19 months

Hello!! :) Here we are at freakin' NINETEEN MONTHS OLD!!! So crazy! Ava is growing and learning and developing at the speed of light. She surprises me everyday with something new. She's SO much fun right now! I feel like I've got a billion updates, so I'll try to make each one really quick! (Is that possible)? :)

Ava had her 18 months check up a few weeks ago, and MAN was this visit different than the rest! She was great in the waiting room, but once we went to the back, she cried from the time they measured her head to the time we walked out. She's remembering what happens to her when she's there...and she let everyone know it! She cried so hard and loud that I asked her doc if it was normal. Her doc is too sweet to ever say anything bad....but basically said that some kids react this way at this age. :( But, when Dr. C left, I was holding Ava with her head on my shoulder and asked her to say bye to Dr. C...she waved and said "byeeee" through her crying. It was really cute. Dr. C was very touched. That was the last time we'll see her since we'll be back in Georiga for her next visit. Kinda sad. :( She cried all the way to the front. The thing that made her stop crying was her Elmo and My Little Pony stickers. Then she was all good after that! This visit should be her last round of shots for quite a while. She weighed 21lbs 12oz (~10%) and was 32 inches long (~50%). Still a little thang. :)

Speaking of My Little Pony, Bobbi brought Ava one when she came to visit, and she wouldn't let go of it! Ever! Even for her nap!!! Bobbi also got her a broom (since she's been stealing ours), and here she is with both of these!
And more My Little Pony!
We had a cold snap here for about a week, and getting anything on Ava's head is a challenge. But, she managed to flash a smile just long enough for me to snap this pic! What a CUTIE!!Speaking of getting things in her hair...here she is with a little pony tail! You have no idea what it takes to get stuff in her hair! The only way it's possible is to distract her with Dora!

As for things that she's doing now...I could go on and on! She's changed to calling me Mommy instead of Mama. But, it's more of a Mommeeeeeeee...which I totally love! She's still imitating things like CRAZY! Everything that we do or say is repeated by Ava...we've got to be very careful! She's getting really good at brushing her teeth...she's quite willing these days and seems to like the ritual we have with her rinsing her toothbrush and tapping it on the side of the sink! Sometimes I'll start her bath a few minutes before I do teeth, but she hears the bath and therefore knows that the door is open, and a few seconds later...here she comes- all excited with her toothbrush and toothpaste that she helped herself to from the drawer! In the mornings, she hangs out with me in my bathroom and watches me do my makeup. Well, of course, she wants to do it too! She reaches into my makeup drawer, gets the brushes, and brushes them on her face. :) Very cute! And smart! She's really starting to say, "no, no, no." We're trying not to pay too much attention to that, but there's no denying that she's got a mind of her own and I'm sure we'll be seeing much more of that to come!

Ava LOVES to be outside. I swear she'd sleep outside if we let her! Here are a few pics of her outside!Constantly sitting with Salsa...she loves her!There's a few more things she's saying now....when we play with bubbles outside, she hates to put them away. She'll get upset and say, "no, no bubbles all done" over and over. (The total cutest ever, even though she's really sad)! She says "bye bye (insert name here)" all the time now. Bye bye Pop, Daddy, Mommy, Bobbi, Michee, etc. When ever someone leaves the room or the house, she says it. Even on Skype (the online video conferencing that we use to talk to the grandparents at night), she'll say "bye bye, Pop" when he walks out of the background! By the way, Skpye makes a huge difference with Ava recognizing her grandparents! They've both come for visits this past month, and she took no time to get acquainted!

This particular morning, Ava (for some reason) didn't want anything to do with her highchair....so, this is where she ate breakfast!
Waiting for me to fix breakfast...getting to be such a big girl, isn't she?!She calls Elmo "Lala" and her Nemo "Moomoo." I'm pretty sure that "Lala" came from Aunt Sarah who taught her this past summer that Elmo sings "la la la la" (all you mommies out there know how it goes)! She calls pineapple "Appu" (like apple, but app-oo). She blows on her food if it's hot and says "hot, hot, hot" about a million times before taking a bite! (She also says "hot" while pointing to the grill- Patrick taught her that one). She calls water "wa-wee" and will say "all done wa-wee" when the water runs out in her sippy cup!!Probably the thing that I've been most impressed with is her ABC's and 123's. She'll say the alphabet A-E by herself and then repeat most other letters after I say them. Pretty freaking crazy. She counts pretty well too...sometimes she gets them out of order, but she gets several of them right! We stop at 10 for now. She gets so excited when she's done, clapping and saying "yay!"

Those may be the things that I'm most impressed by, but my favortie new news is this: When Michee was visiting, Ava was playing in the back yard and stepped in dog poop. Weeeeell, Michee told her that they had to clean Salsa's poop and that it was yucky. So, they proceeded to clean Salsa's poop. Ever since then, every single morning when I get her out of bed, she points to the window and says "Salsy poop, Salsy poop, Salsy poop." THEN, when she's walking around outside, if she steps on anything (a pinecone, a leaf!) she says, "uh-oh poop" and holds her foot up. I always check it, and, of course, there's nothing there! But, it's everytime! And pretty darn cute!
Ava discovered Thin Mints. She loves them. It must be genetic. :)
I have TONS more pictures this month...but they're all really good! Take a peek!