Baby gates that don't screw into walls- We moved Savannah's baby gate to the bottom of the first set of stairs. She now has access to 5 stairs and the front door, but can't get all the way upstairs where she would have too much unsupervised area. My mom told me that since she pulled on us all the time to open the gate when it was downstairs, she was showing us what exactly she wanted and we were basically telling her we did not trust her by having the gate. Now she has a little more freedom and loves it. Yes, shoes do get thrown off the little shelf and onto the toy covered floor, but she does not pull on us as much. It is nice to have a little swing gate that I can move in a matter of seconds, rather than having to perform wall repairs.
Dust Busters- I swear this is the best invention. I am not the best about limiting snack time to the kitchen, so there are usually crumbs everywhere, and instead of having to pull out the vacuum for the smallest things, I can just pull my little helper off the wall and it takes seconds. I don't know how we lived without one. It cleans up after Noah too :)
Color Wonder Markers- So Savannah loves to color. Like most children, she will color anything. Come look at her table... its proof. I have to chase her to get crayons out of her hands all the time. I had a Color wonder set for her before, but she covered the pages in about 2 days, so to be cheap we moved back to crayons. No more!! I am fully converted to color wonder as her only inside coloring option. It does bother me that my child will probably have this delusional thought that she does not have to color in the lines because her mistakes will magically disappear, but after cleaning up crayon from almost every Little People set, the wall, and soon her table and chairs, I am ready for some invisible ink color time.
So yesterday was Savannah's last class of the winter semester at Little Gym. On the last day they have a "show" class where you can invite family and friends to come and watch. For the older kids its a pretty big deal because they show their parents the routines they have learned, but for the parent/teacher classes its not much different, except that their is more of an audience.
Savannah loves Little Gym and it has been such a great outlet for her energy. She started walking before she was 10 months old, so we thought signing her up would be a great way to help her focus the great physical development she has had all along. We were right. Its amazing to watch how much she has learned in the classes. She can walk and run very fast, knows how to "freeze" when the music tells her to, hang on the bars, walk on the beams, she follows directions better and really enjoys the routine and fun she has in this 45 min. class every week. I am so happy we signed her up and am really looking forward to the things she will continue to learn.
Next week she will be starting a new class, in a new age group. I am a little nervous because she will be one of the younger kids in the class and the thought of her going from a Bird (10-19 months old) to a Beast (20 months - 2.5 years) is sad because she is growing so fast. We are very proud of her and all that she has learned. She is an amazing little girl!
When I am bored and Savannah is in bed, I go pet him. I forgot how therapeutic animals can be. This sweet little kitty does not meow, bite, or scratch. He takes anything and just needs some love. Savannah has pulled his tail and pet him a little too hard, but he does nothing. He looks a little scary and was given a really bad haircut at one point, but I think with a little time and love, he will look better. 
