Ava Draws a Baby

 

James, as Sidekick

Act I:  

Earlier this week Helen, Ava and James were driving home, listening to Ava's favorite music, when we stopped for gas. When Helen turned off the ignition, the music stopped, Ava began asking why her songs weren't on anymore, and James started to cry.

Ava: James doesn't like this project.
Helen: No? James doesn't like this project?
Ava: No. (Then, whispering) I don't like it either. Now turn my music back on.

And then she flashes her biggest grin.

Act II:

Ava: I love James. He's my friend.
Helen: Awwww. He's my friend, too.
Ava: No. Daddy's your friend.

Act III:

Ava: Who rocks the house? James rocks the house. (We don't know where she got this one.)

Wakeful James

This is James, at midnight, showing us that there's really no bad time to be a cute baby. Keep an eye on Brian, passing out in the background.

James has Ava's shrieky voice on his list of things that he loves. Since Ava's the only one in the house that can reliably make him laugh, we've resorted to embarrassing mimicry. 

"March, Larch. Hey, that rhymes!"

It wasn't an incredibly busy month in our world. Not that we need to assign blame, but if we did, we would point our finger at the groan-inspiring rainfall. Portland went all-out with 7.89 inches of rain, making this the rainiest March on record. Ever. Which means if we had placed James outside in a bucket at the beginning of the month--and James were able to stand--he'd be up to his knee-caps in rainwater by now.

For us, this translated into lots and lots of indoor time. And that translated into lots and lots of time for Ava to say things like, "Man, fan. Hey, momma, that rhymes," and "Fire, tire. Hey, momma, that rhymes," and "Almond, salmond. Hey, that rhymes." She's pretty impressed with herself.

All the indoor time also provided us with ample opportunity to devise a strategy to combat James's sleep issues. Our latest plan led us to introduce solid foods with the hope that eating so much would tire him out (results: TBD). Ava has enjoyed this next step in sisterhood, and has been quick to pick up the technique. She sweetly places the spoon in front of James for him to take. At least until she gets bored, at which point she jams it down his throat.

Go by Bike



Nothing says morning commute like boots, jacket, mittens, full-body rain suit, wool hat, helmet, and sunglasses. 

A Day in the Life - March 19

James, Ava, and 6-week old Quinn

We're working with a 24-hour clock these days.

• 7:30 a.m. - Ava wakes up. Brian gets up and feeds her breakfast of granola, Os, yogurt, and watered-down juice.
• 8:15 a.m. - Brian wakes Helen up. Brody, as usual, is the last to wake.
• 8:30 a.m. - Brian goes upstairs to work for the day. Ava helps Helen diaper and clothe James.
• 9:00 a.m. - Helen's feeling ambitious and invites Ava to make pumpkin bread from scratch. This is familiar territory for Ava and she skillfully scoops, levels off and counts ingredients. James is in his "command center" and is quite joyful.
• 9:15 a.m. - Ava loses interest in baking. Plays with James and his excersaucer.
• 9:30 a.m. - James loses interest in the command center. Yelps loudly. Bread goes in the oven.
• 9:35  a.m. - Helen feeds James.  Ava "reads" a book to herself. The title is The Habit. It's an anti-smoking book from the 1970s and I'm not sure where Ava got it, but we'd like to offer a sarcastic thanks to that person. Luckily Ava can't read so she doesn't know it's about death. Instead it's about silly, somewhat friendly monsters.
• 9:45 a.m. - James is swaddled and goes down for a nap.
• 9:50 a.m. - Sharon and Maisie come over to play.  They color, play instruments, and Ava places all of her belongings into a laundry basket and pushes it around the house claiming it's a garbage truck.
• 9:51 a.m. - Helen requests that Ava stop pushing the garbage truck around. Ava explains that she can't take her toys out because they're "stinky."
• 10:15 a.m. - Cara and baby Quinn come over to play.
• 10:45 a.m. - Snack of pumpkin bread and oranges
  
• 11:00 a.m. - James wakes up from his nap and greets his visitors.
• 11:30 a.m. - Maisie and Sharon depart
• 11:35 a.m. - Helen feeds James. Ava sits on the couch and demands that both of the babies sit on her lap. There's more diapering all around.
• 12:00 noon - Lunch of paprikash.
• 12:30 p.m. - Ava begins "quiet time," which is loosely interpreted to mean doing anything you want at any volume you want, as long as you don't come out of the bedroom.
• 12:40 p.m. - Brian comes downstairs to grab lunch and eats upstairs while he continues working.
• 12:45 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. - James asleep in Helen's arms.
• 1:30 p.m. - Cara and Quinn depart.
• 1:35 p.m. - Ava asks if quiet time is over. Helen says no.
• 1:35 p.m. - Helen feeds James.
• 1:40 p.m. - 1:41 p.m. - Helen eats lunch.
• 1:45 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Quiet time is over.  Ava has another snack while Helen cleans the kitchen.
• 2:00 p.m. - James plays on his playmat. Ava and Helen sweep the floor.
• 2:30 p.m. - Ava and Helen clean Ava's room.
  
• 3:00 p.m. - Everyone gets ready to go for a walk. Helen feeds James while putting on Ava's socks. Ava puts on a hoodie, a coat, and puts her shoes on the wrong feet. It starts to rain. Ava gets her umbrella.
• 3:30 p.m - Walk to the pizza store to get pizza dough. James is in the baby carrier, wearing a bear hat with ears. Ava is in her radio flyer wagon with her umbrella that looks like a duck. People think we are cute. They tell us so.
• 3:45 p.m. - Buy pizza dough. Ava thanks Helen for being patient as we wait in line.
• 4:00 p.m. - James, Ava, Helen have "circle time" along with Leo and Alex, who are real kids from Ava's school but who are only present in spirit. Songs are sung. We keep the beat by tapping James's belly.
• 4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Another nap for James. Ava and Helen play "basketball," which is nothing like basketball but does, indeed, involve a ball. We pass it back and forth and talk about letters and numbers.
• 5:00 p.m. - Ava, Helen, and James put masking tape all over the wood floors to make different letters.

Helen's R had to suffer for Ava's (exceptional) E.

• 5:30 p.m. - Brian clocks-out for the day and is handed the children. Ava and Brian build a fire while Helen makes dinner.
• 6:00 p.m. - Ava feeds James his dinner of sweet potatoes. James and Brian require a complete change of clothing afterwards.
• 6:15 p.m. - Dinner. Pesto, goat cheese, tomato and arugula pizza with a salad. Ava has seconds.
• 6:45 p.m. - Ava feeds Brody his dinner.
• 7:00 p.m. - Both kids get ready for bed. Read books. Sing songs.
• 7:30 p.m. - Lights out for both kids. Ava continues to read to her babies because they have trouble getting to sleep.
• 7:45 p.m. - Brian walks Brody.
• 8:00 p.m. - Ava falls asleep with around 20 books in her bed.
• 8:00 p.m. - Non-kid time for taxes and blog posts. You're welcome.
• 10:30 p.m. - Helen feeds James.
• 11:30 p.m. - Helen and Brian go to bed.
• 12:50 a.m. - Up to feed James.
• 2:50 a.m. - 3:30 a.m. - James wakes up to eat. Then squeals at his toes for 30 minutes.
• 3:30 a.m. - We give up on James sleeping by himself and bring him to our bed, where he falls instantly asleep.
• 5:50 a.m. - Up to feed James.
• 6:00 a.m. - Alarm goes off for 40 minutes before we hear it.
• 6:40 a.m. - Helen gets up and gets ready for work.
• 6:55 a.m. - Brian gets up, gets James and his stuff in the car.
• 7:25 a.m. - Helen brings James to Nana and Grandad Edwards' where he plays for the day. Ava gets up just in time to wave goodbye. Brian gets Ava ready for school.

Lunch at the Academy

We secured a coveted spot at a top-notch in-home daycare with an adorable British couple. They send us cute video updates of his day, like this one.

Weights and Measures

The numbers are in...

James at 4 months:
Length = 27 inches (99th percentile)
Weight = 18 lbs 13 oz (99th percentile)
Weight for length = 70th percentile

February 2012

Leap Year or not, this February was particularly busy.

Visitors! Boy did we have visitors. Grandma Rabold,Tom, Emily, Ian, and Caleb all came to Portland, and we had a great time introducing them to James. Layne gets the Sixth Man Award for taking care of an 18-pound infant for two weeks while we were away at work. Ava had fun combing Ian's hair and violently hugging Caleb. Ava also enjoyed four successive sleepovers with Ian. Turns out the secret to getting Ava to go to bed in the evening is to wake her up for the day at 5 a.m. Thanks to Ian for that tip.

Milestones! Boy did we have milestones. Ava learned how to use the potty. James rolled over both directions. Helen returned to work. Not all were completely joyful.

Exhaustion! Boy are we tired. We still haven't managed to string together two "good" nights of sleep yet ("good" of course being a relative term; we're just looking for one uninterrupted stretch of three hours). As we rounded the corner on James's fourth month, we found ourselves being woken every hour. We're past that, which can only mean that we'll have some good news in March, right?

At 4 Months...

As you all well know, James is a good deal larger than Ava was. And while we all know this conceptually, we've been trying to find a picture that really proves it. This isn't the best comparison but hopefully you get the point.

4 month, 6 days

4 months, 3 days

Let's Get This Potty Started

Back in February, we had our most rewarding parenting experience yet: a potty training marathon weekend! Honestly, we've spent a good deal of time over the last 18 months in the bathroom with Ava, gently trying to introduce the toilet. This technique was great for Ava in so many ways. She got to sit on a comfy throne, read lots of books, and exert lots of control over her helpless parents. She didn't pee and she didn't poop and that was just fine with her. After all, that's what the diapers are for, right?

Cooking her famous barley soup. In undies.

Reading a book. In undies.

Eventually it became clear that in order to get rid of Ava's diapers, we would just have to, well, get rid of them. And so we did. With Brian's mom, Layne, in town, we figured we had numbers on our side. The time had come.

Blowing bubbles. In undies.

Our adventure started with a trip downtown to H&M to pick up some underwear. It was exhilarating and we bought one of every pair in her size. Then we boxed up all of the cloth diapers and put them in the basement. Then we spent three days in undies and a t-shirt (well, the adults wore pants), feeding her juice at every turn, and letting her watch a congratulatory YouTube video whenever she used the toilet. She had one big accident, a couple of small ones and then spent the rest of the weekend watching all sorts of chimpanzees spinning until they got dizzy.

Mowing the neighbor's lawn. In undies.

3rd position. In undies.

While we were at it, we figured we would go for the gold and get her out of nighttime diapers as well. Even though we were waking her up every two hours (true story) she still managed to soak the bed every other hour for a week. She's a miracle child! But, just when we were sure nighttime potty training was out of reach, we heard Ava race to the bathroom on her own, use the toilet, get up on her step stool to wash her hands and then run back to bed without our help. We are convinced there is no better sound in the world.

Checking email. In undies.

Roughhousing. In undies.

Swim Babies

James graced the pool with his chubby rolls today and we learned that he is remarkably buoyant. That didn't stop Helen from pushing his head underwater, though. Despite the way this face reads, he actually enjoyed the plunge:

Yes, that is a man boob.

Ava refused to pose for this picture. She is no puppet.

Ava refused to smile for this picture.

Turns out Ava likes the pool, too. Here she is floating down the lazy river:

One and a half hours of swimming later, he's still happy.

Mr. Giggles

Sure, Ava is funny. But not that funny.

Today in Ava

Ava: Mama, you wear underwear. I wear underwear. Grandma wears underwear. Now James is the only friend wearing diapers.
Helen: What about Daddy? Does he wear underwear?
Ava: No, Daddy doesn't wear underwear. Daddy wears bok choys.

Dancing Queen

For those of you accustomed to parents over-hyping their children, this will be a breath of fresh air: Ava is one of the worst singers known to man. She does, however, have some sweet dance moves. Check it:

January 2012

January was action-packed. Here are the deets:

• Ava turned 3! She celebrated with pink pee (and a visit to the ER - she's fine) and had a bunch of her buddies over. This was very exciting because the kids played by themselves, allowing us to talk to adults about adult things, like how the kids were playing so well without us.
• James started to laugh. Not a full-fledged belly laugh but a cute wide-mouthed gasp.
• Brian was out of town for two weeks so Helen moved in with the Edwards gang. Thanks for that! It just goes to show that the gifts of parenthood just keep coming!
• Aunt Paula and Uncle Joe visited to meet James and celebrate Ava's birthday. We had many a pretend pizza party during their stay, and learned all about penguins.
• Ava was a party animal: school birthday parties, friends' birthday parties, friends' baptisms. She now knows that she likes cupcakes, and she had her first lollipop.

Weights and Measures

The numbers are in...

James at 2 months (a few weeks ago):
Length = 25.5 inches (99th percentile)
Weight = 15 lbs 11 oz (99th percentile)
Weight for length = 50th percentile


Ava at 3 years:
Height = 34.5 inches (5th percentile)
Weight = 25.5 lbs (5th percentile)
Weight for height = 20th percentile

Oh, the Abuse

Being the last-born in each of our families, we've long believed that the youngest in the family is the toughest. Now we know why.

Sleeper hold

Eye poke

Steam roller

Leg rest (at 8 days old)

Today in Ava

Ava's not at her best in the mornings. She's a little lacking in joie de vivre and has, on more than one occasion, made Helen cry with her morning greeting of "I don't want to see her."

Things have taken a welcome turn over the last few months and this morning she brought tears to Helen's eyes again with today's greeting:

"Good morning, mama. Do you need a hug? 'Cuz I've got two big arms waiting to give you a hug."

Are you kidding me with this? Enough to warm your icy heart. Amiright?

Sleepover!

To ring in the New Year, Ava had friends Elliot and Maisie over, not just to play, not just for dinner, but to sleep over.

Ava and Elliot were out of control excited about the whole idea of a sleepover and when given multiple options about where to sleep, Elliot and Ava opted to sleep in Ava's bed together.They started out the night like this:

After a few hours of reading books to each other and telling each other their innermost secrets, they ended the night like this: