Well...we STILL can't believe Ava Joy is already a year old. It is truly a little scary how fast time flies. We're so thankful for the incredible blessing she is and just cannot imagine life without her (though we do look back fondly some days on life pre-kid when we could sleep uninterrupted for as long as we pleased!)
Above all else, Ava is SUCH a happy girl. She truly lives up to her middle name - she is such a joy and she finds the joy in so many things each day. She loves to smile and giggle, and we just cannot get enough of that sound!
I could write a novel wrapping up her first year, but since we have so many of the details captured in previous blog posts, we'll just include the highlights here! :-)
1-Year Check-Up Stats:
- Height: 31 inches
- Weight: 24 pounds
- Continues to exceed all developmental milestones
- Run! (and with that comes falling down....hard!)
- If you ask her where he nose, ears, or lips are, she'll point to them
- Baby sign language - she can sign for milk, food, 'more,' and 'all done'
- Give kisses on the cheek (she's been able to blow kisses for many months, but there's something so much more special about your baby kissing you on the cheek!)
- Put shapes in the right holes - she loves to play with puzzles and is quite good at knowing what shapes go where. She also loves to put caps on anything and everything, loves to put things 'away' (already like her mommy in loving to organize!), and she loves, and I mean LOVES, the vacuum!
- Play 'little mama' - she LOVES her baby doll Larry, Teri, and Natasha got her for her birthday. So much so that we bought her a little play nursery station to go with it. She loves putting baby in the highchair, the changing table and the sink (for a bath)...and she loves feeding her a bottle. She'll even pretend to check the bottle temp on her wrist like she sees mommy and daddy do before feeding her baby - it's so precious. She also throws an absolute temper tantrum if you try to do ANYTHING to the baby...all I did was try to put the bib on the baby or a pacifier in her mouth, and WWIII ensues. Too cute.
- Bring us our socks and shoes...no matter where she finds them, she'll bring them to us one by one and put them right at our feet. And, if she puts them down the wrong way at first, she'll turn it around and straighten them out and then point until we put them on. It's so cute!
- As with most toddlers, she's decided to become a picky eater all of a sudden, and with that she's decided her daily favorites she no longer wants anything to do with - so we're on a bit of a hiatus from avocados, blueberries, and spinach, but she loves:
- chickpeas
- beets
- the turkey/veggie meatballs, beef/spinach meatballs, and veggie packed muffins mommy makes
- puffs
- Play with her puppy, Paisley. Actually, it's more like torture her poor puppy (who is SO good with her!), but nonetheless this girl loves her dog. Every morning when she sees the dog this huge smile grows on her face and she'll squeal with excitement! They have so many cute moments together! Cue "the adventures of Ava and Paisley (#theadventuresofavaandpaisley)
- Being chased....by anyone, but especially her puppy. Whenever we give her a snack, she immediately looks to see that Paisley notices she has food in her hand, then smiles and runs away, giggling while Paisley chases her for her food. It's become quite the game!
- Play with her baby doll - pretending to be 'little mama'
- Riding around (or pushing her baby doll in) her trike Grandma and Papa got her for her birthday
- Playing in her play house Grandmommy and Papa got her for her birthday
- Swimming, playing with her water table, and taking baths - this girl loves the water!
- Going to her Early Explorer's class with mommy every Friday
- Going to the library
- Running around outside - she loves the outdoors, and just loves to run while screaming (happily) until she falls, then gets right back up and does it again and again
- Sweet and loving - she'll show her affection by blowing kisses...it's so sweet that she'll do it whenever she wants too, while bashfully smiling, without it being elicited; she'll also show her affection by giving her bunny to you...her bunny that is her 'security blanket' so-to-speak and she loves more than any other thing.
- Determined - this girl doesn't let anything stand in her way of accomplishing what she needs to accomplish
- Stubborn - see "determined" above...by "anything" insert "even mom and dad"
- Independent - she wants to do everything on her own...and she's always really been that way (she was done being fed baby food at 7 months old!), but it is really, forcefully emerging now that she has the strength and capability to do so much more
We love you Ava Joy - more than all the stars in the sky and the waves in the sea (our own special saying we have).
Here are some pictures from your 12th month of this crazy beautiful life:
The formal "1 Year" Photos I took of you in the field in our neighborhood. I made the tutu myself, and ordered the custom-onsie (complete with her beloved bunny) on Etsy :-)...
This girl loves talking to her reflection (and blowing kisses to herself!) in mirrors...
Lunch out with daddy...
She loves to drink like a big girl....
She loves playing outside, and despite all the fun toys she has, sticks (as seen below) and rocks are her most favorite! Throwing rocks has to be her all-time favorite activity...
The bucket of balls is her favorite thing to play with at her Early Explorer's class. All the other toddlers head straight for the blown up jumpy, and Ava for the balls...
So, of course we had to get one for home! She loves crawling through the tunnel and forts...into the ball pit (that obviously needs more balls!)...
She loves finger painting, and painted a special "I heart Mommy" for Mother's Day...
Happy Girl at Costco!...
She's all smiles, EXCEPT for when I bring the camera out :-(
After bath time on her last night before turning one...her last night of being a baby :-(
Reading books with daddy on the night before her birthday....
I took her to one of our favorite places for her birthday - the Fountains (an outdoor shopping mall with a huge fountain that does a water show that she loves!)...
In one of the custom dresses and matching hats Auntie DD made for her for her birthday...
At the park, playing with her favorite object....the sand table. She loves throwing the sand from the table to the ground, and then picking it off the ground to throw back on the table. Too funny!
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