Juice boxes, toilet paper and more

The past few weeks have brought lots of excitement at the Shear household. This wouldn't be a big deal to most people, but the fact that Savena had her first juice box on our way to the ranch for Thanksgiving was a big deal to us. Until now, she's been relegated to drinking out of bottles and sippy cups. But a whole new world has opened up now that she's figured out what straws are for - and how to use them. It was so exciting to see her face quite literally light up with pure joy when a small twinge of apple juice hit her tongue - it's a whole new world, baby!

Much to our chagrin, another of Savena's favorite playthings is toilet paper. She has more blocks, noisemakers, dolls and stacking blocks than Mark or I ever did as a child (she has many of our old toys, plus some of her own), but one of her favorite things to do is to grab the toilet paper and pull. For example: I was washing the dishes earlier this week when I heard some giggling in the hall. I turned the water off and found Savena practically knee-deep in toilet paper and she was still pulling. Yikes! She was quickly redirected to the kitchen cabinets, where we have plenty of plastic tupperware and canned foods that she loves to pull out and leave in various places around the house. Luckily for us, she usually remembers where she put something. All we have to do is ask "Where did you put the can of soup? Or where did you leave your milk? and she races off in the direction of whatever happens to the missing at the time. The only real problem with this is that sometimes we don't realize her sippy cups of milk are missing until she comes careening into the kitchen drinking from one that has been missing for a few days. Yuck! Needless to say, Savena has very little patience when she wants her milk -- it's a mad dash to replace the spoiled stuff with a fresh cup of it before she knows better.

One more quick note: We finally found a hat that Savena will keep on her head. She absolutely adores the hat and won't leave home without it. Half the time we find her wearing it inside, so stay tuned for adorable pics of the little princess. Thanks, Bass Pro!