One and a half!

It is jaw-droppingly shocking to me that I can now answer the question, "Oh, how old is she?" with "One-and-a-half"! My baby is truly, in age, stage and manner, a toddler.

I worked at a daycare in the one-year-old room for a number of months before Blair and I got married. There was a stark difference between the 12-18 month crowd and the 18-24 month kids. I am seeing firsthand that change taking place in my little Ava! This month she has started talking much much more, her ten word vocabulary exploding into short sentences and more confident attempts at new sounds. Without my prompting she has started saying please and thank you at all the right times (not just signing), is now speaking the word "more" and has added "baby" to most sentences: "Hi baby", "Bye baby", "Thank you baby".

Other new words and phrases include but are not limited to: water (wawa), bubble, turtle, yellow, Ruthie, Erin, Breanne (Bree), noodle (noonle), puppy, one more, excuse me (usually just "eck-use"), off, in and out. She also says "uh oh" all the time followed by whatever word makes the most sense, like "uh oh wawa" when she drops her water cup or "uh oh mommy" when I undoubtedly do something "wrong" like drop food or leave a cabinet door open. She can also say about half the letters in the alphabet and recognizes a few of them by sight. She is starting to say consecutively, "ABC" (though it is usually ABD) and "123"! It's been so fun to watch her interest in the alphabet boom all of the sudden. She loves to hear the alphabet song and will try to sing it with me but often stops with a shy smile due to performance anxiety.

As mentioned in a previous post, Ava is a big mommy-lover (I don't often complain) and likes to be wherever I am. She is also the epitome of a snuggle-bunny! Here is another picture to prove it:

One night while making dinner I looked down to find Ava lying with her head on ducky and pulling the dishtowel down for a blanket. Mommy was busy so why not snuggle as close as she could get?

Another great story of the month that shows a lot about Ava's patient, careful, obedient and tidy personality happened just yesterday. I gave her her milk cup in the afternoon and she took it into the living room. I was in the kitchen and heard, "Uuuh..." a few times as if to say, "Um, mom? Something isn't right". She makes this noise a lot so I didn't go in until she continued to do it without coming to usher me toward her problem (no doubt a lost toy, I thought). After a minute, I went looking for her only to find her holding onto the side of my desk with milk spilled all over the floor, her feet mid-puddle! I said, "Oh dear, ok, hang on", went to get some paper towels and then began wiping. I started near the kitchen and as I got closer to her feet realized I was out of paper towels. So again, I said, "Hang on sweetheart, mommy needs to get more towels". Ava replied, "yeah" and continued to hold on to the desk leg, unwavering from her milky spot. I came back and tackled the largest puddle surrounding her feet. She patiently lifted one foot, let me dry it and the floor beneath her, then the other foot and floor. Once she was in the clear she stepped back and quietly watched me clean the rest of the spatter from walls and chair legs. All of this took a solid three or four minutes and where another kid might be stomping in the milk, rainy-puddle style, or come running into the kitchen with milky feet, angry that their precious milk was no longer drinkable, my darling girl just waited patiently TWICE while I went to get towels and clean her up. It amazes me the awareness she has at such a young age, the care and again, the patience! What a sweet little heart she has!

In other news: Ava has graduated to size 5 diapers (I was so glad to use the last of those size 4's!) and is getting at least one more tooth soon. I can see it just behind the gums in the top, left-center spot. There also may be one on the bottom right but we'll have to wait and see. "Any day now" for Ava means at least two weeks from now so who knows! Her bottom two teeth which poked through two months ago are STILL not all the way up. She is a super slow tooth grower, that is for sure!

Mommy's Girl

Ava has entered a stage where she won't nap well unless we play--hard. So yesterday we ran around outside for an hour, wrestled in the living room and then mommy needed a break. I laid down on the living room floor with a pillow under my head and took a breather while Ava continued to whirl with energy around me. A minute or two later, all was quiet and I couldn't see Ava in my periphery anymore so I sat up to find her. Low and behold, my little mommy's girl had pulled a pillow down from the couch, placed it on the floor behind my head and was lying down silently behind me, sucking her thumb. I nearly giggled with happiness at how adorable she was and what a sweet little heart she has!

Nurse Ava

Yesterday Ava and I were playing hide and go seek. During a particularly precarious "hide", I managed to cut myself on the faucet in the shower. Ava watched me apply Neosporin to the wound--uncap, swipe the ointment with my finger and delicately tend to my scratch.

Fast forward about two hours. I was unpacking a few things and handed Ava a box of unopened toothpaste to hold while I went about my business. I put away the other boxes of toothpaste and made my way into the kitchen. A minute later, Ava comes in saying, "Ducky? Ducky?", finds her Ducky on the kitchen floor and then disappears again into the living room. I didn't think much of it until I heard an unusual noise coming from Ava. I followed her into the living room to find Ducky splayed on the couch, the toothpaste box opened, cap flipped, toothpaste all over Ava's index finger and a delicate glob on Ducky.

My initial, "Ooh, no no" (after I saw the look of horror and disappointment on my daughter's face) was quickly replaced with, "Ava, were you putting ointment on Ducky's boo boo?" To which she replied proudly, "Yeah!"

Unfortunately what followed was a re-capping of the toothpaste-ointment and a few minutes of sobbing from nurse Ava who's supplies had been seized. Thankfully, Ducky came out of the ordeal only slightly stickier and smelling fresh, and mommy got another reminder of how smart and caring her little girl is.