What I LOVE at 2 years, 9 months

1. I love witnessing the slow transition from being TWO to being THREE. It's like you aren't really a two-year-old any more, slowing gaining the ability to reason without putting up as much of a fight.

2. I love your out-of-the-blue "Mommy? I love you's". When you say this, usually several times a day, sometimes in the car, in the bath, or wherever, it makes me melt.

3. I love how adaptable and resilient you are. We don't leave you (with a babysitter or family) very often, but when we do, you are just fine. In fact, you have so many stories to share with us when we see you again, we wonder why we don't do it more often to get some "mommy and daddy time".

4. I love your made up songs. And that you request that we not sing with you.

5. I love your sense of creativity. Whether it's while eating Christmas dinner and exclaiming "It looks like an armidillo!!!" to the crescent rolls, arranging goldfish in a design and explaining that it's a "stingray" or making up stories to share and act out, you amaze me.

6. I love the above. I would have never guessed that I could bear a child who is so creative. I'm somewhat creative, but pretty analytical and/or methodical. I love the surprises that you hold for me.

7. I love when you want to dance. Which happens to be anywhere you get the urge. You did some booty-shaking in Target yesterday and Ikea today. What can you say? When you hear a good tune and moment hits you, you have to take advantage. Oh! And I love that the booty-shake is BACK! You used to do it when you were about one and then it slowly faded into a simple hip shake, but now the shoulders are back and it's full-fledged booty shaking!

8. I love your manners. You are great about asking "please" and saying "thank you", for the most part.

9. I love how much of a say you have in what you wear. Lately, it's been princess attire, even to the grocery store, but it boldly displays who you are. Yesterday, Cinderella accompanied me to the grocery store, pushing her new grocery cart down the aisles alongside me.

10. I love your snuggles. You weren't much of a cuddler as a baby, but now you seem to be making up for lost time. I love just laying there and snuggling with you.

The other day we were searching for the beloved and borrowed, penelope peapod baby doll. I'm loving ava's sense of humor...

Mommy: " penelope peapod where are you?"

Ava: "oh penelope soybean where are you?"

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Here's a conversation we had about money....

Ava: "where's daddy?"

Mommy: " he's at Dell today, he had to work today."

Ava: "why?"

Mommy:"he works so he can make money for our family."

Ava: "why?"

Mommy: "so we can have things like a house and food and clothes."

Ava: thinking:: "do you work mommy?"

Mommy: " yes, I do. We are lucky enough that mommy gets to stay home and being with you is my job."

Ava: "do you make money?"

Mommy: "not really, there is noone to pay me, like there is at Dell"

Ava: ::thinking:: "hmmm, I don't have any money to give you."

I guess she knows who my boss is!
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Lately aves has really been into princesses and pretending to be one.

Ava: " do princesses have bb's(blankets)?

Mommy: "they sure do!"

Wordless Wednesday: The Girls and Our Boots

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We had a pleasant morning of singing Christmas music, decorating the house and eating chocolate chip honey wheat pancakes w/ bananas on top, YUM! Ava was a wonderful helper and helped put ornaments on the Christmas tree, even if she clumped 3 or 4 on the same branch, hehehe.

Lovely Christmas memories!

That night, the finished tree.

The Polar TEXpress!

We had the honor of being invited to attend the 2009 Polar TEXpress organized by a mom in Ava's class. Ava was so excited to take part in it and see one of her best buds from school (she talks about him all the time), another friend from school that she plays with, and a whole bunch of their friends and family.

This was their 2nd year (our first attending) of hosting the party which entailed hot cocoa, Christmas music, a trainride to the "North Pole" and seeing Santa. It was so much fun. Also the weather cooperated and the rain stayed away leaving us with a perfect mid 40's winter day.

Sitting with Santa

And even smiling about it!

On a whim, we decided we needed to go to the mall before leaving from our Gigi and Poppy visit in the big D. We had no intention of visiting Santa because we had already seen him a few times this season and Ava just wasn't interested. Santa happened to look upstairs and saw Ava at one mall and waved and blew a kiss and she was on cloud nine!

So on this particular morning, we coincidentally ran into Santa's Workshop. She grabbed Daddy and said, "C'mon, let's go see Santa". We followed along right beside her and she didn't even blink, just walked right up to him, sat on his lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas. He was a great Santa too. They took lots of pictures for us and we narrowed it down to this one.

Challenges

Whew! It's been that kind of week. A very challenging week (and it's only Wednesday). A week that has shed light on a whole new set of challenges of parenthood, just when I think I've got it under control.

Control.

That's an interesting struggle between us. Both of us negotiating and manipulating to gain power of the situation. I should know better. You are wise beyond your years and have me nervously anticipating the years ahead. Seriously, are you seriously just two-almost-three-years-old?

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-What works for some, doesn't work for others.

-Remember to see each child as their own individual.

-Praise the action, not the child.

-Be fair, consistent.

-Acknowledge the child's feelings, resist the urge to give immediate feedback. Listen.

These are recommendations that I've read and implemented, among many more; always searching for advice on what to do next because you've found that loophole in my reaction or your consequence. And for the most part, the advice from friends/books/family/Dr.'s does work; some put a band-aid on it, some are more long-term. Either way, I'm grateful. I just really need to add more to my tool box. I also know that there is no "right way". No one book alone, that I've come across, has all the answers. I just take bits and pieces and run with it.

I was reading a book the other night and it helped me to see one of your "challenges" in a different light. It said:

"Look carefully at what you consider your child's weakness; what may at first appear to be a weakness may actually be a strength for that child."

One challenge I am faced with, for which I consider(ed) a weakness, is your lack of urgency to please others (especially me, lol). Sure, you want to do the right thing and respect others and the rules, but I feel like your motivations to do so are unique. Motivations that are not necessarily embedded in my personality, so it's relatively new to me.

What if that lack of desire to please others is because you don't want to please others, for others sake. Let me clarify. Somehow, in your 2+ years of life, you've made the discovery that you don't have to do what you are told, which isn't unheard of for toddlers. But I've said it before, you have a mind of your own, you are not known as the compliant one. I'm not saying this is necessarily a positive attribute, it will present challenges to you in the future, trust me. However, you do follow rules and are respectful of others (as much as an almost-three-year-old can be), so you aren't necessarily defiant, moreover, your motivations for completing a task or following a rule are "special." You are not doing it because it makes me (mommy or whomever) happy, you just don't have that need to please.

Maybe I need embrace this challenge. Maybe I need to foster the idea that you can't really feel a sense of accomplishment if you do something by yourself just to please others. You do something, the right thing, because you do it for YOU and the sense of pride it brings to know that you did it yourself, for yourself. Being a people-pleaser and compliant may get me what I want as a parent, the easy way, but it isn't truly who you are.

Now I realize that this is way beyond your level of thinking. But it just made me see that sometimes when I am at my wits end with challenges presented to me by a child, that someday, when you are a happy, confident, self-reliant adult, you possess a(n) (apparently innate) quality that I may have once tried to deny and change. Silly me, you are who you are.

You are your own person.

A truly unique and amazing person.

Letter to Santa

We read a story about writing a letter to Santa.

Ava "wrote" her own letter to Santa AND told to me what she wanted to say, so I transcribed. I wrote word for word what she told me (up until Merry Christmas and thank you-those were prompted by me, lol). To summarize, she wants a spotted dog, spotted bunny (though we haven't heard this one since the letter writing), and some new rubber duckies.

Funny enough, she told Santa the same things (dog and duckies), as well as a doll house, and a sailboat (what?) when she sat on his lap. YES! She finally sat on Santa's lap and wanted to do it. We didn't want to make her do it this year, but after many mall sightings, she asked to go see him.

Pictures to follow soon.

Hot Chocolate....YUMMY!

To kick off December, we savored and celebrated the colder weather with a nice hot cup of hot chocolate. Ava's favorite were the tiny little (fake) marshmellows.

It was a YUMMY treat!

Rainy Days Never Get Old

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

We kicked off the holiday season last weekend by attending the christmas tree lighting at the domain. There were balloons, face painting, and lots of people, so we didnt get to have a turn, but oh well. The music and atmosphere were all we needed to catch the
Holiday spirit.





The fireworks were awesome!

While I can't say she's FULLY....

.....Potty-trained, I CAN say that we are almost there!

Oh My Gah, we have been using the potty for what, almost 8 months now. But these past few it has only just gotten consistent.

It all started (cue the dreamy, haze and music)...

A few months after she was two, we had introduced the potty, what it was all about, etc. etc.

One day, she ran out of diapers and I asked, "What should we do?" And Ava answered, "Big girl panties!!!" So we went out that day to the store and bought big girl panties and balloons for our little BIG girl celebration. She did great with it, having accidents every few days, but still sleeping in a pull-up at naps and nighttime.

Then, about July, regression set in. She continued to use the potty at home and at friend's houses, but would NOT go out in public potties and would prefer to just have an accident. I had to go with pull-ups when we were out and about and still at nap and nighttime.

When she started school in September, I was sending her in pull-ups, even though she went on the potty at home. However, in her daily reports, she was using the potty with the class when they went...her choice.

So I bit the bullet and decided to send her to school in big girl panties come October. Her teachers knew she wouldn't have a problem and she didn't; only she was holding it now, all morning long and into nap time. She inevitably had an accident one day and it was no big deal. It DID, however, spark her to start using the potty at school again, instead of holding it.

Fast forward to the now.

For about 6 weeks she has been using the potty throughout the day and naptime. Only recently has she decided to fore go pull-ups at nap time. She is still wearing pull-ups at night. Just like this whole process, YES PROCESS, she'll let me know when she's ready to ditch the pull-ups at night, too, I'm sure.

Ava in a (Picture Story) Nutshell

So we're on our way out the door the other day and as most moms would agree, it's not the easiest task in the world to get a toddler dressed and out the door in a reasonable amount of time.

After taking forever in deciding what she was going to wear (yes, her rockstar tshirt is on underneath the long-sleeved shirt, I had to insist she wear long-sleeves since it was chilly) she insisted, "Let's wear Mommy's scarf. I wear pink and mommy wears green".

Okay, no big deal, let's put on the scarves.

Mommy: "Oh, but you look so cute, Aves, I need to take a picture."

Aves: Gives this pouty face.

Mommy: "Oh, look at THAT face!" Aves: ::thinking:: I can do better, look at THIS pouty face

Mommy: "Oh, wow! You're so sad."
Aves: Can't help but break a smile, cracking herself up.

Aves: And gives mommy her fake, crooked smile.

Mommy: "Awww, that's a great one!"

After hearing that Mommy was pleased and just to be ornery, I might add, returns to the sad face WITH a bottom lip!

This girl of mine!

You know what I love?

At 2 years, 8 months...

1. I love YOU! I've had so many moments lately where I just sit back and observe you and you make me so proud. I love who you are and who you are becoming.

2. I love that you have a mind of your own. You will do things that YOU want to do, when YOU want to do them. It is so very two-year-old of you. Sometimes I have to remind myself to appreciate that, as it can be frustrating. Only because I know what I want when I want it also. You can see where this is going....

3. I love your creativity and imagination. I've said it before, but it continously grows and grows and we have so much fun with it. Recently, you've been intrigued by the fact that I was a teacher and now that you have a teacher at "school", you LOVE to play pretend school. You give me the name "Miss Mommy" and love to hear me read stories. Then I'll see you playing teacher with your animals. What a natural!

4. I love your teachers and school. I love that one of your teachers told me that she looks forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays because you'll be there. And that you're so cute that she just wants to squeeze you. That is a place where I want you to be. It's like you are going on playdate two days a week, learning new songs, creating "arts and crafts" like Native American jewelry, making food like peanut butter, playing dress-up, rolling around in the rocks. All these things help you learn about the world around you. You have plenty of time to learn numbers, letters, and "stuff", right now I love that you just love to play and create and we found the right outlet for it.

5. I love our bathtime. The other night we took a 45-minute bath just talking and playing. You spent 20 minutes of it telling me about school. You loved how I just sat and listened. You told me all about how your favorite part is dress-up, arts and crafts, and playing on the playground. Your teacher told me the other day that it's so neat to watch you go from being a "girly girl" and playing dress-up to going outside and literally throwing yourself into the rocks and rolling around. I like to say that you are "well-rounded", a little bit country, a little bit rock-n-roll.

6. I love your style. You are starting to have more opinions on what you wear. In fact, your new "favorite" is a Disney princess leotard (though NOT mommy's fave). In one week you wore it to dance, to school (uh...BOTH days), and then again for Grandma's visit on Friday.

7. I love your questions. When I hear you say "I wonder ....." or "Tell me about ______" I love it. Your little two-year-old mind is so inquisitive.

8. I love your many emotions. How you can change from pouty to playful in a matter of seconds. It always makes me laugh a little which yields an "it's NOT funny, mommy" from you as you're trying to carry on with your pout.

9. I love that you love dance class. Yesterday you surprised daddy and I by telling us your favorite part of dance was doing the flamingo walk and "sashay" (I'm assuming it's chasse, right?) and showing us some kind of movement of what you were talking about. Whatever it was, it was fun to see.

10. I love your two-year-old spirit! It's so neat to see your preferences, to talk to you, and to listen to you daily. You know so much and teach me new things every day.

Convos with Aves

On our way to our favorite park, we pass a cemetary. Ava has recently started to notice all the flowers placed out there and asked me what it was. So we had the conversation about how that is a place where people go to remember family or friends that they love and bring flowers to them to show them that they are loved and remembered.

The other day as we passed the cemetary she made the following comment:

"Oh! I saw a lot of people under a tent. (sad mommy) They were all together. I wonder what they were talking about. ::pause:: I bet they were talking about computers."

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I love sharing my pregnancy with Ava. She has so many questions about the baby and soaks in a little more each day. Some of them include:

Seeing me get hurt one day, she asked, "Is the baby crying?"

While we were snuggling in bed she said, "Does the baby feel comfortable with the blanket on her (she thinks it's a sister)?"

After watching a video about what the baby looks like right now in my tummy, she realized that the baby is growing and getting bigger. The next day she asked me, "Is the baby ready to be hatched yet?"

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Aves and I joke about me not wanting her to grow up. I'll tell her that I want her to stay this age forever and not to grow up. One day she said:

"Mom (we are about 1/2 mommy and 1/2 mom--sad mommy), do you want me to grow up?" Knowing that I'm going to say "Nope! I want you to stay this age forever and ever." She says, "But I want to grow up and I want to get bigger so I can be a mommy too."

So yes, my child is giving ME lessons on growing up and it all but melted my heart that she said she wants to be a mommy. (I did tell her it would be a very long time and WELL into her adulthood that she could even think about being a mommy, lol).

Not-so-Wordless-Wednesday: Just like Mommy

"Look mommy, my animals have babies in their tummies just like you!"Yes, she laid out all her friends and put felt pieces on each one of their tummies.
Yay! I'm almost 13 weeks pregnant with Ava's little brother or sister! We told her almost immediately, maybe 6 or 7 weeks, as she has been waiting and wanting a baby for a looooong time now. She has been so patient and loving and it just melts us. She says, "The baby is so small right now" and will rub my tummy and give my tummy hugs and kisses at night, totally unprompted.

This week she visually noticed my tummy was bigger and said, "Uh, the baby is getting BIGGER!". So as much as a 2 1/2 year old can understand, she does pretty well.

She has pretty much taken ownership of this baby, which is so neat and we are following her lead. She'll say things to others like, "my baby" or "Ava's baby". Oh, and on some days, she also has a baby in her tummy. She hasn't given "it" a name yet.

I KNOW she'll make an AWESOME big SISTER!

Our Annual Beach Trip

Each year, after the summer crowds have died down, we book our fall family trip to the beach with Grandma and Aunt Jill and her fam. This year, we were lucky to have Aunt Gretch join us with her great boyfriend, Wayne.

I cannot even tell you how PERFECT this trip was. The temperature was in the low 80's and there was a little breeze. PERFECT. No crowds. Just close family, good food (thanks mom and Jill), and fun talk!

Ava was in love. The only pics I took were of the first afternoon when we got there and since we were the first ones there, I don't have pictures of Ava with her cousins, grandma, or aunts and uncles. I guess we were having too much fun to take more pics. I think Grandma took some, I'll have to check. Anyway, she not only didn't hesitate getting in the ocean, but would throw herself down and let the waves crash over her. Talk about a heart-attack for mommy and daddy. We just stood right by ready to rescue, thank goodness that wasn't needed. About 15 minutes into it, she said, "I love the beach, I'm having so much fun at the beach!"

And she was.

Seeing the beach over the sand dune.

Shoes off. Running.

Diving right in. Hanging with mommy.

Chillin' with daddy. These are probably some of the best pictures my camera has captured. Absolutely beautiful.

Taking it all in. Thank you Grandma for another AMAZING beach trip!