Ava's 23rd Month

Ava was quite the jet-setter this month, logging plenty of miles with trips to Chicago and Maui.  As much as we would like to convince ourselves that all this departure from routine is the root of Ava's recent outrageous emotional outbursts assertiveness, we fear the terrible twos are upon us.  Wish us luck.

Thanksgiving

In honor of the arrival of cousin #2 (Monica) and in celebration of Thanksgiving, Ava took to the skies again this November. Her trip to Chicago started with "Monica's first tailgate," complete with Big 10 family and friends from around the country. Rivalries aside, Ava quickly embraced her new cousin.

Ava's motherly instincts kicked in and Monica was subjected to unrelenting bottle feedings and diaper changes - with limited success. Ava also served as some sort of human baby monitor in reverse, standing by Monica's crib shouting "Aca sleeping!"

When it came to sharing the spotlight, Ava reluctantly agreed so long as Monica stayed away from Ava's toys. A deal was reached.

It was too cold to play outside (especially for a small child who refuses to wear jackets) so Ava joined in with such Rabold holiday traditions as card playing and puzzles. As you can see here, she's not all that bad.

Ava also tried her hand at another Rabold tradition - heavily posed family portraits. As you can see here, she's not all that bad.

Ava's 22nd Month

Our camera broke this month so you'll have to use your imagination to recreate the majority of the scenes from the past few weeks.

All in all, it was an eventful month as "Machines At Work" (one of Ava's favorite books), was played out in real life. We took a field trip to the closest construction site so Ava could check out all of construction equipment, which made her a very happy girl. Thinking we were on to something, we followed up with a hayride, to which she responded, "All done. No like." into Helen's shoulder as she clung on for dear life.

Unintentionally, we gave a Ava another introduction to large machinery a few weeks later when Helen and Ava were in a car crash (boooo).  About an hour after the crash, just when hanging out on the side of a road became not so cool, our tow truck arrived and was greeted by Ava's screams of "MACHINES AT WORK!"  Sure, we lost our car that day. But Ava got to ride in a tow truck!  So maybe it wasn't such a bad day after all.

A Day in the Life - October 21

 

• 7:30 a.m.- 8:00 a.m. - Ava wakes up, plays with her stuffed animals in the crib
• 8:00 a.m.- 8:30 a.m. - Brian gets Ava up, she demands "dinner," has yogurt and granola for breakfast
• 8:30 a.m. - 8:50 a.m. - Ava colors at her table, correctly identifies the orange marker, beams with pride  
• 8:50 a.m. - 9:10 a.m. - Ava stacks our prep bowls in different formations, one of her favorite pastimes.
• 9:10 a.m. - 9:40 a.m. - Typical Ava diaper change. She is informed it is time for her diaper to be changed, she requests to skip to the bedroom instead of walking, then she changes her mind, thinking that hopping would be a better idea.  The rest of this time is spent trying to get clothes on Ava as she screams and rolls around on the ground.
• 9:40 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Snack time.
• 10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. - Getting socks and shoes on.  Yes, it really does take this long.
• 10:30 - 11:45 a.m. - Indoor play park with our friends Jolie and Carolyn.
• 12:00 noon - Home again, Ava announces she has pooped.  She sits on the potty and we sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and read books.
• 12:15 p.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Lunch: bulgur, beans and applesauce
• 12:30 p.m. - Ava requests a nap.
• 12:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. - Nap time
• 2:15 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Ava wakes up and practices putting a diaper on her doll.
• 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Shopping
• 4:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Skype with Tom, Ian and Emily
• 4:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. - Snack time
• 4:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - More coloring
• 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Family walk
• 6:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. - Ava washes dishes at the sink while dinner is prepared.  Side note: she's not all that bad.
• 6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. - Dinner: spaghetti and meatballs
• 7:00 p.m. - 7:15 p.m. - Bath time
• 7:15 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. - Getting ready for bed...diaper change, brushing teeth, reading books
• 7:45 p.m. - Ava gets tucked in for the night.  She goes to bed in her turtle jammies with 3 pacifiers, a small doll, and 3 stuffed animals.

Tinkle tinkle little star

As they potty train the kids at school, Ava's teachers have been singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to keep everyone seated.  Here is Ava's re-enactment:

Transcript:
A: Hi
H: Can you sing to her?
A: Twinkle Twinkle. (Baby): Yay.  I did it.  I pee peed potty.
H: Ohhhhh.  Baby pee peed on the potty?
A: Yay.
...
A: There.
H: There she goes.  She's not sitting inside the potty now.  She's sitting on the potty.  That's good. Okay...let's sing to her.
A: Twin
H: Kle.  Twinkle.
A: Twinkle. How I wonder what. Up above.  Ba-bove. Ba-ba-bove. Up-babove. How are you. Won't you. Twinkle. Up. How I. Yay!

A lot of people suggest that your brain turns to mush when you talk to a kid all day but I think we can all agree this video tells a different story.  Pretty riveting stuff.

Ava's 21st Month

As we look back on this month, we are fairly convinced that Ava's 21st month was the best yet. We're still deliberating, but it was pretty awesome.

The biggest change this past month has been her interest in her friends. While she's always loved them, she now routinely asks to visit their houses. When she does see them, she spends all of her time hugging them. Case in point: during Ava's last music class, we would estimate no fewer than 12 hugs between Ava and Alex (counting loving sleeper holds). Just darling.

Ava is also expanding her artistic repertoire. She can now sing three different songs (albeit poorly, if we're being honest), and she dances better than Brian. She's rounding out her creative side by dabbling in painting, with an emphasis on tempera and mixed media.

Swinging, swinging, swinging in the sheets

Sure, chores take a wee bit longer when Ava's around.  But chores are way more fun when Ava's around.

Ava's 20th Month

This month we stepped up our efforts at molding Ava into a productive citizen. We've harnessed her youthful exuberance in the kitchen by making her both sous chef and dishwasher (as we explained to her, you've got to start somewhere). In addition, we've started her Miss Manners training by taking her out to eat at honest-to-goodness restaurants with some frequency. Just when we started patting ourselves on the back, though, Ava started speaking in full sentences. Turns out, those first sentences were commands and outright refusals.

But we're hardly slave-drivers around here. Ava visits the zoo so often that she now screams "ANIMOWS!" or "AFRICA!" every time we hop on the highway. And when we're not at the zoo, we're spider hunting in the backyard and puddle jumping on the sidewalk. Here are some pictures from her latest adventures...

Movin' On Up

It's a time of transition for Ava and her daycare pals!  This week Ava, along with her ChildRoots friends and teachers, will graduate from room 7 to room 4.  Room 4 boasts a more challenging play structure and a kitchen arranged so the kids can serve themselves lunch. Yeehaw!!

In honor of their graduation, we thought we would share a few photos from the last 8 months. Recommended listening: Barbra's "The Way We Were."

Room 7 enjoys a family-style meal

Precious.  Am I right?  Ava's the one holding a bunny.

Each morning her teachers rearrange the room to keep things new and interesting.  Ava likes to destroy these creations before the other kids have a chance to enjoy them.  You've got to get up pretty early in the morning...

Peek-ing and boo-ing, and all that.

Catch ya later room 7.

Ava says a bunch of stuff

I'm taking pity on all of you and just posting a portion of this incredibly long video. Here's little Ava Kate saying some of the words she knows while doling out hugs to her pops.

Ava's 19th Month

This month in Ava's world:

• Ava continues to talk to anyone or anything within earshot. Her new favorite words are "smoothie," "nokay," "outside," and "oops," although at this point she can make a fairly good attempt at most words.
• Smoothies are now Ava's largest food group.  She requests them every time she sits down for a meal, walks through the kitchen, or during the odd occasional pause in conversation. In response, we now add all sorts of vegetables in with her fruit smoothies and she seems to be none the wiser.
• Scrapes and cuts are becoming an everyday occurrence as Ava attempts to gain the independence she feels she deserves.  We remain unconvinced.
• Ava's wild mane of hair is now completely out of control.  Month 20 holds the promise of Ava's first haircut. See for yourself in this month's pics...

Ava's Hot (Play) Date

Last week our good friend Alexander Cash (or "Aleh," as Ava likes to call him) came over to play. Ava found the idea of "sharing" to be a little much to handle but did allow him to play with two trains at the corner of the blanket, when she wasn't paying attention.

Ava is a quick study, though, and by snack time she had really grasped the concept of sharing.

Here she is allowing Alex to share his pretzels with her.

After exhausting all possible backyard activities, we moved to the front porch where the kids completely lost their minds.

The date ended with a romantic stroll to the park.

Camping! Or...How I spent my summer with yahoos shooting guns on the river

We have been talking about taking Ava camping for about a year now but were holding off due to overwhelming fear. Ava loves being outside but sleeping in a tent is uncharted territory for her. But, you can only put these things off for so long, so this July we bit the bullet (continue reading to see how apt a phrase this really is) and headed for the forest.

We started with a swim in a river. Keep in mind, this is an Oregon, glacier-fed river with a temperature of 50-60 degrees. Ava took a dip to her belly button but regretted the choice later.

Give me one good reason why I shouldn't wear ruffles camping.

Again, this is Oregon, so our trip also included a bunch of yahoos shooting guns into the forest where we had set up camp.

Ava and Brian.  Not pictured: yahoos.

At the campsite, Ava quickly learned that everyone has a job. Elliot was in charge of Ava:

And Ava was in charge of Maisie:

Drunk with power!

Not surprisingly, Ava had a tough time getting to sleep in the tent but did eventually doze off. That is, until she (we) woke up in a puddle of her own vomit. Twice. Ah...kids.

Professor Ava

Ava drops some knowledge...

Ava's 18th Month

Tar Heeled

From Savannah, we drove up to North Carolina (for the record, not all that close), making this Ava's longest road trip yet.  She seemed not to mind too much, as the road to North Carolina is paved with biscuits.

Ava's first fast food meal.  She ordered biscuits.  And got some biscuits to go.

In North Carolina, we had a mini family reunion with the other side of Ava's family.  We played drums with new cousins, wrestled the old ones, visited the zoo (99 degrees!), and Ava attended her first wedding (99 degrees! Outdoor event!).

XS and XL

Ava couldn't lift Ian--though not for lack of trying--but she certainly could pin him down like a chump.

Eating heartily

I mentioned the heat, right?

We left with some important reminders about life itself: family is great, love is sweet, and sometimes you have to drive 45 minutes to the "best biscuit place ever" to realize that the best biscuit place ever is located a block from your home in Portland.

Whilstlin' Dixie

Frustrated with the slow progression of summer in the Northwest, Ava decided it was about high time we set on down to the deep South and visit her East coast grandparents in Savannah.

We have previously visited the south in the middle of summer so we were prepared for the smothering heat but Ava claims no one warned her about the humidity.  Lacking the proper hair products, she quickly became our own human weather barometer.

Perhaps the most exciting surprise for Ava was her new set of wheels, courtesy of Aunt Paula and Uncle Joe, who made the drive from D.C.  In no time at all, Ava was carpooling with teddy bears and driving into glass curio cabinets.  In a stroke of genius, someone (ahem, Gary) taught her that you fill up the gas tank by placing your hand inside.  I'm sure that won't come back to haunt us, right?

The rest of our time in Savannah was full of great family time, including placing Ava's head in a gator's mouth, swimming, more tickling than you would imagine, nightly feasts, a birthday celebration, and generally staying out of the heat as much as possible.

 

Ava gave this gator a high five.

Savannah ticklefest

Next up...the southern experience continues with a biscuit-fueled trip to North Carolina.

Ava + humidity =

1.21 Gigawatts

Ava's Seventeenth Month

Tragedy stuck our world this month as one of Ava's friends tested out their new teeth on her face. Two bite marks and one course of antibiotics later, she's good as new. Out of respect, we've tried to lay off on the "You're so cute, I'm gonna eat you up" jokes.

Earlier this month, we started putting together a dictionary of Ava's words for all of you to ooohh and aaaahh over, but it's growing too quickly for us to keep up. Rest assured, Ava is quite a verbal young lady and she knows, like, a million words. What she can't say through words or signing, she easily finds a way to communicate through sharp staccato yelps.

Highlights of this month included losts of playground time (we've made it to the big structure), continued harassment of poor Brody, some long-awaited weight gain, and a new Ava-sized table for monkey tea parties and the like (thanks Rodders!).