Big Girl Bathtime (and other big girl things)

I am beginning to see that with all Ava is doing and saying, I may need to post something more than just once a month! Just three weeks after my last post I have much to say so we'll update you all a little early.

Now let's take a moment first to point out the biggest news of the month: Ava is growing hair! Well "hairs" I should say--only a few and they are about two inches long on the top and sides of her head but... they are there. Hurray! Proof that she won't be bald forever. In the lovely and someday embarrassing photos of her in the bath we've accentuated the tufts mohawk style for all to see.

Along with a few hairs, Ava's vocabulary is growing this month and there is a new and distinguishable difference between "guck" (duck) and "kack" (quack). I've also caught what I believe are "this" and "that" and she is now much better at making noises to get her point across even if she isn't using words yet. It's so fun! I love being able to have little conversations with her. Her babbling is now out of control and adorable--the kind where you know she knows what she's saying but it comes out sounding like fluent chinese. So cute.

For the first time Ava has been making two toys interact or making a toy interact with it's surroundings which is very exciting. She also makes kissing sounds (though beware, if you go in for a kiss you'll get a good lick on the nose), and loves to dance. Her favorite activity? She puts her arms behind her head (giving you about two seconds notice) and then falls backwards and begins wiggle-dancing on the floor. She will also arch backwards while sitting in your lap, eating, going down for a nap... and want you to tickle her under her neck. She loves to be upside down and especially look at herself upside down in the mirror.

Our bedtime book routine has changed this month from mommy or daddy picking out a few books and quietly reading them together in the chair, to Ava taking all of her books out of their basket and finally handing you one and trying to climb back up onto the chair. At first I thought she would never sit still for a book again until I was amazed when she found the one she wanted and then sat quietly through the whole thing, oohing, ahhing, pointing and smiling. It's so awesome to see her taking an active part in her life, showing preferences and communicating what she wants!

The eleventh month marked a milestone in becoming a big girl when Ava started bathing in the big bathtub! She was doing so well in her little tub and it's so easy for us that we were hesitant to switch it up, but after one or two baths Ava now LOVES it. She wasn't so sure at the beginning but now she loves standing at the edge, watching with anticipation as the tub fills with water and we unleash all her floating toys. It is so much fun to watch her explore and move around, the other day she actually wanted to lay down, so I put her on her back with her ears under the water and she sang to herself for a good 2 or 3 minutes! It was HILARIOUS to watch her experiment with the new-sounding world from under water.

In the last couple of weeks Ava has been less and less interested in nursing during the midday so on February 8th I tried giving her cow's milk in a sippy cup before her lunch. She did great and didn't miss the breastfeeding one bit! So... this means we are officially weaning. I'm hoping to do so fairly slowly over the next two months or so (for both our sakes) but I think we both are ready. I have mixed feelings--I have LOVED breastfeeding and will miss that bonding time but am also very ready and excited to have some more freedom to leave her with other people during mealtimes. My goal was to breastfeed until she was a year so this was definitely a successful run!

In the last month Ava has started dairy and is enjoying it immensely. She's getting better and better at drinking from a sippy cup and loves cheese and yogurt. She also tried blueberries for the first time and she LOVES them! We've given her small bites of more adult foods and she regularly asks for whatever we are eating. We are definitely entering that time in our lives where we can't eat anything in front of her that we won't let her have! Goodbye midday chocolate chip cookies, I will miss you.

Ava has been very clingy to mommy lately and so this month we instituted crib-playtime. This is where she gets some playtime alone and can grow in the skills needed to occupy and entertain herself without mommy's help. The first few times she threw every toy out of her crib within the first few minutes and then cried for me to come get her. But, in the last week she has had a string of successful play times and has stopped throwing all her toys! She seems to enjoy the time in there and doesn't cry anymore but instead... Well, let me preface this by saying that it is somewhat unheard of for an almost-one-year-old to still be taking three naps a day. Ava LOVES sleeping and so the last three or four times she's been playing in her crib, it gets quieter and quieter in there and I go in to find her lying down, sucking her thumb amidst all her toys! I've tried opening the blinds, putting on music and turning all her musical toys as loud as they will go but nothing will stop her. So... I now know I can't leave her too long or she will fall asleep but at least I get a little peace and quiet in the morning and Ave is actually doing much better in the clingy department.

As I write this Ava is playing happily among a sea of pillows I piled in the living room, emptying a bucket of shapes and trying to fit the bucket on her head. I marvel at how big she is getting, how independent and fun! I took a video of her today doing her famous "dance" (you've got to see it to believe it) among her many pillows. If I can figure it out I'll post a bit of it so you can all see the little ham doing her thing.