I miss writing "to" Ava in these posts, as I find it so neat that she'll one day get to look back and read all of these and know exactly what her dada and I were thinking/feeling/experiencing in raising her. I wish I had the ability to do that with my childhood.
So, Ava - you are now 21 months old! I truly cannot believe you will be TWO years old in just 3 months time. It feels like you've been in our lives forever, but just a few short months at the same time.
Favorite Sayings:
- "No no bad dog!" complete with pointing your finger at the dog...clearly, Paisley is often very naughty ;)
- "uh-oh!"
- "Bless you (insert name)" whenever someone sneezes
- "paci please"...we are SO dreading having to wean you from it at some point!
- "Dada work" whenever I tell her that dada isn't here
- Your language continues to explode, and you now say 3 and 4-word phrases all throughout the day - the latest favorite is "uh oh! Please pick up!"
Favorite Foods:
- We still love avocado, beans, beets, and veggies with hummus
- New loves include apples, bananas, all berries (with yogurt), and pretty much anything mama makes for dinner...if she's not too fond of it, all I have to do is bribe her with cheese and she will eat it all!
- If Ava were in charge of picking what she would eat, she would live on cheese, popcorn, and yogurt...good thing mama's in charge!
Favorite Activities:
- Playing at the park! I love watching your imagination as you explore all the flowers, sticks, and acorns and the things you will do with them all.
- Make-believe play with your kitchen and playdough and your babies (you are SUCH a good little mama to them)
- Any and all crafts - painting is your all-time favorite (and mama's least favorite due to the mess I have to clean up!), but you also love markers, crayons, stickers and anything we build together or science experiments we conduct
- Helping mama cook and bake. As soon as you see me start to prep something you'll come running to your learning tower, yelling "help! help!" meaning you want to help mama :)
- Playing with Paisley - she is your very best friend and I just love the bond you two have. You want to see her immediately upon waking each morning and she always brings a huge smile to your face!
- Riding any and every choo choo train
- Going to the zoo (you are still absolutely obsessed with animals)
- Going to the Children's Museum (we love how much you love experimenting and learning!)
- Building/making things - your mega blocks are your current favorite
Cute Things:
- When you're sick and we have to aspirate your nose, we always ask "can you breathe?" afterwards...you'll take two quick sniffs in and then nod your head "yes" - it's the most adorable thing ever!
- You want to kiss every owie anyone has (whether someone you know or complete stranger), complete with a loud "muah!"
- Every morning, we say goodbye to dada at the front door and you'll give him a giant kiss with a loud "muah" and then wave and say "bye" as he gets in the car. And you won't let me close the door until he drives completely out of view, while you're waving and blowing kisses the entire time.
- You LOVE the movie Monsters' Inc. and will ask so sweetly for "Monsters" when you want to watch it. Your favorite character is Sully and you'll get excited and exclaim "Sully!" each time he comes on screen
- You also LOVE Mother Goose on the Loose at the library and as soon as we pull into the parking lot, you'll start yelling "goose! goose!" and patting your legs (one of the first songs and motions we do as part of the program)
- You are still absolutely obsessed with gymnastics and your teacher, Miss Vickie. You'll say "Vickie!" as soon as we walk in and each time you're able to master something, you ask Miss Vickie to come watch you.
- You are so mothering to your friends - you'll help them up, feed them their water, try to put food in their mouths (whether they want it or not), and brush bark off their pants at the park! Unfortunately, you're going through a hitting phase right now, but thankfully 90% of the time you're still loving towards them.
- Mama's OCD was definitely passed to you...at gymnastics, you'll stop to straighten out every carpet square and even ask the kids to wait while you do so (while everyone laughs of course), and every time mama drops or spills something you'll say "mess! mess! please pick up!"
- Every time Paisley barks, I will say "knock it off!", and now every time we're on a walk and some dog barks you'll say "knock off!" really loudly :)
Here are quite a few pictures from 18-21 month time frame:
Writing a special message to Mimi in her birthday card (Elmo of course!):
You found dada's beanie and came running to me, saying "mama! hat!":
You love helping mama make "juice" in the mornings:
Having a blast at buddy Izzy's 2nd birthday party at Tiny Tumblers:
You love finger painting...and, really, anything that makes a giant mess!
Playdate with buddies Izzy and Haylee, whom you call "Zizzy" and "Lee Lee" :)
Costco trip with buddies, Haylee, Zizzy, and Emmie
Playdate to celebrate buddy Anthony's and Claire's first birthdays!
Building with your mega blocks. You love to make a tall tower and then say "knock" and you knock it over and smile :)
You love putting stickers everywhere except on paper these days!
You love our walks around the neighborhood these days now that there are cows (including adorable baby cows!) grazing...
Having a blast with mama and dada at the Children's Museum...
Mama had one of her rare mama outings with TT, Auntie Diana and Auntie Sarah (Emmie, Izzy and Haylee's mamas) we went to brunch at the Cheesecake Factory and it was oh-so yummy and so nice to carry on an actual conversation!
You can't get enough of TT these days...thankfully, Emmie is happy to share her mama :)
Playdate with buddies Anabelle, Emmie, and Haylee
Swings are still your absolute favorite part of every park!
Being a little mama :)
Loving on your Paisley :)
The Greenhoe's had us over for a lovely dinner with the Marks Family (Haddie and Andrew)
You LOVE being naked and will ask me and dada by saying "naked please"
Your favorite part of the zoo these days are the "fishies"
First pigtails!
Still making this face when I ask you to smile haha...
When did you grow up?!
Watching Monsters Inc. with popcorn in bed with mama while we were both sick with nasty colds!
Rainy days call for sticker parties!
While you and I were swinging at the park, you looked at the ground and exclaimed, "Fishy!" and ran over to it. Again, I ask you to smile and you make this adorable face instead...
Feeding baby some puffs, as I hear you say "ay peas!" (translation: say please!)
Playing little mama to your beloved bunnies...
TT was so very kind to watch you while mama and dada met with a mortgage broker, and sent me this adorable photo!
Love playing with shaving cream!
Twinning with buddy Emmie at Mother Goose on the Loose!
I try to take you every other week to the choo choo train :)
Playing with Emmie and TT
Feeding Mimi popcorn during facetime!
Dada said it was time to leave the park and go home, and you ran away and jumped in this bush instead :)
Dada had to go to Puerto Rico for a week, and thank goodness for facetime, because you sure missed him (and mama did too)!
My pro ladder climber at Tiny Tumblers :)
You love the ball pit!
While making dinner, I look over and see you setting up baby with Paisley - warms my heart!
More fun at the Children's Museum!
And, of course your favorite part of the children's museum was playing with the baby, wrapping her in blankets and putting her to bed :)
Auntie DD heard about how much you love Monsters Inc and made you this outfit! You LOVE it and want to wear it every day (and get VERY upset when I explain that we cannot wear it because it's dirty). You'll point to Sully and say "Sully!" and give him a kiss :)
Auntie DD also sent you an adorable Bunny jumper and matching hat, and you LOVE the hat and will find it yourself and put it on all the time!
Again in the hat!
More naked baby time!
We had a playdate at our house for buddies, Emmie, Lyla, and Anthony
Again in the hat!
Love love love bubbles!
OCD like mama - cleaning the playground with diaper wipes!
I left you and Paisley alone for 45 seconds and came back to Paisley like this!
Poor Paisley still had it on an hour later...
The next day, while we were at gymnastics, Paisley let us know she was done with you putting the bunny ears on her. When you found this you said "uh-oh! mama! No no bad dog! PAISLEY!!!"
Mimi and Boompa (my parents) saw how much you love cars and sent you this for Easter! You loooooove it and pretty much ask us to push you non-stop in it!
They also sent you a hello kitty easter card that came with stickers - you LOVED it!
Painting a giant easter egg! :)
