Shoogie Goodness

The long-awaited catch-up

2007-03-27T11:22:00.000-04:00

My goodness it's been a long time since I posted here. Major road-trip + major car crash + rapid new car search + major home catch-up after all that = no time for blog posting. I'll do my best to recreate the past in pics at least. Scroll down for new old content.

Mud Castles

2007-03-25T21:52:00.000-04:00

Ava came to me insisting that we build a mud castle together today. Having no idea what we would be using for "mud," I told her I would wait in the living room while she went and got some mud. She came back with a shopping cart full of plastic tools and doctoring equipment first. That was the mud. After we carefully stacked those items, she told me not to go anywhere while she went for more mud. She did this five or six times, each time producing more and more random small toys to add to the stack. She was quite pleased with our mud castle in the end. Not sure where in the world she got the idea for a mud castle.

Chalking!

2007-03-22T17:39:00.000-04:00

I like to chalk. Mommy let me get some big chalk as a special treat! I like to make multi-colors the best. Mommy drew a hopscotch for us and a flower. It's fun to chalk!

Zonked out.

2007-03-18T19:34:00.000-04:00

This is what might happen at 5PM on a Sunday if you don't give your still-phasing-out-of-naptime preschooler a nap after a tired weekend.

"I'm the coin lady."

2007-03-15T16:18:00.000-04:00

We knew we would need to pay a lot of tolls on our trip to and from Boston, so we got a roll of quarters before we left town. Well, most of the tolls were multiple dollars, so we just used cash most of the time. When our car rolled, the majority of that ten-dollar roll of quarters was still in its wrapper. After the crash, there were quarters everywhere. So the next day when we went to the wrecking yard to get our stuff out of the totalled vehicle, we gave Ava the job of collecting all the coins we could find. She carried a special purse and dubbed herself "the coin lady." After we got home, she continued to carry the purse of coins around the house, calling herself the coin lady and paying her tolls under the bathroom door. I found quarters...I mean "tolls"...in random places for days. Such an imagination.

The new photo face

2007-03-10T16:29:00.000-05:00

I think she's trying to get me back for taking over five thousand pictures of her in the last two years. It is rare that I capture a genuine smile or even a normal look on her face.

Boston!

2007-03-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

Mommy and Daddy and I went to Boston to visit Aunt Holly and Mr. Erik for Spring Break. It was fun! We got to ride on the train. They call it the "T." I guess because it has the letter T on it. And there was ice everywhere, so we had to be careful outside. One day we went to the aquarium! There were ALL KINDS of fish! I even saw a GIANT turtle swimming in the water, and Mr. Ray! I saw a huge whale skeleton and lots of penguins. And they had anemones like where Nemo lives, and purple sea urchins too...that's my favorite color. Aunt Holly and I builded a fish sculpture in the play area for kids. There were lots of jellyfish at the aquarium too, and I could even make them change colors!

We got to eat DONUTS for breakfast one day! And ice cream for a snack break too! And we went with Mr. Erik to the baseball park, but no one was playing that day because they were practicing somewhere else. And it was too cold. That man who talked to us about the baseball park called me Eva. I didn't like the wind.

The next day, Daddy said the wind was the coldest wind I've ever felt in my whole life! We went home that day. But we stopped in a place called New Jersey to eat pizza with Mr. Keith and Mrs. Julie. Mr. Keith was silly. Every time I told him something, he said, "Get out of town!" I changed to my pajamas before we got back in the car so I could go right to bed when we got home. But it was morning already when we got home because a deer got in the road, and we crashed our car. We even went upside down! And my car seat was a little bit sideways, but I was okay. They took me out of the window and put me in the hospital truck. Daddy came with me, and we waited for the helpers to get Mommy out of the car. Finally, Mommy came in the hospital truck, and she was laying on a board with a special helmet just like me! And then we went for a ride all the way to the hospital. The doctors said I was okay and I could play while we waited for Mommy's doctors to do x-rays and to get the glass out of her hand. It was really cut up from all that glass. But Mommy said she was okay, and I was okay, and Daddy was okay, so that made it a good day, even if our car was crashed and we couldn't have it back.

Another snow day!

2007-02-25T16:13:00.000-05:00

Feb 2007: Ava loves to cook

2007-02-16T11:24:00.000-05:00

Even Princesses can cook up a tasty vegetable soup.

We often hear, "OH!! I can help with that!!!" Or, "Mommy, can I stir it?"

We celebrated Valentine's Day with a heart-shaped "Mr. Daddy Pizza" with a face made of yummy asparagus (Ava's idea!).

Packing peanuts are especially great for cooking anything you can imagine! (If you have a three-year-old imagination, anyway.)

Real snow!

2007-02-07T16:00:00.000-05:00

We finally got "real" snow, though it was too dry to pack together for a snowman. Ava was pretty disappointed about that. But she was happy to make snow angels and pretend with the snow that she was making Fruity Bran Muffins.

Silly McGillicutty

2007-02-04T16:16:00.000-05:00

You'd think it was the fourth of July!

New Old Posts

2007-02-03T17:29:00.000-05:00

Today while cleaning the "office," I found a quote from November that should have been posted ages ago. But that was during a very rough time for me, so it got put aside. I like things to be chronological on the blog, which serves as Ava's life journal, so it's a hidden gem in November. You can click the above link to make it easy.

Also, I managed to finally download the photo of Ava with Santa, too.

QOTD 1.26.07

2007-01-26T17:23:00.000-05:00

"I'm in Virginia, so Papa can't get a real big bite of my arm. I'm far away!" -Ava

Marge and Unifer

2007-01-25T20:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight at dinner, (out of the blue) Ava expressed an interest in learning about the planets. I suggested that maybe we should go to the library and check out some books about the planets on Monday and, furthermore, perhaps we should have a day each week when we have "Mommy School." It would be like going to preschool all morning, and we could learn about something Ava wondered about and do a project and read books and have playtime, just like at school, but at home with Mommy. Ava's response to this idea was very favorable, bordering on excitement...the possibilities were endless! She said, "You mean learn about all the planets like Earth and Marge and Unifer!?!

Yeah. I think that's a good place to start. I could stand to learn a thing or two about Marge and Unifer myself.

Good advice

2007-01-24T21:32:00.000-05:00

"Mommy, you're gonna be big like Daddy some day when you eat all those cashews." -Ava

(If only it were that easy to grow during adulthood!)

In Wintertime...

2007-01-22T19:47:00.000-05:00

It's finally behaving like winter here, but this certainly wasn't what we had in mind when they predicted several inches of snow. It sure was a pretty snowfall to watch, but the ice that came after took away our chances at making another snowman or sledding down our "hill." Maybe next time! Ava had fun anyway. She invented a game of crunching up the ice into manageable pieces so we could pick them up and hoist them down the hill.

Happy New Ear!

2007-01-10T21:23:00.000-05:00

So much for getting the blog all caught up. I'll just start trying to keep current and maybe one day I'll find time to recap the events of the late fall sometime in the future. Right now all the photos are on a different computer entirely, so I can't really even post pics to suffice. Anyway...

We had a nice visit to Texas, though we are still in the throes of recovery. Ava's way of expressing well-wishes for the new year was "Happy New Ear!" which I found rather hilarious. We have been making use of our days with Daddy at home from school now that we're back. Our Christmas stuff is back in storage, which displeased Ava greatly, I might add. She mentions it regularly. We have finally gotten several home projects finished or underway. Daddy has sold a bunch of textbooks, which is great help financially. (Every penny counts until at least September!) And most of all, we make somali. Somali is Ava's culinary invention, and it is every bit as succulent as one might expect somali to be. We make somali any time of day and have a "somali party" when we do. Or perhaps we serve it at our restaurant instead...with "Ava's Italian Salad" and cherry pie for dessert. (We have a board with today's special and everything.) I'd say this is by far Ava's favorite activity at the moment. And we are all expected to participate after our family dinner is over each evening. She has learned that we must clean up our real supper first, and then we will give ourselves over to somali time until her bath time. What could be better?

King Daddy and the Friendly Pink Princess

2006-12-17T13:56:00.000-05:00

I'm so behind on Ava's blog. There's no way I can adequately recap the events of the past couple of months (Ava's birthday, Thanksgiving/visit from Aunt Holly & Mr. Erik, Advent Adventure at church, etc.), so I'll just skip ahead for now and post something current. Maybe tomorrow I'll find a few minutes to fill in a bit, so be sure to scroll down for new old content.

This is a picture of Ava dressed us as the "Friendly Pink Princess," which is a common character in our home now. She likes to get Daddy to dress up as the king too.

Chatting with Santa

2006-12-10T22:38:00.000-05:00

Santa, I want an umbrella and a big box of candacanes.

QOTD 11.17.06

2006-11-17T17:24:00.000-05:00

Ava: "Mommy, did you remember that Ally and Tank said I am the winner in life?"

Mama: "Really?"

Ava: "Yeah. Because you love me every day."

Jack-o-lantern!

2006-10-30T21:46:00.000-05:00

We carved a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern tonight! The insides of the pumpkin made my hands feel yucky. I told Mommy I needed a glove for that job, but she said we didn't have one small enough for me. I wanted a nackin to wipe my hand off. Mommy did the yucky jobs, and I stirred the bowl of seeds. Mommy made a face for our pumpkin, and then we put candles in it to see it glow!

Pony Party!

2006-10-28T20:52:00.000-04:00

Today was my friend Jimmy's birthday party! It was a pony party. We got to ride the ponies around a circle! Daddy went with me. And I got to brush a donkey, too. He started talking to us, but it didn't sound like "hee haw" like I thought. It was really loud! And they had a great playground. That was my favorite! Then there was pony cake and Jimmy got to open his presents. I liked to sit in the carriage and play.

Ahnnie Update

2006-10-27T21:26:00.000-04:00

It seems that Ahnnie was not permanently dismissed. Now Ava clings to both Ahnnie and Pink Shirt (aka "Pinkie" or "Mommy's special shirt") relatively equally. She went through a phase where Pink was more likely the chosen one if she had to choose, but it seems to be Ahnnie now. Anyway, she's still one of the family.

Little Princess

2006-10-19T21:00:00.000-04:00

Ava loves to play dress-up in her princess outfit right down to the earrings and "glass" slippers. You can't tell it very well in the picture, but her left hand is perched like that to show her ring too.

Dinosaur Museum!

2006-10-14T23:44:00.000-04:00

Today Mommy and Daddy took me on a vacation to see the dinosaurs and fossils at the Dinosaur Museum! They were SO BIG! But they're not real dinosaurs, just bones that the paleontologists put together for the museums. Dinosaurs don't live on the earth now. They're extinct. But their bones are at the museum so we can see them. But they're not alive, so I'm not scared. If they were alive, they would say "RAAARRR!" real loud. I got to see a triceratops and a brachiosaurus (but Daddy kept telling me it was really a diplodocus) and my favorite teradactyl. He's like a dinosaur bird. And I think I even saw a tyrannosaurus rex. And there were cave men and all sorts of animal bones like sloths and mammoths and lots and lots of them. It was so fun! But I wanted to go to the zoo too, and we stayed at the dinosaur museum too long to go to the zoo for very long. So we just got to see a few animals and then we had to go get our car out of the parking lot so it wouldn't cost a lot of money. And Daddy got stuck in the long line while Mama and I waited, and it was COOOOLD outside! Finally, Daddy got around to us so we could get in the car, and we waited some more. And then Daddy finally got to take a turn paying the man in the little room, and we went to eat mexican food at the restaurant before we went home from our vacation. What a fun day!

Silly girl. It's the best she'll give me nowadays when I ask for a smile.

First School Field Trip

2006-10-12T15:24:00.000-04:00

Today, Ava's preschool class went to the apple orchard to pick apples! We got first shot for the season at the pink ladies, which was great because those trees were LOADED all the way down low where the little ones could pick their own apples...or in Ava's case, attempt to. We got to take home two free half-peck bags of apples that we picked ourselves and two little pumpkins. Plus, in a moment of weakness, I bought a bag of their delicious apple cider donuts as a bonus treat. They are just too good to pass up! Other than being cool and windy, it was a great day for apple picking, and the kids had a good time.

Beautiful Day Fun

2006-10-09T20:15:00.000-04:00

Today was a beautiful day, so we decided to have a picnic at a local park. We had to make a stop first, during which time Ava noticed that Putt-Putt was open, and she asked if we could play Putt-Putt today. Sounded like a great idea, so we took our picnic to Putt-Putt instead. We always enjoy watching Ava's hockey-style putting technique and propensity toward walking the ball to the hole and dropping it in. She insisted on doing it "Ally and Tank's way." Of course.

Picture of Mommy

2006-10-07T15:11:00.000-04:00

Apparently I look something like a sad strawberry to my daughter. :)

End of Ahnnie?

2006-10-06T17:19:00.000-04:00

In January of 2005, "Ahnna Shurt" came to be. Ahnna Shurt (that's how she pronounced it...yes, I know how to spell shirt) soon became Ava's required security object, especially for sleeping. She would sometimes be okay with leaving the house without it, but we often grabbed it just in case. Ahnna Shurt has gone everywhere with us for almost two years. In the past year, Ahhna Shurt became Ahnna Shirt and then just Ahnna and later Ahnnie, or sometimes Ahn (and referred to as a female). Ahnnie is like another member of our family.

Ahnnie has been a key player in Ava's transition to preschool. Once the separation anxiety kicked in a few weeks into it, Ahnnie was all that would soothe Ava at school in my absence. Before long, it seemed that Ahnnie was not just relied upon on occasion during the morning but instead wagged everywhere for the entire time and through all activities...including painting. So Tuesday, Ahnnie was tainted with dark green paint all over when I came to get Ava from school (as was Ava's own shirt and arms). The teachers apologized, explaining that it's just impossible to keep all fourteen kids and and Ahnnie under control during a painting activity without enough smocks. (I won't go into my frustration about the lack of smocks. This is not the first time her clothes were permanently stained with paint.)

Ahnnie was of course required for nap time after we got home, so her stains had been setting in all day. Ava agreed to allow her to "get a bath" as soon as she finished her nap, and true to her word, Ava brought her to me straightaway when she woke up. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that Ahnnie was the next priority wash load, and I had started a load of sheets or something instead. So Ahnnie had to wait. And then it was time to go pick up Daddy. And then supper. Etc. Bedtime rolled around, and we were faced with a difficult decision--let Ava sleep with painted Ahnnie and thus ensure that Ahnnie would be painted green forever, or convince Ava to let her go for one night and try to make it with something else to sleep with instead. Ava decided on the latter on the condition that she could sleep with my special childhood bear. Deal. She got all tucked in with my bear and then said, "Mommy, why don't you get me your other special shirt that feels just like my Ahnnie." (She was referring to the pink one, which ironically enough was the original security object that was cast aside after Ahnnie was introduced as a substitute during Pink Shurt's first bath.) Fair enough.

Ava was taken aback by how much the pink shirt seemed like Ahnnie. For a second there, I was sure she thought I had already cleaned Ahnnie and handed her back to Ava to sleep with. Nope. Just feels the same. Well, the next day when Ahhnie was as clean as she would ever get, I showed Ava the stains and explained that they would be there forever after I dried Ahnnie. She agreed that we should dry it anyway, so I did. But after Ahnnie was dry and ready again, a funny thing happened. Ava told me to have Ahnnie and she would just keep the pink shirt...sound familiar!?

When I told her she could only take one shirt to school with her on Thursday, she even chose Pinkie over Ahnnie, casting Ahnnie aside with such fervor that you would never know Ahnnie had been cherished for all this time. "I don't want that orange shirt. I'll just leave that orange shirt at home and take Mommy's special pink shirt instead." Orange shirt!? Not Ahnnie anymore!? (Ahnna was the original name because that's how Ava originally pronounced orange.) Ever since then, Ava has pretty much used them interchangeably with a clear preference for "Pinkie." Is this the end of Ahnnie as we've known her? It's sort of sad.

Pictures of Daddy

2006-10-06T17:09:00.000-04:00

This first one is Daddy's favorite. It's a picture "of Daddy when he's hot outside and a big whale with fish inside it." Drawn 10/5/2006

This is another rendition of Daddy, complete with glasses and eyes with irises and pupils (she studied his eyes before drawing the different circles, then she asked what they are called), ears (the two tiny straight lines sticking out of the head), hair (the squiggly lines coming off the top of the head), a happy smile, a nose (straight line across the middle), and plenty of "those little dots on his face" otherwise known as whiskers. :) Drawn 10/5/2006

The passing of Granny

2006-09-27T07:47:00.000-04:00

Apparently Granny died recently. I didn't know that. Ava told me this morning in the bathroom that Granny died and went to Heaven to be with Jesus, and now there's just Ally and Tank and Olliff. (Olliff!?) When I inquired about Olliff, it was explained to me that Olliff came when Granny died. He wears black pants and a black shirt, and he lives at her house with Ommi and Toomneau. (Who!? There are more!?) When I asked what we know about Ommi and Toomneau, she described them to me: They wear green shorts and a black shirt and white shoes. "Are they twins?" I asked. "Mm-hm," she answered in the positive. (Maybe I planted that idea by mistake. Now I'll always wonder if they really were twins before I said that. Oops.)

Daddy was aware of Granny's death; he just hadn't thought to put me in the loop on that. He said Olliff was introduced to him as Golliff, but when he pressed Ava about it, she insisted his name is just Olliff now. I wonder where all this will go...

Meet Ally and Tank...and Granny too

2006-09-21T09:50:00.000-04:00

Shortly before we left Texas, Ava's imaginary friend Ally emerged. Ally was mentioned from time to time, but not terribly often at first, and I assumed it was probably the name of a character on some kid TV show she had been watching on cable during the summer. Before long I decided that Ally was in fact not a character on a show but a product of Ava's imagination, right down to the name. I know that it is common for bright children to have imaginary friends, but I hadn't really expected it this early, if at all. Parenthood is always full of suprises.

I believe we were on our way home from Texas when Tank was first mentioned. Tank is such an unusual name for a child to choose out of thin air that I had to ask and ask until I was corrected enough to be sure it was Tank. I was so surprised that there was yet another imaginary friend that I failed to commit to memory what that first mention of Tank entailed. As soon as his name was established, I asked Ava if Tank is friends with Ally. Of course he is. And I don't think they have been mentioned separately since Tank arrived on scene. They are a dynamic duo in our family now.

A couple of weeks after we got home, Ava started referring to "Granny" a lot. One day I finally asked her if she was really talking about Gran (my mother) when she says "Granny." She expressed that Granny is just Granny, not Gran or Nana (her other grandmother). Granny is different. And not surprisingly (at this point anyway), Granny is friends with Ally and Tank, although she is commonly referred to separately from them.

So far they are only imaginary, not invisible. So we haven't had to start holding spaces open at the dinner table or in the car for these three individuals, and no one has sat on any of them yet (though that wouldn't surprise me!). Ally and Tank seem to be Ava's alter egos. Their presence is sheerly a vehicle for Ava to indirectly express her own opinions, preferences, and ideas, and they are particularly useful in this manner. We often hear, "No, don't do it like that! Ally and Tank do it like this..." etc. There is an Ally and Tank approved method for hair washing, for setting the table, and countless other things. When we talk about the colors Ava is choosing to color with, for example, she might tell me that her choices are Ally and Tank's favorite colors, as opposed to Ava's usual favorite color--purple. When we select an activity to do together, it might be chosen because that's what Ally and Tank like to do. You get the idea.

So what do we know about Ally, Tank, and Granny?

Ally seems to be gender neutral, possibly an older child (which to a little one is almost the same as a grown-up, especially when you have a child-sized mother!). I say gender neutral because when I noticed Ava always referred to Ally with "he/his/him," I asked her if Ally was a boy or a girl and she was non-committal either way. Ally seems to represent childhood/youth, and gender doesn't matter. Or maybe it's Ava's way of trying to figure out the social constructs that are emerging in her world (pink toys v. tough toys, "girl toys" v. toys Ava really likes even though there's a boy on the box--like tools, for example). She observes people and works to relate her observations to self. Boys don't have pink toys, wear dresses, or carry purses, so those must be "girl" things. Boys like trucks, trains, sports, and tools, so those must be "boy" things...hey wait a minute, I'm a girl and I like all those things! What? Perhaps gender neutral Ally is helping her figure those things out.

All we really know about Tank is that he's a "big, strong man, and he's tall like Daddy." And Daddy seems to remember a conversation that revealed that Tank is possibly a soldier. Other than that, all we know about Ally and Tank is that they are learning to swim. Ally and Tank seem to be less about what they are like than they are about what they prefer.

Now, Granny is a different story. I haven't figured out Granny's purpose exactly. She is mentioned frequently, but more in the historical past tense somehow, usually about things she has done or places she has been, etc. It's hard to explain. Ava might bring Granny up in conversation, so we'll ask questions to lead the conversation, and before long the answers reveal all sorts of odd things about Granny. Sometimes she lives near Ally and Tank, or other times within very close proximity to wherever we are at that moment. But usually she lives next to Nana and Papa's house in Texas.

Daddy thinks Granny is Ava's way of making sense of grandparents. Ava knows four distinctly different grandparents (spanning an age range of almost twenty years), has fairly close relationships (close enough to know them anyway) with two great-grandfathers, hears the frequent mention of three other great-grandparents she rarely sees, and is very interested in her cousin's grandmother, who is referred to as "Granny Annie" and who seems an awful lot like "Granny" to me, at times. Who are these grandparents? Why are they so different? What do they do? Where do they go? What do they like? Why are they all so different? It is plausible that Granny was invented to figure all this out or at least to project Ava's ideas on the subject.

I find it so very fascinating that Ava seems to have created in her mind a way to make sense of society in three categories: childhood/youth, adulthood, and (from her perspective) older age. I can't wait to find out how these "people" will evolve in her mind and whether new Imaginaries will emerge.

At the Discovery Museum

2006-09-20T16:18:00.000-04:00

Sleeping Sweetheart

2006-09-19T21:03:00.000-04:00

Ahnnie is never far from her head or face. Sprawled out with covers kicked off is most common. And she's getting really big in her bed! Sweet big girl.

Privacy to a Two-year-old

2006-09-18T21:47:00.000-04:00

Daddy went into the bathroom, and before he could close the door himself, Ava had grabbed the knob and begun closing the door, saying, "I'll just come in and close the door for you so you can have some privacy."

Tiny Little Cakes

2006-09-06T15:39:00.000-04:00

Yesterday while supper was in the oven, Ava and I stirred up some lemon cake mix and we made it in my tiny muffin pan. The resulting treats were dubbed "tiny little cakes." Ava was very excited about the tiny little cakes.

Today we went up to the school to visit Daddy during lunch hour, and with us we took a big ziploc bag of our tiny cakes to share with friends we expected to see while we were there. We were sitting there enjoying our tiny cakes when our good friend Mr. Jim strolled by in deep conversation with another student. As soon as he noticed us, he came over to talk to Ava, and they went through the standard greeting routine. I then suggested that Ava offer them a tiny cake. So Ava said, "Would you like to have one of our tiny little cakes?" Jim said, "I would love a tiny little cake. Thank you, Ava." Ava reached in the bag to choose one for him and handed it over, doing likewise for Jim's friend. Then Jim proceeded to engage Ava in conversation, which brought them to the whereabouts of Mrs. Tricia. At some point, Ava got uncomfortable about making the assumption that Mrs. Tricia was at the law school only to be met with the explanation that she doesn't go to law school but a different school. When Ava gets flummoxed during conversational situations, her body language suggests as much, and she typically says some nonsequitor in her most anxious moment. (Usually it happens when someone asks her a question she doesn't know the answer to.) She was nervous about something she didn't know how to respond to, so she matter-of-factly stated to Jim (both hands on her belly for effect), "My tummy is saying 'HELP! HELP! I just need another tiny little cake.' "

I thought Jim's friend was going to die laughing. She kept exclaiming, "She's FANTASTIC!" over and over. Those who have not experienced the wealth that Ava's mind has to offer conversationally are always taken aback in these moments. We just find her amusing and delightful. And that was pretty darn amusing, lemme tell ya. I wish you could have been there to hear it: "My tummy is saying 'HELP! HELP! I just need another tiny little cake.' "

First Day of Preschool!

2006-09-05T22:24:00.000-04:00

Leaving for school

Today was Ava's first day to go to "Spanish School." (It's a Spanish immersion program, so she'll be spoken to almost exclusively in Spanish by her native Venezuelan and Costa Rican teachers, hence Ava's calling it "Spanish School.") She was very excited to go. She's been asking daily for over a week if that was the day to go to Spanish School. On Sunday, after we got ready for church she asked, "Daddy, can we just go to my Spanish School first before we go to chuch?" Needless to say, there were no tears, and her teacher reported that she did very well the whole three-and-a-half hours. She was eager to collect her coloring page when I got there, so she was hardly interested in my presence. She only agreed to come to me when she realized that I might be better able to get the attention of the teacher she was trying to ask for her paper. Once we had the art, we were on our way.

She was singing (or attempting to) some song in Spanish during the car ride home from school; all I could infer was that it has to do with colors. (I heard "amarillo and rojo" in there somewhere.) Evidently one little girl had Blue's Clues yogurt with her lunch and the boy with the red shirt and shoes had yogurt too. That's about all she would say about the children. My conversations with her revealed that perhaps she had to be encouraged quite a bit to take part in circle time with the other children, and that perhaps she did not agree to sit down in the circle with them but rather chose to stand. Other than that, I heard of no negatives. By the time Daddy was asking her about school, the only answer she would give was "Hasta luego." It's going to be a long year! :)

Cats and cows and spiders, oh my!

2006-09-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

I mentioned some time ago that Ava started figure drawing over the summer. Well, she has moved on from people (big round faces with varying degrees of facial features with legs, usually) to animals and insects now. A few days ago, she drew something on her Doodle Pro, so I asked her what she had drawn. She told me it was a cat and brought it across the room for me to see it. It looked like a cat! (I didn't have my camera, but I had a witness!)

Today it was a spider...all on her own...not even a suggestion from me. And count 'em...eight legs! Not sure if that was deliberate or lucky, but still! How cool!

I am so proud of her surprisingly early budding-artist tendencies. I give much credit to the makers of the early Blue's Clues episodes where Steve actually drew the clues instead of the animated clues popping up automatically like they do on the newer episodes. While I was feeling guilty about how much TV she was watching all summer, she was busy internalizing the activity of drawing parts to make a whole object on purpose. She was learning to draw in her mind, and that's something I wouldn't have expected from her for at least another year, so I probably wouldn't have even thought to encourage it. See, TV isn't all bad.

Texas has been fun...

2006-08-14T23:52:00.000-04:00

...but I'm ready to go home. Mommy will tell you all about the summer in pictures later.

Gatherin' 'round the good stuff

2006-08-13T19:19:00.000-04:00

Almost two weeks ago, we ordered pizza from Pizza Hut. On the box was their slogan: "Gather 'round the good stuff." I wondered aloud how many years Pizza Hut had kept that slogan, as I can remember it from my childhood. We chatted about slogans with Ava for a few minutes and then moved on to other topics.

Today, Ava and I made cookies together after nap time for our long road trip. She patiently waited and helped with all the steps to get the cookie dough ready to place on the cookie sheet, and when it was done, she stirred it and said, "We're gatherin' 'round the good stuff, are we, Mama!?"

I found that amusing. You never know what she might say.

Picture of Daddy

2006-08-12T23:59:00.000-04:00

Ava has recently started figure drawing. We were quite surprised after her first-ever drawing of Nana several weeks ago. Now it's become a common occurrence, and most people look very similar to today's picture of Daddy:

I LOVE her figure drawings just like they are, and I must admit I'll be a little disappointed when they begin looking a little more human than the Kumon logo. Just as I will be sad when she finds out that Coco-Colo is actually Coca-Cola. It's the little things...

Summer blog drought

2006-07-27T15:59:00.000-04:00

Posts on Shoogie Goodness have been few and far between this summer because 1) I am not in the habit of writing regularly while we are out of our life routine, 2) I spent almost every day of the summer until very recently needing a nap during Ava's naptime (probably even more than she did), and 3) the photos are on the laptop, which I dread using, so I just don't post at all. I wasn't being lazy, I was being pregnant. And I was looking forward to posting this week the very cute photo of Ava holding a sign that reads "I'm going to be a big sister" to let everyone know our happy news.

Unfortunately, life took an unexpected turn, and that is no longer our news. My first prenatal visit last Tuesday revealed that our baby had died. I think it was hardest of all to tell Ava because I could see genuine understanding in her eyes and, with it, a sort of loss of innocence. She seemed satisfied that our baby died and went away to heaven, but Dr. B would fix Mommy's tummy so it could have a new baby inside. "We'll get a new baby," I told her. I hope that is truth.

When I was in the depths of my sorrow the day after the news, Ava wouldn't leave me. She was so compassionate. She asked me why I was crying, and I answered her gently but frankly. "I am very sad because our baby died, and I was looking forward to that baby being a part of our family with you and me and Daddy." She quietly snuggled close and touched me softly, saying "It'll be okay, Mommy." "Yeah," I said, "we just have to say goodbye to this baby." The room was silent for a few contemplative seconds, and Ava said very quietly and earnestly, "Goodbye, Baby." That seemed to bring her closure, and I am so glad. If only it were that easy for me. She seems to be far more understanding of my occasional bouts of sadness than I ever would have expected of a two-year-old. It's amazing how much her little mind can absorb and process.

I have spent the week going back and forth in my mind about whether to ever acknowledge our loss on Ava's blog, but it is a part of her life as much as mine, and it explains a lot about the past few very lean months on her blog. Maybe life will pick back up in the coming weeks. Keep checking in to see.

Meanwhile, I seem to be more likely to write on mixed veggies. Stop over sometime.

Jamborines & Ice Cream

2006-07-15T20:59:00.000-04:00

I finally found some sweet-smelling nectarines at the grocery store, so I bought a few for us to share. When Ava awakened from her nap and asked about snack time, I told her we were having a special treat for snack today--nectarines and ice cream! She was very excited and kept asking when we would have our "jamborines" and ice cream. I had to finish up a few things I was working on, so it took a little patience on her part. She was thrilled to eat "jamborines" and ice cream, and I was so tickled by her pronunciation of nectarines that I almost couldn't bring myself to correct her.

More Picasa Web Albums!

2006-07-15T10:02:00.000-04:00

Since this seems to have worked the first time, I finally took time to add some more slideshows. My apologies to those of you without a fast enough connection to view!

June 2006 Misc.

Zoo trip with Brooke

Misc. pics with cousin Brooke - Late May 2006

That's all I have time for! Enjoy.

Picasa Web Album: Attempt #1

2006-07-04T01:20:00.000-04:00

As promised, I am trying new ways to upload more photos for easy viewing. Let's see if this works. If not, it will have to wait. I should SOOOOO be asleep right now.

Click the link, and hopefully it will take you to my new web album on Picasa:

Photos of Ava and Brooke 5.25.2006

Not a Photo Fan

2006-06-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

Ava has long been opposed to having her picture made very much, but it's gotten steadily worse as she has gotten older and sassier (lately). It is not uncommon to hear, "Mama, would you put that camera down now?" or "I think that's enough pictures, Mommy." So if you are wondering why so few pics have been posted lately, the answer is I just don't take that many right now unless there's an event. I had quite a time getting Ava to cooperate at the wedding so I could get one decent picture of her all fancied up. None of the pics of that are great, but I have a couple that serve the purpose. I'll try to post a few this weekend. In the meantime, here's a good example of her anti-photo opinion.

Minding Manners

2006-06-20T09:48:00.000-04:00

I had to leave the breakfast table today before Ava was finished eating, so I kept an eye and an ear out for her, of course, and checked on her frequently. But I found this exchange amusing.

Me: "Ava, you doin' okay?"

No answer.

Me: "Ava, you doin' okay?"

No answer.

Me: (quite a bit louder) "Ava, are you doing okay in there?"

Ava: (looks around at me) "I can't answer because I have food in my mouth!" (apparently with the food still in her mouth)

Me: "Oh. Okay."

Pause.

Ava: (after she swallowed her bite) "I'm doing okay, Mommy."

Wedding Wonders

2006-06-19T21:55:00.000-04:00

Well, I must say my two-and-a-half year old gave a stellar performance as the Incredibly Cute Flower Girl at Auntie Ginger's wedding on Saturday. Other than her curls falling limp only thirty minutes after having them professionally "installed," she could not have looked any cuter. She and Luke the Incredibly Cute Ring Bearer, who is four, decided to walk down the aisle together, and that worked out very well. Each had a partner that way; no one had to get cold feet at the last second and freak out. All the crying happened during some tense moments prior to the ceremony, and they were not Ava's tears but Luke's. The poor dear was fed up with the uncomfortable dress shoes he was being made to wear and tolerate. I couldn't blame him. And I'm sure no one but his father the Best Man even noticed that a joint decision had been made among key women to let him go down the aisle in only socked feet. He held Ava's hand and seemed to take it upon himself not to deliver the naked ring pillow to the front but to deliver Ava there instead, guiding her up the aisle ever so carefully. (She was doing fine on her own, just slower than he felt was appropriate, I guess.) It was very sweet. I heard nary a peep out of her for the entire ceremony. (She was sitting up front with her Daddy.)

It was, however, past her bedtime by the time we arrived at the reception site. She was cranky and showing it, to say the least. Needless to say, for one night she got her way on almost every request, even when her new Ballerina Bear (who was ushered in with our family upon her request) had to sit in a certain seat in a booster. Whatever. Not worth the argument and crying fit. The cake was served with a slice of white and a slice of chocolate on each plate. Ava, who is usually quite moderate with her portions even when eating sweets, decided to choose tonight to party right and eat BOTH pieces of cake, much to my surprise. Her crabby-tired mode soon gave way to a sugar rush that had her cutting a rug for the next solid hour, at least. Daddy commented that he'd never seen a two-year-old take over a party before. She was literally the center of attention on the dance floor, and it was truly a site to behold. She was hilarious, shaking her bottom, kicking her legs out, clapping in time, jumping up and down, you name it. She danced with anyone who wanted to dance with her, and she only took breaks to find a new dance partner. We made her stop long enough to take a family photo, to which she protested with, "No, Daddy! I just want to DANCE!" And as soon as we were finished and she was released to resume her gyrations, she immediately got her groove on and yelled out "OH, yeah!" I laughed my head off at that.

Eventually the songs slowed down, and so did she. The sugar rush came to an abrupt halt, and she was done and disappointed. It was almost midnight by that point, 3+ hours past her bedtime. And to add to the wedding wonders, it came a torrential downpour about the time the bride and groom were ready to depart. So we used plan B and had them depart through the parking garage made festive with flying bubbles, and they were too happy to mind a bit. Ava enjoyed that part, but I know she was ready to succumb to her exhaustion by the time her little body hit the car seat. She was pooped...and out cold within minutes.

All she has talked about today is wanting to go back to the wedding party. She had so much fun. I tried to explain that Auntie Ginger and Mr. Nathan are already married now and they won't have another wedding party like that. We just have to remember how fun it was. She said, "I don't want to remember!" So I asked, "Does that mean you want to forget?" She said, "No, I just want to go back there." She's learning early about the fleeting nature of life's happy highlights.

(Trying something new! Click here to view a video clip of Ava's dancing. Make sure your volume setting is appropriate. There's also an embedded player below if you want to bypass being shifted to the host website. The player on the blog seems a little tricky, though. Either way, you will need a fast internet connection to get any good out of the video clips.)

2006-06-19T17:49:00.000-04:00

Tiny Dancer

Here's a video clip of Ava dancing at the wedding

Meal Requests

2006-06-18T22:22:00.000-04:00

When Ava came to our bed this morning to check in after getting up, she told us she was very hungry in her tummy. We asked her what she thought would be a good idea for breakfast, and her answer made me laugh. "How 'bout some tomatoes and broccoli and cheese!"

Later, Ava chose not to eat her lunch before we went on a two-hour road trip. About the time we arrived in the city limits of our destination, Ava said, "I'm really hungry in my tummy. How 'bout we go to King Burger and get a burger for lunch." It took us a second to make sense of that statement. Her Daddy finally said, "Oh, do you mean Burger King?" I looked ahead and found a Burger King sign among all the other fast food and hotel signs in front of us. She said, "Yeah. Let's go to Burger King and get a burger."

She's full of suggestions these days. I'm sort of saddened by how many fast food chains she knows well enough to suggest them. I had hoped we wouldn't eat out much with our children so they wouldn't think of that as normal. One evening we were out at supper time and had more errands to run, so we were pulling up to TGIFridays, and her Daddy asked if that would be okay for supper. I agreed to it, and Ava said, "I think I just want Panda Express." And that was all from her mind, as there was no Panda Express nearby!

Stay Tuned

2006-06-03T23:33:00.000-04:00

I have a lot of catching up to do. Past posts are forthcoming. My computer crashed while I was in the middle of a good post a couple of days ago, and I was so frustrated I had to leave it for a while. Never quite made it back to redo all my efforts.

On Golfing

2006-05-19T15:16:00.000-04:00

"It's better when you just kick it with your foot." -Ava

Breakfast excerpt

2006-05-18T10:20:00.000-04:00

Ava: Do you miss your Daddy, Mama?

Mama: Yeah.

Ava: Yeah. Me too. Why don't you eat your bagel. That will make you feel happy.

A few minutes later the train comes through town.

Ava: Listen. I hear the train.

Mama: It comes through every day about this time.

Ava: I'm goin' to get in it and go to school. And Daddy's goin' to go to the law fuhm.

A quiet minute passes...just the sound of Ava munching on her apple.

Ava: D is for donut. I was eating a donut.

Mama: When were you eating a donut?

Ava: In just a stroller.* I was in a stroller and eatin' a donut. D is for donut, you know.

Another pause while Ava finishes her apple wedge.

Ava: Can I have one of your apples?

Mama: Is that the one you want?

Ava: Yeah. You have two apples left. You eat two apples, Mama, okay?

*I thought about this statement and realized Ava was referring to a family outing to the local city market on the first weekend they opened up for spring -- the first week of April. We got some donuts for a late morning snack. You never know when she's going to think of something that happened ages ago.

Shoo away, Fly!

2006-05-15T17:11:00.000-04:00

At breakfast, a gnat was bothering Ava. Her response:

"No, Fly. Go outside with the sun. Play with the trees. That's what you should do when you get out of this house."

Story

2006-05-13T17:07:00.000-04:00

(at lunch)

Ava: "I'm just making a story."

Mama: "What is your story about?"

Ava: "Daddy, Mama, and Ava are in Auntie Ginger's house playing with music. That's what it's called."

Road Trip

2006-05-13T09:37:00.000-04:00

We went on a road trip! We had to go in the car for a loooong time for two whole days to get to Auntie Ginger's house. When Mama finally got the stuff ready for Daddy to put in the car and Daddy finally got it all smooshed in there, we started our road trip. I was so happyyyy! I especially liked when I got to open my surprises from Nana. I got chocolate, goldfish crackers, a Pooh DVD, some books, and my favorite was the Doodle Pro! I really like to play with my Doodle Pro. And Mommy gave me some new Dora the Explorer sunglasses to wear because my cute pink ones got lost.

We had to go and go until it got dark, and then we goed and goed some more to get to Mrs. Melva's house. I was so angry when we got there and I was asleep and I lost my shoe and Mommy didn't know it. They said I probably woke the neighbors, but that's just how mad I was! And I got to sleep on something called a pallet, just for me! I really liked it! And the next day, after we woke up, we had strawberries for breakfast. Mmmm!

We said Bye-bye to Mrs. Melva and went on our road trip again. At our first stop, Mommy found out she left her purse somewhere in Tennessee. She told Daddy please don't get mad, but I think he did anyway. They found the phone numbers of the places we had been on our trip, and Mommy called and found it. The lady is mailing it to us. We got to eat lunch at a store called Cracker Barrel, where they have fun things on the table. While I was playing with the crayons and my special menu, Daddy wanted to play with the triangle puzzle with pegs. I thought that looked like fun, so I took it. Mommy said it was actually for adults to play with, so I told her "I'm an adult." It was fun! You take all the pegs out and the put them in the holes. I did it!

We went on our trip some more, and it took a loooong time. Daddy kept telling me that we were almost to Auntie Ginger's house, but I finally stopped paying attention. Mommy said it would still be a long time after it got dark, and it was. But we finally made it! And now Auntie Ginger's house looks like a real house, not just wood. It has walls and a TV and everything! And I have my own room. And they have ice kibs and water that fall right out of the fridge! I'm soooo glad we finally made it!

2 1/2

2006-05-05T22:11:00.000-04:00

Sammy Skunk

2006-05-04T21:21:00.000-04:00

Ava gets a toddler magazine called Wild Animal Baby, which we love. (I highly recommend it for older babies through young preschoolers. It's put out by the National Wildlife Federation.) Anyway, every issue has Sammy the Skunk creatively hidden throughout, and Ava loves to find "Sammy Skunk." We got Ava a kid's meal some time ago at a fast food restaurant, and the toy included was a little skunk. I think it is supposed to be the skunk on Bambi, but Ava immediately thought it was Sammy Skunk. And so it is.

Today, she had just awakened from her nap, looking all disheveled in that cute and sleepy way kids do after a long sleep, and she came across Sammy Skunk. I've been taking it upon myself to be the voice of her stuffed animals a lot lately, and she is catching on to that. So when she said, "Hey look, Mommy. I found Sammy Skunk," I replied, "Oh! Hi, Sammy Skunk! How are you today?" And Ava...I mean Sammy...replied, "I feel really fluffy!"

100% Big Girl

2006-05-04T15:56:00.000-04:00

Several people have asked for a potty training update. Ava is doing GREAT! I just noticed in my photos that it was exactly a month ago today that we started Boot Camp, and I am proud to say that she has had great success ever since. It was rough going there for a while, as I expected, but within less than a week, I was pretty much taking her anywhere with me without worrying too much about an accident. It took some time for her to catch on to telling me in advance, but that is getting better every day. Accidents have been kept to a minimum, and only once was it what I would call a "full" accident (since week 1, anyway). She is used to going anywhere we need to go now...public restrooms, friends' homes without little potties, at the dungeony park restrooms, or even one time "in the field" (her words) at a softball game. That was our most entertaining training experience as parents! We were laughing so hard at ourselves. She did great! And she was so proud of herself for going in the field.

She only wore a pull-up one day to go to church when she was still inside the first week and once on our road trip to Amazement Square last weekend. Other than that, she's 100% Big Girl. She stays dry for most naps and even most nights, but we are staying with diapers and pull-ups for those occasions for a while longer so she won't have a few accidents and get discouraged.

So proud of her progress, and soooo relieved that it went so well!

Funnies

2006-05-02T14:04:00.000-04:00

Oh to have a list of all the funny things Ava has been saying lately! I try to commit them to memory and write them down later, but even if I remember to write them down, I can't remember what she said by the time I can stop and do it. Or I write a few things down and lose the paper in the shuffle. Such a bummer. Anyway...

A couple of cute things she said today:

After nap, I went in her room to help her change from pull-up back to panties, and afterward she went over to her bookshelf and said (in a thinking-aloud way), "We could read a book or something. That would be a good idea."

Later, she made a huge pile of stuffed animals in the middle of her bedroom. Then, she came to the kitchen and pulled me by the hand, saying, "Come to my room, Mommy! Come see the big stack of all my creatures!!" I stayed to play with them, and as we were playing with her Pooh puppet, she got very still and leaned in to Pooh and very seriously told him, "Be careful. I'm going to kiss you now." And then she kissed him on the nose.

She loves watching Winnie-the-Pooh lately, and several times she has had to stop and think about something for a second, so she finds a place to deliberately perch herself just like Pooh does on the stump he sits on to think, crosses her arms and taps her head with one hands just like Pooh, and says "Think, think, think." Very imitative these days.

A few days ago at a mealtime, she recited about a minute and a half or more of exact dialog from The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh (video). Her little friend who is about six months older started doing this about six months ago, so I wasn't shocked. But it was still pretty neat to hear it from my own kid!

Another recent meal funny was when she finished eating, pushed her plate away, zoned out for a bit, and started naming things she likes to do. It went something like this:
"Play in my room...go to the playground...blow some bubbles...do somersaults in the living room...paint with my fingapaints.... Those would all be fun activities!" We could hardly stifle our laughter!

She also likes to correct what I say or sometimes what she says herself and then laugh about it. For example, "Yeah, we need to take Daddy to school. Oh! To law school, I mean! HA!!" Goofy kid. :)

Amazement Square

2006-04-29T19:39:00.000-04:00

Today Mommy and I rode with our friends to a place called Mazement Square! It was so much fun! It was like the children's museum. It had a farm with corn and a horse to ride! And tunnels, and bouncy things, and a doctor room, and a room where I got to paint on the walls, and lots of things to play with like puppets and the big tree with a woodpecker!!

I pretended to milk a cow! See?

And I especially liked to play in the river!! I got ALL WET!!

And Mommy and I bounced and rolled on the big red thing!

What a fun day!

Our Friend Murray

2006-04-21T17:15:00.000-04:00

We have been hearing about "our friend Murray" for quite a long time now. Ava has loved the Wiggles for what seems like half her life. Murray plays a guitar, so I think that's his appeal. A couple of months ago, Murray became very helpful around here. Anytime something needs to be located (or fixed, or sorted, etc.), Ava says, "Maybe our friend Murray can help!" I find this amusing.

Last night during a conversational lull at supper, Ava gave a complete profile out of the blue. It went something like this:
"Murray is wearing a red shirt. And he has brown hair and black shoes. He plays a red guitah."

She went on to give similar (accurate!) information on all the other Wiggles plus their friends Dorothy the dinosaur, Captain Feathersword, and "Hengry" (Henry) the octopus. She was very serious about it. She even mentioned the exact clothes a guy was wearing at the law school when we went to get her daddy. We had brief conversation with the guy, but I couldn't have told you what color his hair, shirt, and shoes were with confidence. She's paying attention!

Easter Prayer

2006-04-17T16:46:00.000-04:00

I can't remember if it was Saturday or Easter when I explained to Ava before the breakfast blessing that we should remember to also thank God for Jesus at Easter time. We talked about how Easter is a celebration that God made Jesus come back alive, and we are thankful for that. That having been said, Ava prayed the following (her own wording) for all Easter meals:

"Thank you, God, for our food and just for Jesus. Amen."

Easter

2006-04-16T17:52:00.000-04:00

Today is Easter! Easter is about Jesus is alive. We say thank you to God for Jesus especially on Easter. The Easter bunny also brings you a present. He brought me a MusicBlocks toy. It plays all kinds of sounds, and I can change it all up if I want to. On Easter I got to wear my favorite green twirly dress! Mommy made me wear a sweater too. I didn't want to. But I liked wearing my new sandals! We went to church, and I got scared. All the people were coming all around me when the little kids came to church for the story time, and I got scared and sad. And then I saw my mommy and my daddy, and I started to cry and I cried out, "I want my AHNNA and my MOMMY!!!" So Mommy came really fast and held me during story time. Then she took me back to the nursery to play with the toys after story time, and I was still sad. But after church was over, Mommy came to get me and she asked if I was having fun, and I told her "Yes, I'm having fun, and I'm not sad anymore!" Then we went home for our friends to come for lunch. While Ms. Tricia and Ms. Sally were making the lunch, Mr. Jim came outside with us to take our picture with the dogwood tree.

I got to sit in the tree all by myself, but I was a little bit afraid.

And then Mr. Steve & Ms. Lisa came too!!! So I wanted to say the blessing again. We had fun! But I got sooooo tired, and I wanted to take my nap. It was a busy day!

What a beautiful day!

2006-04-15T15:32:00.000-04:00

I wish you could have heard this in person because you'll never be able to imagine it just the way she said it, but I wanted to share what Ava said on this fine morning, as we were headed to our church for the Easter egg hunt.

"What a beautiful day! Birds are singin', trees are happy, bees are buzzin', flowers are...(thoughtful pause)...happy too."

I just love the things she says out of the blue these days!!!

Potty Boot Camp

2006-04-05T14:16:00.000-04:00

We are on Day 2 of intensive potty training, affectionately known as Potty Boot Camp. Ava's doing very well. Just the expected accidents occasionally, but mostly successes. Lots of stickers and treats. Pooh Bear had an accident this morning, so Ava had to show him three times in a row what he should have done. Surely "Pooh" will get it soon. Ava would really rather I teach Pooh Bear myself, but I just keep telling her that he learns better when she reminds him of all the steps instead of me.

I think being "in the trenches" together yesterday really made an impact on Ava. She plays independently quite a bit most days, so she really noticed a day of (literally) undivided attention from me. I'm not sure whether to feel glad that she now expects that level of attention from me, or sad that her hunger for it must mean she wasn't getting enough before. Anyway, last night when Daddy came home, I thought Ava would surely be excited to show him what she can do all by herself now. But actually, she didn't seem to be as thrilled as I thought. I just figured it was no longer all that novel to her or something...until bathtime. She was cranky to begin with because her nap opportunity never resulted in sleep, but something was different besides that. Daddy almost always does bathtime, so it was shocking to me when she insisted I do it instead. Then this morning, she got up and came to our room as usual, went to Daddy's side of the bed, paused, and turned around to come to my side of the bed instead. For the first time ever, she said "Mama, could I snuggle with you?" Oh how I needed to get up and get going instead! But of course I took my chance to be the snuggle parent for at least one day!! I guess I wasn't the only one for whom yesterday was a bit stressful; she must have sensed that we were winning one battle at a time together. Little did I know, potty training is a great bonding experience. I think we've both realized the value of one-on-one time, and we'll be striving to have more of it now.

Potty Party

2006-04-04T16:14:00.000-04:00

Today's the big day! We are making an attempt to follow the "Toilet Training in Less than a Day" method. That means lots of drinks. All kinds - Gatorade, juice, tea, water, and especially Sprite! Ava collected them all on her stool and pulled them up to herself like a tray table. I thought that was clever. :)

So far so good. She has been interested enough in the Craisins for reward to keep at it. (Chocolate chips, tootsie rolls, and popsicles help too!) Maybe by next week, we'll be footloose and diaper-free!

Fashionista

2006-04-03T15:21:00.000-04:00

This morning we woke up late, thanks to the time change shifting our alarm clock's...er, I mean, our daughter's wake up time an hour later. So I was in a hurry to get ready for our chiropractic appointment. Daddy was in charge of getting Ava fed and clothed. While I threw together a quick bite "to go" for myself, he dressed Ava and showed up with a child wearing a skirt and socks pulled up to her knees! I quickly said, "She looks like a child who was dressed by her father today..." and began folding the socks down. Ava protested, "NOOOO!!! I just want them taller!!!" Daddy smugly explained, "She wanted them that way." Okay fine. Then Ava told me she was ready for her ponytails, which we certainly didn't have time for. Any other day I would have been delighted at her interest in pigtails, but not today, so I encouraged barrettes instead. She would only agree to a headband, which doesn't work well (and looks ridiculous, as it turns out, so I don't ever suggest them now that I know that). Okay fine. We're late. Headband it is. She installed it herself and then exclaimed, "I look FANTASTIC!"

Even though we were late, I just had to take a picture to show you what "fantastic" looks like to a two-year-old fashionista.

Sleeping Beauty

2006-04-02T17:19:00.000-04:00

This is when your "big girl" is still a baby in your heart.

Mr. Jafferson's Trees

2006-04-02T16:10:00.000-04:00

Ever since we went to Monticello and heard all about "Mr. Jefferson's home," "Mr. Jefferson's art collection," "Mr. Jefferson's sitting room," etc., Ava has associated trees with him. His estate is practically plunked down in the middle of forest, so there are trees all around. Now, any time we are in the car driving through the woods, Ava says some version of, "Oh my! Look at all Mr. Jafferson's trees!"

Ponytail

2006-04-01T16:34:00.000-05:00

If you add enough barrettes to hold everything in place, Ava's hair can indeed be put into a single ponytail...but only for a few minutes. As soon as she got in her car seat and leaned back, that ponytail holder had fallen out, and the barrettes were everywhere. It was cute while it lasted though!

Maybe we'll have a lasting ponytail by summer...

Notice

2006-03-29T15:30:00.000-05:00

I like to keep track of things by date, so sometimes I backdate my posts so they will appear in the right place chronologically. I posted a couple of older things you might want to scroll down for.

Catching up

2006-03-29T14:22:00.000-05:00

Goodness! So much has happened lately that there's no way I could really catch anyone up entirely. But I need to make an attempt to catch myself up...that is, catch the blog up on all the little details I store here for later scrapbooking purposes.

I never made a list of all the common things about Ava's life at 27 months, and now all that info has blurred into 28 months, so here's my brainstorm of 27-28 months:

Ahhna Shirt is as magical as mommy kisses. Any time she gets a bonk now, she is just as likely to put Ahnna Shirt on it to make it feel better as she is to ask me to kiss it. It has even been delivered to me in my time of need to help me feel better too, especially during terrible headaches.
She is still very compassionate, often mentioning and praying for anyone she knows who has been sick, even long after they are well.
She is very picky now about where she will agree to have her diaper changed.
Her balance is getting better. She's getting good at going up and down steps without assistance. She can also usually do stairs by herself if there's something to hold onto. She's pretty brave about it unless the stairs are particularly deep (in which case, I'm too afraid to let her do it by herself anyway...maybe that's why she's afraid!).
She's especially interested in blowing bubbles now.
It's become a nightly challenge to get her into the bathtub, even though she enjoys it once she's in there.
Potty training sort of fizzled with the February sicknesses, and now she's just not interested, even though she knows the mechanics and all. She just doesn't want to do it. (Another challenge!)
The move to toddler bed has created a new habit of getting out of bed multiple times to see what we're doing. This happens at naptime and bedtime alike, and is getting worse every day.
When she gets in bed now, she wants her head all the way touching the slats on the "headboard" end of the crib.
She's becoming more affectionate. My never-snuggly baby is finally snuggling, especially in the early mornings with her Daddy.
Speaking of early mornings, she's suddenly an EARLY riser too (at least for us). 6:30AM, and here she comes for snuggles and raisins.
Every day begins with raisins.
Her hair is finally long enough to make small pigtails, but she tends to pull the ponytailers out as soon as we get home. Barrettes were met with disapproval, and headbands, though she likes them, just don't hold her crazy hair back. I'm in for major hair challenges.
By mid-28 mos, Ava had learned to count to ten in Spanish, except ten is sometimes seis again instead of diez.

Common things we hear:

For quite a while now, her regular modifier is "gack" which is totally unhelpful! Example: "No, I don't want bread! I want gack bread!" Gack juice is very common too.
"I love my Ahnna Shirt!" and "Ahhna Shirt is my beeeest friend."
During diaper changes: "NO TOUCHIN' ME!!!"
First thing in the morning (after snuggling with Daddy for a few minutes): "Mama, is it okay to have some raisins? And some milk."
"I'm getting bigger! I'm going to be tall like my dad!"
When she says "I love you" and we answer "I love you too," she gets aggravated and yells "NO. I LOVE YOU."
During any accomplishment, especially taking off or putting on clothes: "Look! I'm doin' it!!"
If she enters a room where I'm working: "Hey, Mom. What are you up to?"
When she helps (which she wants to do often), she sings the "I'm a Happy Helper" song from Barney.
When she moved into her toddler bed recently, we changed her from a sleep sack to fleece footed pajamas. For some reason, she calls them her "Sweetie Pajamas."
Coca-cola is "Coco-colo"
"Winnie la Pooh" has finally become Winnie-the-Pooh, despite my never correcting her cute mistake.
We are still working on consistency for "Yes, please" and "No, thank you."

Fascination with instruments:

Stick-like objects and wooden spoons are frequently played like violins.
She often remarks that she wants to learn to play the violin, and her interest doesn't seem to be fading. She also wants "a little bitty guitar" that she can play.
Anything can be a drum.
The comb with the long pointed end is her "trumpet."
Castanets are "internets."
Thanks to a great book we have, she can identify all the stringed instruments, flute, piano, guitar, electric guitar, saxophone, tuba, drums, castanets, xylophone, and probably others I'm forgetting.

Some Current favorites:

VeggieTales and Winnie-the-Pooh
Sprite
Bread products
Raisins

Strawberry Girl Fashion Show

2006-03-28T15:42:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Granddaddy's generous stocking gift at Christmas, Ava and I have had fun shopping for spring & summer fashions! We even got to splurge and shop at Gymboree (Thank you, Granddaddy!!). They have a brightly-colored fruit line right now, and Ava wanted everything that had a strawberry on it. Since I loved the colors so much I couldn't resist buying several items from that line. We had our "fashion show" today after our ordered items arrived. It was fun to see all the combinations we could make. (I love for everything to mix & match so laundry isn't such a problem.) Ava is not always a fan of trying on clothes, so I waited until there was an abundance to get excited about, and she was so interested in putting on each thing and seeing herself in the mirror.

Aren't these the cutest sandals you've ever seen?! I only hope they aren't still flopping around on her feet when the weather gets warm enough for sandals. She really likes the cute pictures. "And there's the flowers, and the tree, and a rainbow, and the butterfly..."

Here's a silly girl in the too-long capris that look like highwater pants, super cute shirt Nana sent, and new shoes that are TOO SMALL. Her favorite was the green "twirly dress."

Looks like she's singing you a big finish.

Gangsta.

First syntax, then grammar

2006-03-27T14:12:00.000-05:00

Last night Ava said something that cracked me up. She's into this strange gibberish, what I call "creative talk" now when she is frustrated that we don't understand her the first time. I think sometimes her little mind moves faster than her mouth, so she just makes up strange sounds instead of saying words. So we tell her she's not speaking English, and we can't understand her. Lately her response to that has been "siete," which is sort of funny itself. But last night it really tickled me when she announced at supper "I'm learning good at speaking English!"

Chimmy-chummies

2006-03-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

This past week I pulled out the sewing machine to finish the bedskirt that was supposed to be made long ago to match Ava's bedding. When the craft armoire is open, Ava has access to all sorts of things she's not supposed to explore, and for the most part she doesn't. But there was a bag of painting supplies that was right there on the floor in plain view, and I guess she just couldn't resist. (No, I'm not going to say she painted the carpet, thank goodness!) Inside the bag, she discovered two little disposable (Solo-type) plastic cups, which had been used as water cups to rinse my brushes. The next thing I knew, she had created a new use for the cups. In one she placed a pencil, and in the other a wooden mallet. She stirs inside the cup and extends the mallet to your mouth and asks if you want some "Chimmy-chummies." It turns out, Chimmy-chummies must be crunchy, necessitating a crunching sound when you take a "bite" and chew them up. She loves this little imagination game!

On the flip side, she was using a long wooden spoon from the kitchen to stir the shapes in her shape sorter bucket a couple of days ago. I just jumped into what I thought was an imagination game and said, "Oh my! That soup sure looks tasty, Ava!" She said, "No, Mama. It's not soup! It's just shapes!" She seemed very annoyed and perplexed. I found that amusing. You just never know which way it will go!

VLF Egg Hunt 2006

2006-03-25T15:18:00.000-05:00

I didn't get great pictures this year at the VLF egg hunt. They had it so early that it was too cold and rainy to do it outside, but the kids had a fun time running through the law school to find eggs. Ava was especially enamored with the tootsie rolls inside many of her eggs. That's something I don't think she's every had before.

Bottoms

2006-03-17T22:39:00.000-05:00

I keep forgetting to relay this little story Daddy told me last week. He was in the bathroom with Ava, attending her attempt at pottying. She kept putting her hands down between her legs, and when they started going down into the pot, Daddy expressed disapproval for touching the pot. He told Ava the pot is dirty and we don't need to put our hands in there. Ava replied, "You don't want me to touch my bottom." (which he did not mean to imply, by the way) Then she said, "I have a small bottom. You have a BIG ol' bottom! And Mama has a short bottom."

Anyone who knows us can appreciate the hilarity of that last statement. :)

Pre-nap Silliness

2006-03-14T13:33:00.000-05:00

Ava has gotten good at stall tactics lately when she doesn't want to do something right then. We were on time for nap this afternoon, so I allowed one little stall, since it meant getting pictures of Her Twoness without disapproval. I had asked her to wait for just a minute before climbing into her bed so that I could take a picture of the toys she had lined up there. She agreed. When I was finished, I said, "Okay, I'm finished. Now you can climb in your bed all by yourself." She said, "First I think you should take my picture too." Can't argue with that! :) She promptly scowled, covered her face, did Peek-a-Boo, and then just went silly crazy for a second. It was worth the extra minute. She climbed right up there when I told her to and cozied down in her bed for nap. Now I just wonder how many minutes it will be today until she opens her door and yells out for Orajel for her teething pain...that's a classic.

Wind Woes

2006-03-11T16:08:00.000-05:00

It's funny how many little personal idiosyncrasies are evident from birth. One of Ava's is her intolerance of wind. She has always hated it, even as a tiny infant. The older she gets, the more creatively she deals with the wind. She prefers hooded jackets so that she can pull her hood up, ask to be carried to the car, and duck her head down on a parent's shoulder to prevent wind from getting to her.

The other day my friend took Ava out of the car, while I got out on the other side. Ava started crying out (more like panic-yelling), so I asked Lisa if she got hurt. Ava was just standing there in the wide open space, right where Lisa put her down. Then it dawned on me that the wind was blowing, and that was more than she could take. So I promptly scooped her up so she could duck her head down and ran to the apartment. She was pleased to be in out of the wind.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, aside from the wind. I didn't realize how windy it was until I had already arranged our picnic lunch on a table at the park. By this point we were committed, so we just had to make the best of it. I was afraid Ava wouldn't last long, but she hung in there. At one point she said, "STOP, wind! We're trying to eat lunch." She finally gave up on eating and retreated inside her hood:

Pleasant Dreams, Big Girl!

2006-03-05T22:05:00.000-05:00

Today Ava turned 28 months old, but that wasn't the biggest feature of her day. Now that she has gotten so tall and so apt to "hang" from her crib rail and call it a monkey rail, we decided it was time to convert the crib into a toddler bed. So we slaved away for a couple of hours, running into all kinds of problems. Ava was so excited the whole time! She kept helping herself to our tools so that she could "fix" things while we worked. When we ran into trouble several times and stopped to consult the instructions again, Ava would chime in with "Would you take that baby rail off and put my toddler rail on now?" It took far longer than we imagined, thanks to lousy instructions that didn't match our particular crib model, so Ava had to dig deep for patience. She hung in there though, and boy was she thrilled when she could climb right in her bed all by herself. (That's her preffered way of doing everything these days.)

One last bounce in her baby bed.

And one last hang from the "monkey rail."

But nothing beats the freedom of climbing in and out of bed all by yourself...at least when you are 28 months old.

A happy girl, all tucked in.

It will be interesting to see how she manages the blanket. She still positions herself all over the bed throughout the night, and she's never slept with a blanket before because she's always been in a sleep sack. No more sleep sacks! It feels like we've just turned another page in her life...perhaps even a new chapter of independence. (And I only teared up once.)

Counting in Spanish

2006-02-24T22:20:00.000-05:00

Ava has started counting in Spanish: "dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, stress."

A sister and a yak?

2006-02-21T22:37:00.000-05:00

Ava has been sick for two days with a pretty awful cold or something (low-grade fever, runny nose, croupy cough...the works). We had our share of woes today, so it was nice to close the day with some pleasant conversation. After supper tonight, she announced out of the blue, "Mack is my sister, and Dack is my yak." I told her, "Wow, Ava. I didn't know you had a sister OR a yak."

But even better was her story. It went something like this:

"I'm going to tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a girl, Ava Paige M_____. And she was soooo happy and glad, and the family. (short pause) That was a great story!"

Meet BobScrambler

2006-02-20T22:23:00.000-05:00

On rare occasions, we eat at Burger King, and when we do Ava gets a kid's meal complete with toddler toy. You never know what you're gonna get. Usually they give her the regular kid toy, so we have to go trade it for the Little Tikes toddler toy instead, and she is always entertained. The "dinger" was a big hit this summer; it was simply a tiny cash register with a single button to press for the tiny drawer to open and "DING!" it would sound. She loved the dinger. We even had to search in a department store to retrieve it after it got lost one evening soon after it came to be a part of our family. Several other such toys have made their way into the mix as well. My favorite was the "Potamus-hippo"--a blue hippo whose mouth opened and closed with a ratcheting sound. We would make our way to the car and soon hear Ava saying, "Oh no! I forgot my Potamus-hippo." I loved that.

Well, Sunday after church we ended up at Burger King, and a new Little Tikes toddler toy came into our lives. This time it was a little roller toy with a balance knob on top, the interestingness of which was lost on Ava. But we liked it. And she enjoyed watching us roll him across the floor repeatedly. So she asked me what he was called. I said, "I don't know, Ava. He doesn't have a name, so you can call him anything you want to." She didn't want to think of a name for him so she told me to. I told her, "Well, I don't know...how about ZoomBob." She was agreeable to that, and ZoomBob he was. The next morning, she asked me "Mommy, where's my BobScrambler?" I love that ZoomBob got a new, unique, toddler-given name in only twelve hours. And BobScrambler he is.

Veggie Lover

2006-02-15T16:43:00.000-05:00

My toddler willingly (and enthusiastically!) eats just about any vegetable you put in front of her and asks for more. If I remember right, the potato and yellow squash were the only veggies that took some getting used to way back in the days of learning to eat "table" foods, and now she likes those too. Diced sweet potatoes were always in our fridge during those days, and they always came along with us to restaurants. Unpopular vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, and lima beans are among her very favorite foods, even factoring in "kid foods" like chicken nuggets and french fries. She's never been much for "kid foods" really; she absolutely won't eat macaroni and cheese, which is just as well to me, and chicken nuggets are only marginally acceptable to her. I have to bribe her with broccoli to get her to eat a reasonable amount of meat, fish, or poultry. She doesn't seem to dislike them, she just prefers any vegetable to any meat, prepared in any way. Well, last night I thought I had prepared something that would push even Ava's limits--asparagus. (Note: "Her Twoness" insisted it should actually be pronounced "asparacks.") To my surprise and delight, she took a bite (of the bitter end of her spear, even!) and said, "Mmmm! It's good!" She willingly ate most of her serving of asparagus, even after we told her she could be finished if she just ate three more bites of her tilapia. I wasn't all that interested in eating the asparagus myself, but I made some so she would get exposure to something new; I'm pretty sure she liked it better than I did (though it was admittedly the best asparagus I've ever eaten). Now I wonder how far her limits go! Is it worth buying brussel sprouts next? We HATE brussel sprouts, but maybe Ava doesn't. Now that is seriously pushing my limits, but I will force one down if it means helping my kid keep up her fantastic eating habits. I may have to learn vegetarianism over the years (we already eat Boca Burgers on a regular basis and veggie corndogs are great treats ), but it will be worth it.

Our first family snow man!

2006-02-11T21:00:00.000-05:00

We spent a good portion of today watching it snow. Ava enjoyed climbing up in the window to see the snowflakes pouring down. She frequently asked when we were going to get our coats and boots on to go outside in it. The weather woman has been predicting 8-12 inches of snow in our area, though it doesn't seem all that likely given its slow rate of accumulation today. Since we couldn't get outside for Family Fun Day activities today (we were planning to visit the Virginia Discovery Museum), we stayed in and did some crafts. Ava requested a princess crown at one point, and my attempt at making one resembled a sun, so I just added the yellow happy sun and told her she could be the Sunshine Princess. She was quite pleased with this outcome. We worked on more hearts today too. She has been enjoying our decorating preparations for her "Valentime's" Day party this coming Friday.

Finally by late afternoon there was enough snow to merit a family adventure outside, despite her runny nose and my full-blown cold. For the first time, Ava seemed thrilled with the falling snow! She usually really hates it getting on our coats. To our surprise, the snow packed easily, and we were able to build a little snow man. He turned out shorter than expected, but short fits in fine in our family! :) Ava had so much fun being a part of the process. She packed snow on and added a third arm for the little guy. Such a big helper these days! She gave him big hugs when he was finished...or, almost finished. Later he got a scarf to keep him warmer. Her Daddy and I decided this was the best Family Fun Day activity thus far, at least for us. We had a blast, and I think Ava did too!

Ava's Favorites at 27 mos

2006-02-10T12:19:00.000-05:00

What is your favorite color? Blue

What is your favorite song? John Jacob Jingelheimer Schmidt

What is your favorite shape? Circle

Who is your favorite friend? Mama

What is your favorite toy? Snake (not sure about this answer--she has no snake toy)

What is your favorite animal? A dog

What is your favorite TV show? Jakers

What is your favorite video? Kipper

Where is your favorite place to go? The movie store

What is your favorite book? Squirrel (Squirrel Says Thank You)

Hash Browns

2006-02-09T22:33:00.000-05:00

You know how when your lips get really chapped, the skin sort of flakes but doesn't really come all the way off unless you pull it off or let it wear off? Well, that happens to Ava a lot (since birth!), and when it does, she says, "Mama, I have hash browns on my lip." That is one of my favorite things she says because it so cleverly works together the concepts she knows to make as logical an explanation as she could when it started. I think neither of us has had it in us to tell her they aren't really hash browns. In our family, they are hash browns. And we like it that way. :)

Breakfast Art

2006-02-08T11:34:00.000-05:00

What might look like arts & crafts time was actually breakfast this morning. The blueberry sauce I made for our waffles made GREAT finger paint! Ava was a purple mess, but she had so much fun!

Artiste

2006-02-07T14:06:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share some of Ava's recent masterpieces (both last week). She drew the first one and announced, "Look, Mom. I made a spiral!" She loves when I draw spirals for her, and recently she taught herself how to do it. This is the best one yet! She's also pretty good at intentionally drawing a pretty good rendition of a triangle. Oh, and bananas and letter "P" turn up every now and then, but I think she just notices that what she has drawn looks like a banana or a letter "P." Those aren't intentional like the spiral and triangle are.

The one with the hearts is not upside down. That is how she wanted it. And all I did was assist with the glue and glitter; the rest was all Ava. (And the glitter was only because she turned that little heart over in some more glue, so the top was covered! We decided some glitter was in order.) I had different plans for that colored piece of white paper, but she created something all her own instead. No problem. Hers is better anyway. :)

Our little artiste! I wonder if I should save these for when she's famous one day. :)

"NO!"

2006-02-06T15:45:00.000-05:00

Ava turned 27 months old yesterday, and it seems the further from November 5th we get, the more TWO Ava becomes! And I do mean TWO in every sense of the word. We have had quite a few battles over independence lately.

"NO! Let ME do it!" and "I can do it by MYSELF." (about almost everything)
"NO! I want it to go RIGHT HERE." (moving an inanimate object over a few millimeters)
"No! I don't WANT kisses, Mama!" (wiping them off with a look of disgust)
"NOOOO!!! I DON'T WANT MY DIAPER CHANGED!!! NOOOOO!!!!" (add bucking, kicking, running away, and yelling for full effect)
"NO, I don't want to wash my hands!" (again-- bucking, kicking, and running away)

You get the idea. "No" is fast becoming the word of the month, and right on schedule.

Money-minded

2006-02-04T16:40:00.000-05:00

Today we went to the downtown mall for a rainy Family Fun Day. Our plan was to hunker down in the Virginia Discovery Museum, but we got a late start, so that didn't get worked in today. But we had a fun time at the library and enjoyed a great lunch at a local place called Chap's, which is famous for its ice cream, but we've discovered the best burgers in town there as well. Today we even tried their ice cream, too! What a treat! (Oh, and even when faced with twenty-four ice cream flavor options, Ava chooses "danilla." It's her favorite.) We'd had the library validate our parking stub for the nearby parking garage, but unfortunately we were seven minutes over our validated time, so we had to scrounge around and find a buck fifty to get out of there. The small bills were in the diaper backpack in the back seat with Ava, so I was turned around reaching across to dig out the money as we approached the pay booth. Ava asked me what I was doing, so I told her I was getting money to pay for our parking. She said, "Can I have some money, too?" Her daddy and I just cracked up. He said, "It started February 4th, 2006, and it won't end for at least 16 more years."

Zinger

2006-02-03T13:56:00.000-05:00

Ava frequently asks me for bread or raisins throughout the day, and I typically ask her if her tummy is really hungry for the food or if she's just bored. I'm trying to help her understand that we only eat when we are hungry. Well, at lunch today, I had just commented on what a good amount of food Ava had eaten, when she asked for even more potatoes. Her daddy asked her, "Ava are you really still hungry for those potatoes?" Ava replied, "No. I'm just bored. HA HA HA!!" Her silly laughter suggested that she knew very well that she was making a joke. I think she even said, "Silly Ava!"

Mom & A Fun Day!

2006-02-02T13:00:00.000-05:00

Today is Thursday. That's Mom & A Fun Day! For arts & crafts time, Mommy and I made hearts! They will be our decorations for my Valentimes Day party. Mama used the scissors to cut them out, and I got to color them and put glue stick on the big papers. And then Mama helped me do the glue so we could dump the glitter on it. It was fun! But it made a mess on the table, and it made my hands sticky. We had to clean it up. Then we went in my room to run around with the balls. I love to play run around! We bounced on the couch for a while and then Mama tried to make a fort, but it didn't work very well. We had fun anyway. And then we made blueberry smoothies with cranberries too! It was tasty!! And then we ran around some more while Mama was cooking our grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. Now it's time for nap. Bye!

Ava

The things you say... (24-26 mos)

2006-02-01T22:30:00.000-05:00

Time has gotten away from me, and I haven't put together an accounting of Ava's habits and interests since she was less than two! She will be turning 27 months old in only a few days. I can't turn back the clock and capture all the details, but I have attempted to compile some of the fun things she has typically said since she turned two in November. Enjoy!

"No! Let ME do it for myself!"

(standing in her crib when she wakes up in the mornings) "MOOOOMY! WOULD YOU TAKE MY SLEEPSACK OFF PLEASE!? (pause) MOOOOOMY!"

"May I please have some raisins?" (and if she's offered something else beside raisins...) "No. I just want some raisins." There is a similar plea for bread. Often.

Still singing "Deck the Halls," "Jingle Bells," and other Christmas favorites (and still wishing us "Happy Holidays" and "Ferry Christmas"), despite our repeated reminders that Christmas was over a month ago.

"Happy Valentine's Day" started a week or two ago, to replace "Ferry Christmas." Sometimes it's confused with "Happy Holidays" and comes out "Happy Holentine's Day."

When I sing a song to her: "No! Let ME sing that song!" or, more likely, "NO! I just want to sing John Jacob Jingelheimer Schmidt!"

"Do you hear my belly grumping?"

"Do you need some Coco-Colo, Daddy?" or "I think Daddy needs some Coco-Colo today, Mom."

"Do-Ti-La-Sol-Ari Bluuuues!"

"What you dood, Mama?"

"What we're doing, Daddy?" "Where we're going, Mommy?" etc.

"Will you sing me the lullaby song, Mama?" (a request for the lyrics to Brahm's Lullaby, of which I only know the first line...the rest is La la la or humming...)

"I can do it by myself."

"Let me get my stool so I can watch."

"I'm gonna get you up and run around!"

"Can I watch The Wiggles? May I please watch The Wiggles?"

"I did it! I tee-teed in my own potty!"

"Awww. That's a sweet Ahnna Shurt." (cradling it like a baby)

The beginnings of "No, thank you" and "No, thanks" play out in funny ways sometimes, like when I encourage her to sit on the potty and she doesn't want to: "No. No, thanks, Mom."

The start of experimentation with "Mom" and "Dad" out of the blue (late January). And preoccupation with our real names and our names we call each other.

"I want some more vegetables." and when we tell her that was not a nice way to ask... "I will ask you a question. May I please get some more?"

(after bath time and clean pajamas) "Hi, Mama! I'm all fresh! Want to smell me?"

All Her Ducks in a Row

2006-01-31T15:15:00.000-05:00

For well over a month now, Ava has been very interested in order. She especially likes to line things up, but she's also very good at classifying things by color, shape, etc. and putting all like things together. She lines up her cars, Little People, DVDs, stuffed animals, magnets, and who knows what else!

Potty-Training Success

2006-01-29T21:42:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday the 17th, Ava and I went to Toys R Us to choose her potty. She was surprisingly excited about it...even more so than for any gift she has received for birthday or Christmas! The selection of potties included an open box with an assembled potty inside, so I took the liberty of putting it out for her to see it up close. She immediately asked me to take her pants off so she could "tee-tee in that potty" while we were standing right there in the store! She was undoubtedly interested, more than I thought she would be. As we were meandering our way to the checkout line, she found the Wiggles Wiggling Guitar and LOVED it. She asked me if I would buy it for her at the checkout so she could take it home. I told her maybe we could come back for it another day, knowing that she would either never mention it again or ask for it every day, assuring me that she would really enjoy it. We bought her new potty and were on our way.

Nine successes later, I am proud to say that Ava has been doing GREAT with potty-training this week. She is no where near telling us when she needs to go, but she's more than happy to sit there and wait for some action. She had #1 success about eight times before she would even consider #2 on the potty. No way. That's not gonna happen. So I decided to ramp up the encouragement with a little incentive. I told her if she would be brave and let her poop go in the potty instead of her diaper, then we would go to Toys R Us and buy the Wiggles guitar she wanted (she's been asking for it). That really did it! She was more than willing to try, and when her body was willing to cooperate, she was so thrilled that she had achieved the victory necessary to get the guitar. We skipped bath time and rushed right over to Toys R Us, even though it was almost bed time. She was ecstatic! I think it's safe to say she hasn't been that enthusiastic about any other gift in her life, not even her "own potty."

Pigtails & crafts

2006-01-26T10:30:00.000-05:00

It's already been a day of firsts. Ava's first pigtails turned out cute, even if they are crooked and her hair is falling down in the back. She really doesn't have quite enough hair, but I was inspired by all the cute little girls with "girl" hairdos yesterday at play group to try pigtails again. It's been a long time since I attempted anything "girl" for her hair. Barrettes will keep it out of her eyes, but she never leaves them in for long. And lately she's been soooo frustrated by her hair in her eyes. I just hated to cut it again though. If I keep cutting it, it will never be long enough to put in a pony tail. So I pigtailed whatever would go, and trimmed the part that insists on coming forward (because it grows forward on one side, just like Daddy's). I may be stuck doing pigtails now that I trimmed it! She admired herself in the mirror for quite a while, saying "I have pony tails like Cousin Brooke!" I know she's glad to have it out of her eyes.

Ava's first craft project was fun too. We looked through old magazines for pictures of babies. Ava selected the ones she wanted to glue on her paper, I cut them out, she applied the glue stick, and together we affixed them to her collage page. I think she enjoyed doing something different for a few minutes, but she promptly asked me to get her crayons and her Wiggles book so she could just color. There's nothing like coloring.

Another round of teeth

2006-01-25T16:27:00.000-05:00

I found half of a two-year molar in Ava's mouth this morning when I brushed her teeth! I had been watching for them for a while, and then I got out of the habit as Daddy has been available for most of the tooth-brushing occasions lately. Another one is close to peeking out, but I think it might be a while. Maybe that explains why she asked me for some Tylenol the other day. I just thought she saw it and remembered how tasty it is, and that's why she wanted some. She didn't seem fussy or in pain, and she didn't tell me of any pain when I asked. Oh well. It must not have been too bad, or she would have told me something.