's get the special cutting tool and get him!"  "Kill that bug until all it's blood comes out!"
The blood thing is apparently something the boys say.

I know we shouldn't laugh, but we do sometimes. Then I explain that cutting and hitting and killing are wrong and it's wrong to say that. I think that she gets it, but I will confess that the shooting games in the house have been pretty fun. Conor really gets into it.

And to sum up...Boys are crazy.

Marriage

There is a lot of talk about marriage and weddings in the house lately, with Uncle Damian and Claire planning their wedding and Savannah gearing up for flower girl duty. Here is one of my favorite conversations of late.

The marriage conversation always starts with her civil rights push for same-sex marriage, which is a little adorable.

S: 'Why can't girls marry girls again?'
Me: 'Well, it's just against the rules right now.'
Daddy: 'You don't have to marry anyone if you don't want to.'
S: 'OK, well I'm going to marry one of my school friends - Peter. He is my best friend.'
Me;' That's nice.' {I have heard a LOT about Peter lately. I wonder if he knows he is marrying Savannah}
Me: 'So Savannah, why do you think it's a GOOD idea to get married?
S: 'Well, when you get married you get a big cake and you get to have THE FIRST PIECE.'
Me:' I see.'

Princesses

We have not pushed the concept of The Princess in our house. It's mostly because Savannah hasn't really shown any interest in the classic Disney movies. It's also partially because I think it's an outdated concept.

I loved Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and the like, and in general, they are harmless, sweet films. When you think about it, though, the messages in those movies are not the greatest for the modern little girl. Be sweet and good, wait around long enough and some dude with a crown will sweep you off to a castle to....do what exactly? Marrying a Prince is not the goal in this house. A happy fufilled life that includes a great marriage - absolutely. This is not to say I am anti-man. I love men! Hi men I love!! I just feel a big responsibility to raise Savannah knowing that she can do anything.

However, when you have a four year old girl and she has four year old girl friends, The Princess is going to come up. The other day we were out with a friend and her daughter at the playground and they met another little girl and started playing princesses. I asked them who they were and Savannah said 'Rosa is Belle, Sofie is Snow White and I am Sleeping Beauty'. She then whispered to me 'I don't know who that is though.' Then she smiled and ran off. Very cute.

She was asking me to tell her the story of Sleeping Beauty and I told her the normal version: mean step-mom, potion, sleeping forever, prince kissses her and wakes her up, happily ever after. I didn't think much of it until a few days later when she was playing,  and I tried to 'rescue her' and and she said 'Oh no, Mama, a BOY has to rescue me.' Ummmm....I don't think so.

So to broaden our horizons, I have been telling Savannah 'updated' versions of Sleeping Beauty. They usually involve her friends performing science experiments to figure out a way to wake her up. Sleeping Beauty is also very smart and friendly in addition to beautiful. There is a Prince involved, but he is already part of the group of friends and is not the MAIN solution. Last night, in what I believe was my favorite ending so far, Sleeping Beauty woke up, went to grad school and started her own company with venture capital funding.

GIRL POWER!

Coversations

S: "I plan to travel the world so I can eat all the food"

Me: "That sounds like a great plan. Can I come too?"

S: "Sure, Mama! Let's go to Canada first!"

Me: {in my head} "Yes, because I first think of Canada, when I think of fine food."

Theme Song

I HAVE to get this on video, so I can pull it out at her wedding or the eve of her Nobel speech or something.

Savannah has made herself up a theme song. It's hilarious and adorable.

It goes like this:

"Sa-VANN-Ah! Da da da! Sa-VANN-ah!!! Da da da!! Saaaaaa--VANN-AHHHHHHH!"

It's complete with arm gestures and everything.

Conversations: Oh this is a good one y'all

This year Santa has started to become important. The last few years, Savannah could take him or leave him. However, the realization that he has the power to bring presents has really sunk in.

We were discussing Santa in the car and I brought up that we should leave him some milk and cookies on Christmas eve and maybe a snack for the reindeer too. We talked about how Santa LOVES treats. Then this little gem popped out:

S: 'Santa has a big belly'

Me: 'Yes, he does'

S: 'He should eat healthy food and not just treats! You can't just eat treats all the time! That makes you sick. Let's leave him a healthy snack. White milk and fruits and vegetables.'

Sorry Santa - it's ants on a log and carrots and grapes for you this year.