two year old ava

it is amazing how quickly the past two years have flown by. it truly seems like it was only a short time ago that i was holding my small little bundle. when did she grow up? although that time has passed so quickly, at the same time, life without her was so long ago. she amazes both bryce and i everyday with how much she has learned, how attentive she is, and what a remarkable memory she has. i want to remember her as she is now. i want to temporarily freeze time and capture who she is now, 'cause i know in a short while, i'll look back at this time and see how much she has changed once again.

- she loves me. she loves her daddy too, but right now she always wants me. at times i get tired of it, but i know the moment she starts to turn into a daddy's girl, i'm going to miss her calling out to me, reaching for me, asking for me, running to me, favoring me, and cuddling with me.

- she tries to count and while holding up one finger she'll either say "two, two, two!" or "circle, circle, circle!"

- she is getting better at distinguishing her colors and can sign and say red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, white, gray and brown.

- right now she is really into cinderella, or as she calls her "lella!"

- she loves wearing bryce's and my shoes, then leaves them all around the house for us to trip on. for her birthday, grandma olivia bought her some dress-up shoes. she loves to walk around in her "pretty shoes".

- she likes to get her toes painted and will bring me the nail polish and say "toesies, pretty?".

- she loves her baby doll and holds and rocks her, gives her kisses, shares her blanket with her and will even say prayers with her when she tucks her in.

- she always remembers to pray before meals and before bed. she even asks to say one if she's scared or whenever bryce leaves for work in the morning. she already has taught us so much in her short life.

- she is becoming more and more independent and wants to do everything herself. if she needs help she'll ask, but only when she asks for it will she allow it.


- her favorite foods right now are chicken with dip-dip (ketchup), pizza, rice, beans, oranges and fruit snacks. when she eats, she likes to have a napkin nearby to clean her hands and face when they get messy. she'll even wipe up a spill on the table... every once in a while.

- whenever she has to go potty, she'll run and hide in another room. the girl needs her privacy.

- she loves music. sometimes when she's playing she'll turn on toys that play music so she can have background music going while she plays with other toys. for her birthday we bought her a plastic microphone and she loves to hold it and sing songs. she also likes to use kitchen utensils as microphones, too.

- her favorite song is hot head by my brother-in-law's old band. as soon as she hears the song she immediately breaks out in a dance. i have yet to capture it on video. she seems to always know when i'm trying to document something and quickly stops whatever she was doing.

- she loves singing her abc's. well, actually it goes a little something like this... (the capital letters indicate the parts that she actually sings.) aCCdefGhijklmnoPqrstuVwxyZ now i know my aCC's next time won't you sing with ME!

-whenever bryce does something goofy to make her laugh, she'll exclaim, "silly daddy." it melts bryce's heart.

- after handing her a cup of milk the other day, she surprised me with a "thank you mommy." i was totally surprised and completely caught off guard! she's been saying it ever since at the appropriate times. it's wonderful.

- she loves to give hugs and kisses and will usually hug everyone in the room before we can leave.

- she has a remarkable memory. she'll remember newly learned words even if we just told her the new word once. she'll remember things about places that we've visited just once, or many months ago. she'll even recant events that have happened earlier in the week. bryce and i are always amazed and a little scared at how much she remembers.

- for a while she would pat my belly and say "baby", then proceed to push on it and say "hurt". thankfully, that has stopped and she has moved on to a nicer behavior. she'll softly pat my belly, say "baby" and sometimes "sister" which is then followed by a kiss on my belly from her. we know she's going to be a wonderful big sister.

i love you ava baby! maaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!