Ava and Willow

Ava is a bit afraid of dogs, but we are working with her - teaching her that doggies are sweet, loving animals. This is her Grandma Howard's dog, Willow. She loves to let Willow lick her hand, and she loves to feed her carrots.




In this last picture, she is feeding Willow a carrot.

Smart Kid

Ava loves to look for diamonds when we are driving down the road. By diamonds, I mean road signs in the shape of a diamond. (When she was younger, she would look for octagons) Wednesday night, on the way home from Papa and Mamaw's house, she started saying, "Say amarillo diamond." I knew she was speaking Spanish, but I didn't know *what* she was saying. I wondered if "amarillo" meant diamond in Spanish. She kept saying this over and over as she saw 4 or 5 signs. I actually felt like I was in a "Go, Diego, Go!" episode. :)

Today she said the word again in front of Michael. So I told him the story. He informed me that "amarillo" was yellow in Spanish. Then he asked me if the signs were yellow. I know you are not going to be surprised by my answer... they were! Is my kid a genius or what?!? I just had to share that story. She also impressed me tonight by counting to 12. I do work with her on stuff, but I promise you all that I do not sit around and try to push stuff on her. I understand that she is only 2! I know you all are thinking, "well, she's in preschool now", but let's remember that she has only been in for 2 days. Okay, I am just bragging now. :)

I forgot to mention that she can also count in Spanish. Yes, I'm still bragging.

First Day of Preschool

Ava's first "official" day of preschool was Sept. 1st. I was a little worried about the first day because open house had not gone well. Ava was used to being in a different room all summer. She had never met her teachers before, and none of her summer camp friends are in her class. She did cry when we left her on that first day. But when we took her back on Friday, she walked right in, gave Ms. Daniela a big smile, and said goodbye to mom and dad! I never should have doubted her!



In her classroom

Big Girl Bed

Wow. I am approaching a year since I last updated this blog. Sorry to be a stranger! I think I got caught up in the winter holidays and just never sat back down to update. So here we are, August 2010. Ava is growing up so fast. She started preschool summer camp back in July, and she loves it. She will start regular preschool on September 1st. We just want her to learn things like standing in line, waiting her turn, following directions... stuff like that.

This weekend we put Ava into her toddler bed. It is something I have been putting off for so long because she doesn't nap. I am afraid to lose "rest time" in her crib. She has slept in the bed 2 nights, and she has done fantastic. Mostly because she doesn't nap! She is exhausted by bed time! I guess there are some advantages to skipping naps. Here are some pics of her "big girl bed".



She decided to lay the other way.


Playing in her room the next day.

Hill Ridge Farms

Sorry that it has been a month since I posted anything. I have some random fun pictures of Ava, but just haven't taken the time to do a posting. On Friday, Michael and I took Ava to Hill Ridge Farms as part of an activity with my mom's group. My friend Elizabeth, and her son Quint were the only other ones to come. Even though it was chilly and the ground was wet, Elizabeth and I were both so excited to take the kids. So we went anyway. We were so glad we did. We all had a really good time. Especially Ava and Quint. Neither of them wanted to leave.

We took a hayride to the pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins. Ava liked the hayride a lot. We went through mazes and fed the farm animals. The kids liked playing in what I call "the corn gazebo". Ava really liked the "Hay Jump". You will see a picture of her and her daddy lying in the hay. If you want to see even more pictures, go to my Facebook album.

Community Day

Our town had a community festival today at a local park, and they had a lot of nice things to do out there. All of the activities and games were free. We don't have pictures of any of the activities, really, because Ava is still a little young. Plus, she was a bit cranky. They had different bounce houses in the gated tennis courts (so toddlers couldn't escape). They had a pony ride, rock climbing wall, and a huge bouncy slide. I think they had some toss games and maybe a little putt-putt type course. They had some different live animals from a local petting zoo. We had a pretty good time. I'm looking forward to next year when Ava is closer to age 3.

Ava's Entourage

Well, I guess this is the age for attachment objects (don't know for sure; I stopped reading the development books). For several months, Ava has loved her little pink beanie baby bear and her blanket. They stayed in the crib, but were always present for bed and naps.

Now she has grown quite fond of her Elmo and purple plush doll (a gift from our friend Debbie Gossert when she was born). She tries to take all 4 of these things everywhere. It's "bent" (blanket), "Melmo", "baby", and "baby". We call them her entourage. She has fed Elmo Dairy Queen, water, juice, bananas... but, she also brushes his teeth. I just thought you all would get a kick out of Ava and her entourage.


Cute pics of her feeding them breakfast, and pulling the whole entourage in her train.