Such a good helper!

Ava really loves to help us feed the dogs....she gets really excited when we ask her if she wants to help. Here she is being such a big girl and a great helper....

17 months

So, here we are! 17 months old!! It's been a fun and very busy month, and Ava is learning more and more new things everyDAY! She's getting so much better at feeding herself these days. At first, she was painfully slow, but she's much faster now. In fact, she doesn't want you to help at all! If you try to help, she'll do her "nah nah nah nah" and wave her hand back and forth (that means, "no, no, no"). She's learning to say new words everyday. Patrick and I counted up her words (or animal sounds) and we got about 25 or so. She seems to be adding a new word to her vocabulary every few days. It's insane...she's totally a sponge and immitates us very willingly. She sure does love to talk, too. She babbles and points and talks all day...and very loudly, I might add! She's still being a little sinker about eating...but we're working on it! Hopefully, it's a phase! We've been spending a lot of time outside these last few weeks since Christmas...the weather has been unbelievable. I don't remember it being this nice last year...but I'll take it!! Here's Ava pushing her car at the park.
And on the swing!
We've got a field right next to the playground, and she loves to walk around or run through it. She'll just walk and walk and walk. She loves to feel the wind blow. She gets so excited when she feels it and then she points to the trees to watch them move! Here she is exploring...
A little static electricity after going down the slide!
She loves anything we love...here she is trying to drink what's left of my iced Starbucks. She hasn't learned yet that you don't need to tip a cup with a straw!
A little bed head. After her nap...the other side looked just as bad! :)
Playing in her apron from Michee.
Here she is feeding herself yogurt. She opens so big when she does it herself! You'll have to forgive the bluriness...my camera is still giving me troubles...it wont focus up close at all. (Don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't had any really great up-close shots at all in the past few months). :( I sent it in (they had it for a month!), but they sent it back and said they couldn't reproduce the problem. Soooo, I'm sending it back tomorrow...so, I'll be without it for probably another month....don't expect good pictures next month!
She uses this purse to carry her little animals in...she hardly ever carries it like an actual purse...so freakin' cute!
Playing in the backyard...
She likes to try to dump out whatever is in her sippy cup....little stinker. Good thing it's "no spill."
She loves to "talk" on anyones cell phone. She just babbles to herself....
Bobbi came for a visit for a few days after Christmas...they were checking out the birds here. Ava loves bird watching!I feel like there are a million more things going on, but I can never remember when I'm trying to update here! I hope y'all had a great Christmas and New Year....here are more pictures of Ava at 17 months if you're interested! The first half of them are from Christmas (some of which have already been posted), but the second half is from the rest of the month.

Flashcard Fun

Ava got some fun flashcards for Christmas. She's really been interested in learning and looking at new things lately....so, I thought it might be a good time to pull those flashcards out. Here she is with Patrick going over some of them. Her words are easy for us to understand, but you'll have to listen closely! In the middle, Patrick asks her where her car is (the one she got for Christmas)- that's what she's looking to the other side of the room for. At the end, listen for her latest attempt at a word...."thank you!"

Video Update

Here are a few videos from the past month or so. This one is Ava in the car on the way to the Georgia Aquarium...




Here's one of Ava playing chase! Notice the fairy arms flailing about while running!