Ava being silly....

Ava loves to have water poured over her head

Just some pictures of Ava being silly and thoroughly enjoying her bath! It seems that I get more water on me than she does!

Ava's Favorite Spots...

Lounging

Ava's favorite hiding / hangout spot

Ava is quite the character lately. If she disappears, the most likely place to find her would be sitting in the corner next to the toilet in our masterbath. She really couldn't pick a more sanitary place to play! She will sit there the entire time I am getting ready in the morning, and also hide there at any given time during the day. It's hard to say what she finds so amusing about it, but needless to say, that is her spot. Ava certianly enjoys the thrill of hiding from you. She can be as quiet as a mouse when you are walking around calling her name. She also likes her little chair to lounge in the living room. Her definition of lounging and mine are a bit different (hers being much shorter) but she seems to enjoy having a seat that is her size.

16 Months - Independent Eating Makes For Disaster....

A clean plate & disaster after spaghetti

She really liked the juice

A sneaky grin

At 16 months, Ava's true independence is starting to show. She will no longer allow you to feed her unless there is a very small portion of whatever she is eating left, and she cannot get it herself. She was a huge fan of the spaghetti and had noodles everywhere. She thoroughly seemed to enjoy "slurping" the noodles and running her fork/spoon. She also liked the mess associated with the watermelon, but didn't like actual chunks of the fruit. She did love the juice.

Sixteen months has brought some changes in the napping category for Ava as well. With the onset of daylight savings time, she really doesn't take a morning nap anymore. She started to sleep later, usually 8:30 am or so, then could make it until around noon or shortly after for one long nap. It seems to be working pretty well, unless she wakes up too early. Then she can get cranky, but still won't take two naps.

Ava seems to be coming up with new words almost everyday. Her new favorite right now is "Daddy" which she says clear as a bell. Of course, Daddy does encourage this just a little. She tries to repeat lots of things we say, and some things she can get pretty close. She spends quite a share of time "talking on the phone" which could be holding anything from a puzzle piece to a shoe up to her ear and carrying on a conversation complete with hand motions. It is comical to watch...wonder where she could have learned that??

Cousin Sam's 4th Birthday Party & the Trampoline

Sam blowing out his candle!

Addie loved the cupcakes

Ava loved the trampoline at Sam & Addie's house

We celebrated Cousin Sam's 4th birthday in the end of February. It was fun to get the kids together, as well as see Mom and Dad. Ava is able to start to keep up with her cousins, but can't run as quite as fast. The highlight for Ava was jumping on the trampoline. She really seemed to enjoy the activity...we may have to look into getting one for ourselves as it is a nice physical exercicse for the winter months.

Ava is eating by herself & climbing stairs

Yeah, I can climb the steps!

Working her way up the stairs for the 10th time!

Texting?

Having a "serious conversation" on Mommy's cell phone

She is very proud of her new talent

Our "lefty" eating her hotdish

Ava has certainly been quite the character lately. We decided to open the gate to our stairway as it was time she learned how to climb up and down steps. Well, we didn't need to give her any invitation...she was very happy to work her way around the steps. She climbed up and down half the flight at least twenty times, and even made it all the way to the bottom and all the way back up. We finally just had to remove her from the stairs and put the gate back up or she would have continued the workout all night (just think of all the calories she burned!). She was quite excited at her new found talent. She certainly isn't ready to fly solo on stairs, but she is remarkably quick already. Ava also is exhibiting some new skills in the eating category. We have been giving her a spoon to eat with which is actually going pretty well. She uses her left hand 95% of the time, so we are thinking that is going to be her dominant hand. She can't really scoop the food up yet, but if we put it on the spoon for her, she can usually get the food to her mouth. It's obvious she is loving this new independence. Only another 5 years of disasterous meals, right?

Brad's Cousin Kelly's Wedding in Alexandria

Ava taking one of her 15 minute naps on the ride back after the ceremony (missed nap time!) Sorry - no pics of Ava looking without the binky!

A tired Ava with Brittney L.

Brad & I (first pic without Ava in forever!)

Roy, Lisa, James, Layne, & Lori

Ava being silly as usual

Mommy & Ava all ready for the wedding

We packed up on Friday to go to Alexandria, MN for Brad's cousin Kelly Estrem's wedding. As usual, we were amazed with all the gear we end up packing. It seem to get worse with each trip! The drive went remarkably well. We only stopped in Marshall which is a little over an hour away. We drove the last three hours without stopping and Ava did well. She took a couple short naps, watched her DVD, and dumped several goldfish and cheerios all about the backseat. We were thrilled she didn't cry the whole way! When we got there, we swam in the hotel which Ava loved and also visited Roy, Lisa, and Layne at their house which was nice. Saturday, we met up with Lori and James and rode with them to the wedding which was about 40 minutes away in Elbow Lake. That car trip was not so good for Ava as she was ready for a nap (I think James was getting annoyed!). The ceremony was beautiful with great music. We enjoyed it and Ava made it through about 3/4 of it before we had to take her out to run around. The reception was held right next to our hotel which was very convenient. It was great to visit with all the relatives we had not seen in a while. We thought we were going to have to leave the reception by 7:30 pm as Ava was not doing very well, but then she turned a corner and decided she liked Brad's cousin Julie and her daughter. It was nice for Brad and I to have a little time to just visit without having to keep an eye on Ava. We headed back to the hotel shortly after 10:00 where we all crashed from exhaustion. (Yes- we are old!) Sunday, we had lunch with Roy, Lisa, and Layne and then headed home. It was a very fun weekend and nice to get away, but as always, great to be back in our own beds again!

Ava is 15 months (plus almost 2 weeks-oops)

Playing with her puzzle pieces - wonder when she may want to play with the puzzle itself?

Eating applesauce with Daddy

This month seems to be getting away from me and I don't really know that I have any excuses. Ava is keeping us busy as usual. She has made some good progress in the behavior category as she is starting to understand what "no" means...that is great for us. She still opens all the cupboard doors, but will close them when we tell her to (yeah!). She seems to be able to understand much more of what we are saying. She certainly is showing us what she enjoys lately, especially music. She loves when I turn music on in the house. She immediately begins to sway back and forth...her version of "dancing". She smiles and will continue to do it for 10 to 15 minutes. Music can brighten her mood immediately! She also has a couple new words, one being "hot" and the other is "bite". Of course, both of these are related to eating....her favorite pass time. She tries to say lots of words so we are anxious as to which one we will be able to make out next. Ava has also taken a liking to TV lately. She really pays attention, especially if there is music on.

At her 15 month well check, she weighed 24 lbs 3 oz and was 30.75" long. She is doing well and has a healthy appetite. She is eating lots of veggies which I am happy she likes. Faves right now are green beans, squash, carrots, and broccoli. Some day she may eat a fruit, but it's not looking good at this point.