Ava At 17 Months!!

When I woke up this morning, Jeremy was bringing Ava into the bedroom to say, "Good Morning." It has always been our agreement that I get up with Ava every morning so that Jeremy can get to work. But Sundays, well Sundays are different! Our Sunday morning ritual is that Jeremy gets up with Ava and gets her ready for church while I sleep in an extra hour. The only exceptions to this rule are when we are sick. This seems to work really well for our family. We will have to wait and see what happens after Greta is born. Lots of things will probably change!

Back to what I was talking about...

Jeremy brought Ava into our bedroom so that she could say, "Happy Mother's Day!" Before she could even say anything, I said, "Happy 17 Month Birthday!" I think it is neat that her 17 month birthday fell on Mother's Day. I looked at Jeremy and got kind of teary eyed. I had a mommy moment. 17 months ago, I had just given birth to one of the most amazing gifts that God has ever bestowed upon me. She was born at 7:52 pm and my clock currently reads 9:38 pm. I think she was having her first bath at this point, which also means she would have been having her first meltdown :) Jeremy and I were both giddy! It was truly love at first sight!

So much has happened in 17 months. It is amazing that our little gift continues to grow and mature and learn. When I was in college, I learned about all the synapses that connect in the brain during a child's first year of life. It is interesting to learn about, but it is priceless to experience.

Sigh...where has the time gone?

Well, before I get too emotional and take another walk down memory lane, I will post some things about her milestones at 17 months.

• I would call this month a Vocabulary Explosion!!! She repeats everything that we say. It may not stay in her immediate vocabulary, but she is not afraid of exploring her speech!
• Some new words are: eye, mouth, nose, ear, shoes, beans, meat, Greta (detta), Avery (abie), bellybutton (beyabuhuhn), trash, five (fy), and door. Yes, she has learned ALL these words in 1 month!
• Some phrases: "let me see" (lemeesee), "byebye", "No Ma'am!" (while shaking her finger with a pretty stern look on her face)
• I always rock Ava for about 3 minutes before bedtime. I will press my lips to her forehead and whisper, "I love you." She always takes Grossy out of her mouth and whispers, "I yaya." It melts my heart so much that I will often take advantage and whisper, "I love you," over and over again. Her little eyes crinkle at the corners when I say this. This is one of my favorite moments of every day. When I finally do lay her in her crib, I brush her hair out of her face and whisper, "bye-bye." She will say, "bye-bye," and then roll over to sleep.
• Ava is in size 5 diapers and size 4-5 shoes.
• She knows how to "color." :)
• Ava will sing songs to me. I don't know what they are, but I recognize her attempt at a melody. I love singing her church class songs and listening to her try to sing along. There are several hand motions that she knows and practices at home. She LOVES the "David" song. She will grab hold of my finger when I talk about the stone going into the sling. She knows how to make it go round-n-round and up,up,up. She also likes when the giant comes tumbling down. She knows to move her hands in a downward spiral. It is the cutest thing to watch!
• I have started letting her watch some things on http://www.starfall.com Her favorite sound right now is the "B" sound. That is usually the video that we watch. She loves the backpack bear at the end!
• Ava is a climber! She continues to amaze me in this area!
• She loves to be outside! We go outside for at least 30 minutes every day. Yesterday, we were outside for and hour and a half! She cannot get enough of her slide and swing!
• She loves green beans and sweet peas. She has them every day for either lunch or dinner. When I put her in her high chair, she will say, "beans, beans, beans" until I put them on her tray. She cannot say, "peas," just yet. "Beans" is a generic term for any green veggie.
• She is still a very good sleeper. It is almost always 12 hours at night and a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.
• I am almost positive that her incisors are coming through. I can't tell how many or how close she is to cutting them, but they are close.
• Every time I change her diaper, she says, "trash." I reinforce this term every time and let her take the diaper to the trash can. She opens the lid on the trash can and throws the diaper in. I always say, "Give Momma five!" I lay my hand down and she will hit it. :)
• When she is trying to manipulate me, she will point to my nose and say, "nose." I hate to say it, but I usually allow her to manipulate me! Sometimes it is easier to allow her to surrender with a little dignity. I try to continue playing the game to redirect her attention. We reserve the pop on the leg for true defiance.
• She knows how to love on a baby doll!! She will often carry around her baby dolls on her shoulder. If I tell her to "love the baby," she will lay her head on the baby doll and murmur a little hum. I am beginning to feel a little more confident about Greta's arrival and how Ava will deal with it. I try to be very positive without forcing it on her.
• She LOVES to play dress-up! Every morning, she will say, "shoes," and hold out the pair that she wants on. Lately, she has been preferring her pink sparkly ballet flats. But yesterday she requested her Christmas house shoes! They are way too small, but she was adamant! It was so funny to see her walk around the house in red shoes with Santa Claus on the toes! She also loves to wear my necklaces. When she cannot find one of my necklaces, she will make due with a mini fan on a cord. I love when she does this because she looks so silly wearing a mini fan around her neck! She really thinks she looks good, though, because she wears it with pride! And get this...she actually wants a hair bow in her hair!

As usual, I know I have forgotten some things. If I think of them, I will either add them to this post, or make a new post! Just for fun, here are some pictures of Ava this month: