McKenna Children's Museum (New Braunfels)

I, (I mean we), had so much fun at this museum. It was so nice and cute! I loved that everything was little people-sized and the children could roam around room to room and still be in sight.

It is set up like a little town, almost. There was a bank, a grocery store, an ambulance, hospital, an old log cabin, a camping area, an outside water area, an art room, a mock solar system, a shadow room, and so much more!

Check out the pics. Ahem....we took several as you can see.

Having to play a food guessing game....

left all three of us a little frustrated. We are at the stage where Ava either:

1) signs or interprets what she wants and we understand

2) tells us what she wants and we understand

3) uses both of the above and we understand

or, the dreaded

4) tells or signs/interprets what she wants and we have no clue!

Nine times out of ten we pretty much understand what she is saying b/c she is such a signer (some not ASL, rather her interpretation, hence the word "interprets")

So, we're driving in the car....

Ava: starts blowing (like blowing out candles)

Me: "Oh, do you want more air on you, babes?"

Ava: "No"

Me: "Um, do you want birthday cake?"

Ava: "No" starting to whine a bit and showing frustration

Me: "I'm sorry I don't know what you want. Can you try to use your words?"

Ava: "No" (Are you seeing a trend here....EVERYTHING is no!)

Somehow it dies down and we move on.

About a half-hour later....

Ava: starts blowing and giving me a look like c'mon, mommy, you know

Me: to Ryan, "What is she telling me?" Making mental notes on what blowing means...air, hot, heat, candles, fire, birthday cake.....I have NO clue!

Ryan: "Do you think it's your birthday, babes?"

Ava: "Noooooo".

Okay, so another half-hour or so passes and we are in the car again and I'm in deep thought.

Me: "Ah-ha!! Cake!"

Ryan: "What! You scared the crap outta me!"

Me: "Her blowing, she's blowing like you do on candles on a birthday cake. CAKE! RICE cake! Ava do you want another RICE cake?"

Ava: with such delight, shakes her head yes, "Peez".

So, long story short, her blowing was for cake all right, another rice cake. She must have picked up on the latter of the two words and associated it with birthday cake.

Hahaha.

Wordless Wednesday: Bracelets and Tutus

My little jumper

As many of you may know, Ava is quite the athletic little girl. She is a runner, a jumper, a forward-roller, a hopper, a kicker, a shooter, a dribbler, and a little acrobat.

I don't know if you can see it on this video clearly, but when she jumps......she JUMPS! We're talking w/ both feet OFF the ground! I was amazed when my sister told me this is a two-year milestone.

Baby, Baby, Baby

She's all about the babies right now. It's a good thing she has more than one, because baby must go to bed with her, watch Elmo with her, go in the car with her, and today, go to the library with her.

My favorite, though, is a story I have to share. It melted my heart.

Her new thing is that we read to the babies at night. She likes to set them all in my lap and we read to them together. It's her chance to be the big girl and show and tell them all that she knows.

So we're sitting in the rocker and I'm reading to the babies and Ava's helping me point out things to show them in her lift-the-flap book.

Me: "Ava, can you show the babies where the moon is hiding?"

Ava: correctly lifts the flap to find the moon

Me: "Yes, there's the moon, good job!"

Ava: takes the baby's hands and proceeds to make her clap for her! "clap! clap! clap!", she says.

I just thought it was the sweetest thing ever that she was using them as an outlet to show her feelings. Imaginitive play is starting, how fun!

Okay, so maybe it was better to see in person. I don't know if I did the story justice.

Daddy's Girl

Just because.....

Wordless Wednesday: All Diapered Up!

Eating Raw Onions

It sounds (and looks) kind of torturous, but she insisted on continuing to eat them. Notice the eyes watering and bright red and the nose running. Oh well, what can you do?

What I LOVE about my 17 month old

1. I love how one day you can be shooting hoops in a tutu and the next, wearing necklaces and lugging a purse around, all while kicking a soccer ball. I say it makes for a super multi-tasking, well-rounded little girl, who knows no gender specificity.

2. I love that you made your first trip to the dentist easy for both of us. Now mommy can actually brush your teeth the right way.

3. I love how you want to dress yourself and to put pants on you sit down, grab your food w/ your hands and try to push it through the pant leg.

4. I love that you are starting to discover your singing voice and sing in the car with me.

5. I love the way you must change your babies diapers, not to mention Elmo, and any other stuffed animal friend that may have a shoo-wee.

6. I love how you try to lift daddy and I "up-up-up" when you want us off the couch or not sittng down. You are one strong little girl, but not quite able to pick us up yet.

7. I love that you eat anything from raw onions and bell peppers to black olives and cole slaw.

8. Oh, I love that you have refused to eat cake 3 times now. This doesn't mean you don't have a sweet tooth though, as we've seen what you can do with ice cream.

9. I love that you know how many gummies you get when it's time to take your vitamin, "teee".

10. I love that you can count all by yourself. Daddy and I nudge one another when we hear you talking to yourself, "on, tooooo, teee, four, ife, sissss, sssss, ate" and that's as far as we've heard. Pretty impressive.

Just for fun!

Someone emailed this to me and it was intense, but fun!

Teacher friends.....think "word wall".

My excuse is that I've been away from the classroom for a year and a half now, what's yours?

http://codebox.no-ip.net/controller?page=misc.QuizCommonWords

OH! And I got a 41.

Wordless Wednesday: S'mores!!

Rainy Day Play

Since we've only had about 3 days of rain the entire summer, not kidding, I've had to let Aves go out and play in it at least once. I can't tell you enough how much she LOVED it. Splashing in every puddle and running through the raindrops, she was in Heaven. So much so, when we came in (first pic), she wanted more (second pic), and was NOT happy when I said we weren't going back outside (third pic).

Oh well, there's always tomorrow. Errrrr.....next month?

Please do a rain dance for us over here.

Sweet Potato Helper

We experimented w/ making sweet potato fries last week and they came out pretty good! Ava, of course, LOVED them! They were a little too soggy for my liking. I don't know why they came out so limp, but nevertheless, they were tasty.

I peeled and cut them into strips and drizzled on some EVOO. Baked for about 25 minutes at 425* and ta-da! A (somewhat) healthy treat!

Ava helping me put them onto the pan.
She decided to try one, raw....And....not so much.
The finished product. YUM!

Our Little Peach

Enjoy the pics from snack time this afternoon. Before I could even get the peach sliced, Ava took the other half and inhaled it, almost whole!

THIS. IS. SO. GOOD
I just can't get enough.
Where did it all go? Some call me a chipmunk, for I tend to hord food in my cheeks.

I LOVE peaches! (This is the cutest pic EVER!)

Impromptu Studio Pictures

So we went to BRU today for some items and kiddie kandids ask if I wanted to do a free sitting w/ a free 5x7. I said as long as I don't have to pay, sure. The pictures actually turned out better than any studio pictures we've done. She actually smiled, or smirked.

Homemade Playdough

Recently, Ava and I made homemade playdough and probably had more fun making it and rolling it than playing with it. She liked it for about 2 minutes. She liked taking a fork and jabbing it the most. I'll probably get cookie cutters next time to make fun shapes.

Here is the recipe:(this can be halved for smaller ball)
2 c. Flour
½ c. Salt
2 c. Water
2 T. Vegetable Oil
¼ c. Cream of Tartar (found in spice section)

Pour all ingredients into a large saucepan. Food coloring can be added here if desired (I waited until it cooled), 5-7 drops (I needed more drops than this).

Turn to med-high heat and stir constantly until the mix becomes very warm and starts to form together, about 3-5 minutes. Do not over heat, it will burn. Continue stirring until the mix forms into a playdough ball. Remove from heat and pour ball onto a wax paper sheet.

Let cool for a few minutes and then knead until soft, 2-3 minutes. Food coloring can also be added during the kneading process as well, especially if you want to split the dough and use 2 or more colors. I suggest wearing baggies over your hands if doing this.

Store your play dough in a ziplock bag and in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months, or until little white spots develop.

Our ingredients:
The ball after it came off the heat
Adding blue food coloring
Adding red food coloring
Our two balls

A Day in the Life of Ava

I got this idea from a message board that I am a member of and I so wanted to do it! Thanks Carla!

It is a Virtual Get Together, also referred to as A day in the life. When I saw one I thought, what better way to show Ava a typical day for her and I, when she gets older. I know that's in the distant future, but it would be great to put one together every so often, in order to document our days together while I'm staying at home.

I took a camera with us all day on Friday, August 1st, and tried my best to show what a "typical" day is like for us. I feel it is important to remember that this isn't what we do everyday, but it could be, because it is just a "typical" day. Aside from eating out for dinner, which we usually only do on Fridays, it is just any other day. Nothing too special. Enjoy!

I can't get the code to work to put it in here, so a link will have to do.

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i146/mnallen79/?action=view¤t=ea90db6a.pbr

Wee Wee Weekly: The Potty Training Incident

(Don't read if you are repulsed by bathroom discussion)

Something huge happened this weekend! Can you guess by the title?

Ok, let me set it up for you....

Backstory:

We got Ava a potty a few months ago b/c of her interest in our toilet. Since then she's pretended to use the potty, wipe, etc. but never a big deal. We just went with it. Honestly, it's mostly used as a container for her to place things in.

The Incident:

So, on Saturday afternoon, we're driving home from being out and about and we're talking to/with Aves and she says something that sounds like potty and points to her diaper. I say, "Do you need to go Potty?" to which I get a head nod in response. "Okay, you can go pee-pee in your diaper now, or you can wait til we get home and use your big girl potty." Again another head nod. I didn't know which one is was, but really didn't think anything of it.

We get home, unload everything, and do whatever it is when you get home. Ava starts saying what we think at first is "Pop Pop" (Poppy) her favorite words in the world and then it hits me that she is probably saying "Potty". So I ask her, "Do you want to use your potty?" Head nods.

I take off her diaper and put her on the potty and about a minute later we hear music going off. "Ryan" I say, "She had to have just peed b/c when you do the music sounds". We cheer and look for ourselves and sure enough.....PEE!! We congratulate and go about our business. What a big girl!

But, as you can see the story is not over yet.

Ryan goes out to pull some weeds and I call my sister, Aunt Jill, to tell her the news. Whilst talking on the phone, it happens. Add the "sh" to it and well, as the saying goes, "it" happened.

On the rug. About 2 feet away from the potty.

She wasn't quite done using the potty and pooped on the rug beside it. I gasp (probably scared her a bit) and quickly got off the phone and say (trying to play off my previous gasping) , "Oops, let's finish in the potty." And sure enough, SHE DID!

So, not only a pee-pee, but a poo-poo in the potty!

AND, better yet..... Ava actually told ME that she had to go! I was blown away!

Looks like we are at least in the beginning stages of potty training, but again, Mommy's not really ready, so we will take it s-l-o-w, if at all possible.

P.S. Notice no pictures with this post, I will spare you the pictures I took of the #1 and #2.

Muffin Tin Monday

And Happy 17 months Ava!! I can't believe it!!

Anyway, I got this idea from Sycamore Springs (I think) blog to have Muffin Tin Mondays. It seems to spice up lunch time a bit and create just enough intrigue to get your child to eat more variety. We don't have the problem of a picky eater, not yet anyways, so I just did it to have an indoor picnic. After we played outside in the sprinkler it seemed appropriate to finish off our late morning/ early afternoon w/ a picnic.

Here are the pics:

From top left across: grapes, mushrooms w/ Laughing Cow swiss cheese, and chicken

Bottom left across: Cantaloupe, cucumber, cheese quesadilla

And the after (shocker....it's almost all gone!)

Thanks for this idea, I really look forward to using it more!

She's just tu-tu good!

After insisting on putting on her tu-tu, Aves wanted to shoot some hoops. I found this basketball goal and ball on clearance at Target for $3.74! What a steal! I don't know if all Target's are doing it, but ours had shelves and shelves of toys marked 50% off of the already sale price. I heard an employee say they were re-stocking the shelves again next week w/ even more toys w/ prices slashed.

Anyway, I digress.

I love that my little girl is very sporty too!


Nothin but net!
Mommy, why did you pull my tu-tu up to my belly button? I kind of look silly.