Today in Ava

Responding to Ava chucking her shoes across the room...

Brian: We don't throw shoes.

Ava: Here is my response:

1. Shoes are not people.
2. Shoes do not have feelings.
3. Shoes are made of fabric and do not break.
4. Shoes are soft and do not hurt.

So I can throw shoes. There's no reason not to throw shoes.

May 2014

May 2014 Album

Having lived in Portland for going on 14 years, we know that when false summer comes around--be that in February or in May--you better get out and enjoy it while you can.  So we did.  Despite some work trips for Brian and a much needed trip gallivanting in wine country for Helen, we still found time to get outside with the kiddos.  We explored the botanical garden, visited the Rhododendron Garden, took a day trip to the coast, attended a carnival at Ava's future kindergarten, and spent plenty of time playing on the porch and in the playhouse.

It wasn't all fun and games, though! This month we said a fond farewell to our buddies and neighbors the Thelens (Nate, Amy, Carter and Olivia) as they moved to their new house.  We've known this day was coming for three years now, but it was still sad to see our friends and the kids' playmates fill up three moving trucks (yes, 3!) and drive away.  Sure, they're only a mile away, but still. 

Swimming!

Can you tell we're excited? We're excited.

Let It Go Already

There is A LOT of singing that goes on around this house. Like every other child on the planet, Ava's favorite song for a while was "Let It Go." Even without ever seeing the film--because our kids live sad sheltered lives--she's managed to pick up most of the words from kids on the playground, a youtube clip, and that one station that seems to play the song at every hour of the day (the "Frozen station" as she calls it).  Stick with it through :40, when she really brings it home.

Don't worry folks, although James is discouraged from joining his sister in song, he still has music in his heart.  Here's a James medley/mash-up for you:

And, finally, an Ava-sung lullabye.  Always short on the lulling.

Feats of Buoyancy

For those of you familiar with Ava's fear of water, you will know this is a pretty big deal.  I mean, we are posting three videos, so yeah, it's a pretty big deal.

Ava from the waist down #avastyle #h2t

Rapid Fire

April 2014

April 2014 Album

March 2014...or when we stopped taking pictures of our lives

March 2014 Album

Puzzle Master

We found this one from back in January and thought you'd like to see it since we've been neglecting you so much.

February 2014

February found us knee-deep in snow. Portland gets snowfall about once every five years so, as usual, the entire city shut down within minutes of the first flake. All told, the city shut down for five days and we learned a few things.

1. The children are completely unprepared, equipment-wise, for any sort of cold weather. Ava was lucky enough to cobble together some gear, if you count rain boots and thin cotton gloves. James was less fortunate and spent his snow days in shockingly tight purple hand-me-down snow pants that fit like capris. 
2. Ava LOVES the snow and would spend all her days building snow forts and sledding if given the option.
3. James HATES the snow (perhaps it's the snow pants) and would much rather sit on the living room floor screaming than play in it.

February 2014 Album

January 2014

In January, Ava Kate turned five and she celebrated with her long-time buddies, Griffin and Jolie, with a joint party. It was a dance, dress-up, theatrical extravaganza. The kids collected donations to the Oregon Humane Society at the party and then delivered them two months later (life is hard). Over the two months, Ava repeatedly requested that we finally deliver the food to the animals because she was so worried they would go hungry without us.

Toward the end of the month the plague hit our house, very inconveniently timed with a work trip for Brian. Never before have we been so excited to move into a new month.  February-ho!

January 2014 Album

Ava Kate turns 5

It seems rather ridiculous to us, and perhaps to you, that Ava is now five years old. With five years of parenting under our belts, we are now remarkably well equipped to handle whatever challenge parenting sends our way. Smooth sailing until college! We're so thankful for that.

We may be overselling our parenting skills but we can't oversell Ava, who is about as complex as it gets.  Here's the overview:

1. Ava would like to be a mommy when she grows up. When we asked why, she said she would like to be able to cook whatever she wants for dinner. When we told her she didn't need kids to do that, she said she would need kids so she has someone to play with. 
2. Ava's favorite colors are purple, pink and blue. She's quick to point out, however, that she also loves other colors.
3. Ava's loves to draw. All day long.
4. With this year's snow storm we learned that Ava LOVES snow. Sadly it will be another five years before she experiences it again, but it was fun while it lasted. 
5. Ava is a style icon and mixes prints like nothing you've ever seen before. Her trademark look is layering, and she can usually be seen wearing short sleeves over long sleeves, leggings with a skirt, patterned socks and patterned Mary Janes. It's pretty much her uniform. 
6. As we've mentioned previously, Ava is scared of everything. Last year she ran screaming out of a theater production of the Velveteen Rabbit five minutes in because it seemed like the puppets were upset with each other. However, Ava has no fear whatsoever of bugs and has been known to scoop up spiders so that we can send them outside of the house.
7. So far Ava has lived a life fairly free of screen time, though she really does soak in her 10-minute cartoons when she sees them a few times a week. For her birthday Sue and Rod prepared to blow her mind with her first movie, Winnie-The-Pooh. Though not at all scary, she was unable to make it through the film after a swarm of bees made it into the story line. She maintains that she did "pretty good for a little kid."
8. If you knew either of us as children, you shouldn't be surprised that Ava has been a picky eater. In the past few months she's been broadening her horizons, however, and now requests salmon and sushi for dinner.
9. Ava is very excited about kindergarten and we've found that we can ask her to do (or not do) almost anything if we can make a case for how it better prepares her for school in the fall. 
10. As we mentioned, Ava loves her cartoons.  James and Ava watch 10 minutes of assorted video clips after Quiet Time each day: "Thomas and Friends," "Pocoyo," "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That," and our least favorite of all, "Clifford."
11. Lately Ava has been getting into more elaborate books, so we've been reading chapter books like Winnie-The-Pooh (our current favorite) and an assortment of books where the female characters save the day.  
12. Ava is a rule follower. She always has been. She's made it her job to tell us to take our shoes off and remind us to bus our plates after dinner, just to name a couple. 
13. It has taken us 4 1/2 years to drop Ava off at school without her screaming. It's an amazing accomplishment and I'm sure we could probably link it back to some since-forgotten conversation about expected kindergarten behavior.
14. Ava has a very strong sense of right and wrong. She has a surprisingly long list of children she is no longer friends with because they offended one of her "best friends." She has no problem sticking up for herself, and her friends when the situation calls for it. When James was the victim of some "abuse" a few weeks ago, Ava stomped herself over and let that kid know that when you mess with James, you mess with his whole family.
15. Ava is funny. It's taken us a while to notice that she's not just oh-how-cute kid-funny. She's pretty witty.
16. Ava -- no surprise -- loves dessert. Fortunately, she is quite small and has limited experience in the world so we have been able to convince her that pomegranate counts as dessert. If you give Ava pomegranate and don't announce that it's dessert time, she gets a mischievous look about her and whispers, "Don't tell daddy."
17. At Ava's preschool they end each day with "ateliers," each focusing on a different discipline: drama, science, art, sensory, movement, food, mechanics, etc. Each week the kids are split up into a different atelier and they explore one large theme (for example The Northwest) through the lens of that subject. Ava's favorite atelier is drama, in which she writes and performs a play for the rest of the preschool with the other seven children in her group. We're told that Ava has a knack for the performing arts (which makes sense since she spends most of her day in an imaginary world) and is often one of the kids to write the plays for her group. We're excited she's exploring a new outlet for all of her natural-born drama!
18. After two years of rigorous training (and two years of false starts before that), Ava has finally graduated from Water Safety I. For quite some time, the pool was another one of Ava's fears but now she loves going to the pool.
19. Lately Ava has taken to singing to James before he goes to bed. Though not lullabies in the traditional sense, she offers him a tender rendition of the ABCs and Skidamarink.
20. Despite our best efforts, Ava is a true girly-girl. She likes fairies and princesses, manicures, and playing house. She hasn't worn pants since May of 2013.

December 2013

December 2013 Album

November 2013

It's been so long since November, I was just going to post the month's pictures without commentary.  But seeing as there is a visit to the Emergency Room shown in the pictures, it does seem worthwhile to mention that James just had to visit the ER because of Nursemaids Elbow and his issue was quickly resolved with a little arm twisting. He received a popsicle for his trouble, which made the visit well worth his time.

November 2013 Album

Today in Ava

"You're weird. But I like you."

In which James is adorable

I was considering just posting the last 20 seconds of this video--in which James and Helen perform their nightly ritual of "I love you," "Bye," "I love you," "Bye"--but then I thought, What's better than 20 seconds of adorable? Two minutes of adorable, that's what.

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

This month we finally pulled ourselves together and had our first family photo shoot (with James, at least). Now, when you look through the album, I want you to be saying to yourself, "Wow. Not too shabby!" Not just because we're looking at the camera, generally smiling, and being our incredibly good-looking selves—although all that is true—but also because midway through the photo shoot James rendered me blind by stabbing a stick into my eyeball.

Of course, I finished the photo shoot because 20 cycles of America's Next Top Model have taught me that a top model always finishes a photo shoot. That, and the idea of getting everyone mucus free for another photo shoot was more painful than the searing pain in my eyeball, shooting into the back of my head. For reference, the incident occurred just before the picture on the steps with the maple leaf. In that picture, and all those that follow, tears were gushing from my just-poked eye.

One trip to Urgent Care, one course of antibiotics, one prescription for pain meds, one day of PTO, an eye patch and two days of blindness later, everything's just fine.

Clubhouse now open for business

Rodders has really outdone himself this time.  Our newly constructed playhouse is now the most solidly constructed dwelling we own.

As expected, the playhouse has been a hit with the small people in our house as well.  With only a floor and one wall built, the children were already taking orders through the window of their cafe/ice cream shop/waffle window.

I am two

In honor of James's two years on the planet, here are 24 things about him:

1. James stopped growing about six months ago, out of respect for his fellow toddlers who needed time to catch up.
2. His favorite pastime is reading and he would do very little else if given the choice. Right now we can't go a day without reading Snowy Day, Olivia, Goodnight Gorilla, Thomas and Friends, and a steady rotation of word books and books about babies.
3. When he isn't reading, James is playing "restaurant" with Ava, and saying adorable things like, "Mama, you like the pasta?"
4. James is generally an incredibly jovial kid and enjoys blowing kisses to strangers, dancing, screaming in excitement, and giggling.
5. James loves to sleep and often wakes up inconsolable from a nap.
6. James weighs 34 lbs.
7. James has been focusing a lot on colors lately. He knows the names of all the colors of the rainbow and uses them freely throughout the day, but cannot, for the life of him, assign the correct name to a color. We spend much of our day having this same conversation over and over again: "That'sa puorple!" "No, that's red." "That'sa red!"
8. James has exceptional manners and never ever misses the opportunity to say please, thank you, and you're welcome.
9. Legos are another favorite for James. He generally builds towers but has also been known to make hammers and, most recently, a digital camera.
10. Every time James hears an airplane he stops, points, screams "AIRPLANE" and makes the sound of an airplane.
11. James NEVER stops talking. At this point, James can say almost all words, uses sentences, and even recounts "interesting" things about his day. He still can't pronounce all of the letters of the alphabet, though, so it takes some concentration to keep up on his conversations.
12. Although usually happy as a clam, James has some pretty major anger management issues and isn't afraid to go all Mike Tyson on you when necessary. Ava endures the brunt of his anger because of her poor evasion tactics and her interest in stealing or protecting toys in tight quarters.
13. That being said, James and Ava could be described as best friends and they almost never play alone. 
14. On Thursdays, when Ava goes to school and James stays at home, James starts asking to pick Ava up from school at 10 am.
15. With each day, James is growing more independent. He can put his boots on by himself, zip his zippers, undress, and climb in his car seat. Getting dressed by himself is still a challenge, but he's always game to add 20 minutes to our morning routine by giving it the ole college try. As he will tell you: "I do it!"
16. James has a gloriously short bedtime routine. It takes all of two minutes from the time he gets in his pajamas to lights out. That includes brushing teeth ("I do it!"), walking around the room saying goodnight to things, tossing him in his crib, and a few rounds of "I love you", "Bye", "I love you", "Bye."
17. James loves Chex. He eats four bowls every morning.
18. James takes a baby doll with him wherever he goes.
19. If Ava's not James's best friend, then Brody is. The feeling is not mutual. That dog has put up with more than his fair share of "Gentle touches" in his time. 
20. You can say "Bath" at any point during the day and James will run to the bathtub and try to get in.
21. James asks to sit on the toilet every time he gets his diaper changed. There, we sing a song, he wipes, and flushes the paper down. What a waste.
22. If James hears any words he doesn't understand he smiles and replies, "Hola!"
23. James loves to skip, hop, gallop, and jump. All of those actions look exactly the same.
24. James has hit his head more in his first two years than Ava will in her entire lifetime. That's just a fact.