18 month old ava!

today ava turned 18 months old. i can't believe how quickly the time flies, it honestly feels like only a few months ago she was a little baby and now she's such a big girl. she went from baby to toddler in an instant!


she is such a smart girl and quite a fast learner. she uses sign language frequently, most commonly milk, all done, food, more, bye, cold, hot, water, cookie, ball, shoe, cracker, dog, and movie. (she picked up on movie immediately and asks to watch one all the time!) the first word she ever said was cat. not mom, not dad but cat. for the longest time it was the only word she could say because she first said it when she was very young! now her vocabulary has increased so much and she pronounces words very well. she says cracker, more, all done, yes, outside, mama, dada, papa, duck, ball, cheese, water, shoe, uh-oh, hot, and food just to name a few! she also barks like a dog whenever she sees one or a picture of one, it is hilarious and i have yet to catch it on tape.


she loves music. whenever she hears music she is immediately entertained and dances along to it. in fact, anything that has a beat she'll dance to it; for example, sometimes when the ac turns on, it starts off with a soft beat and she'll start dancing-- so funny! she moves so well when she dances and has much more groove than any of us. those who have witnessed this hilarious sight can't believe how funny her dancing is, they all agree that she has great moves. one day, i will capture more on video, she seems to always know when i'm trying to record moments like these and freezes up. (you can see the only captured dancing moment here.) she also loves to pound on the piano and strum the guitar along with her daddy. she likes listening to music in the car and even dances in her carseat. you can tell already that she's a music lover like her dad.

she absolutely loves books. she will read books all day long. she would rather read books than play with toys. she loves being read to and i love to catch her on occasion 'reading' the books to herself. she'll point to the pictures and say things, her voice even has some of the same inflections that mine does when i read to her.


she loves food. her favorites include green beans, string cheese, rice cakes, salad, grapes, beans, pasta, pizza, apples, rice, chicken, peaches, corn... she is not much of a picky eater and loves flavor. the more, the better! she is so fabulous at night. she knows her bedtime routine and follows it pretty well. when we tuck her in, she usually smiles and waves bye to us, then rolls to her side and goes to sleep. she sleeps beautifully at night and will sleep through practically any noise-- at night. (during the day is another story, i practically have to tiptoe around as not to wake this light day sleeper! believe me, i tried making lots of noise when she was young to prevent this, but without fail, she always woke up.)

she loves to laugh and loves for people to laugh with her. she loves attention. she loves to cover her eyes and wait for someone to say, 'where's ava?' she will then quickly open her hands to reveal her smiling face. when we say prayers, she'll "fold" her arms across her tummy, and she's normally pretty quiet during them. when we say amen she throws her hands in the air and says "aaa"! she loves taking baths and splashes water everywhere! she has quite a pair of lungs. this was one of the first things i noticed when she was born. her cry was quite powerful and never sounded like a small newborn cry. when she gets frustrated she loses her temper very quickly and yells in frustration. sometimes if she's mad at me she'll yell and clench her fists and her whole body will shake! othertimes, she'll dramatically throw herself on the ground and sob with her face in the ground or her arms. honestly, i can't help but sorta laugh when she does this, although, we are trying to teach her that that's not how to handle her frustrations. she is a very good listener and understands most everything that we say. when i tell her that we're going to grandma and papa's she'll immediately go to the garage door and open the door. when i tell her we need to change her diaper she'll run to the changing table. lately she's started to say "poop" when she needs a diaper change. (only a mom would appreciate the sweetness of that word in this context.) when i tell her to go get her blanket she'll run to her room, and grab her blanket from her crib. we are always surprised when we realize that she understands us more than we thought. she knows that she's not supposed to go in the laundry room unless we're getting in the car. sometimes when i'm doing laundry she'll stand at the doorway and shake her head 'no' and then walk away. (we don't like her going in the laundry room because that's where the litter box is and we don't want her mistaking it for a sand box. eeewww!) she loves babies and will touch them very softly. she gives us hugs and kisses when we ask, and sometimes when we don't ask. i love it when she comes up to me out of the blue and gives me hugs and kisses, she has no idea how happy it makes me. she especially loves to hug other kids her size, it's always sweet to see her surprise a friend with a hug. i hate to say this, but she is such a mommy's girl lately. don't get me wrong, she loves daddy. but she has grown very attached to me. i am always the one she wants and bryce's feelings get so hurt. i have to admit that i love knowing that someone needs me that much. i love to be able to be the complete comfort for someone. when she's tired or when she first wakes up, she'll lay her head on our shoulder and snuggle up under our chin. it is one of my most favorite things she does. i could hold her all day like that. when i hold her i can't believe how much she has grown. i still remember so clearly when i held her as a newborn. someone once told me that once you have kids it's like someone hits the fast-forward button on your life... how true is that? what a fast year and a half this has been!