11 1/2 Months Old

I bought plates, cups, napkins, and decorations for Ava's birthday party which will be in about 2 weeks. We are having a family party on March 5th, but next Saturday we are having Ava's baby friends over for a playdate. The weather is unseasonably nice this week and I am going to take Ava up to Zona Rosa after school for a little retail therapy. She loves shopping! When we get home we might try and sneak in a wagon ride before her late afternoon nap. But more than likely we will need to sleep before we can play. Tomorrow it is suppose to be 70 degrees! Yesterday the Parents as Teachers Educator came over to check on Ava's developement. She is doing very well and is actually ahead of most children her age. The one thing they told us to work on is drinking out of a cup that does not have a lid. We are going to start practicing in the bathtub for right now. I am also going to start looking for more flashcards to work on new words and some toddler crayons for her to work on drawing.

For Valentines Day, Daddy got Ava a beautiful lavender rose and a sweet card. Mommy took her to Target and let her pick out a present too. She picked a Barney DVD and a book with lots of animals.

Ava is really starting to try and emulate words that Mommy and Daddy are saying. Some words like hot, dog, now, and yes sound like the words we are saying. Other words like Jayhawk sounds like jayha, bottle sounds like baaa. So some of her words are nothing like what we are saying, but she is making the effort to try and repeat things when we are her to. Her new obsession is to turn the tv off and on, off and on, off and on.... over and over. She also wants anything that is plugged in outlets. She is taking off walking from one thing to another. She is doing much better walking and she only falls now when she gets going too fast. She still loves looking at birds and squirrels out the window at Nana's. She continues to be a "ham" when we are out in public by waving and smiling at other shoppers. Mommy's social butterfly!

Snow Days

Well it's my 5th day off school this winter. We are getting a blizzard this week. Yesterday we had a shortened day and it looks like we will be off today and tomorrow. Thursday is up in the air but the high is suppose to be zero. But Thursday is my birthday so I wouldn't mind being at home and playing with Ava. We are currently watching Baby Signing Time. She just loves love the video and she will sit and watch for the 30 minute show. I am not sure how long an 11 month old attention span is suppose to be, but we love it! She is signing the following words: bird, dog, fish, more, milk, bed, mom, baby, diaper, all done, hurt, beautiful, snow, poop, please, water, food/hungry, and shhhh. She is doing really well with her communication skills but oh the attitude. When we don't understand or she doesn't want to do something she now throws her head back, arches her back, and starts a fit. She does not want her diaper changed so you have to entertain her with toys with you do it. So we are dodging poop on shoes, clothes, and toys. She also can find and point to body parts. She knows where her eyes, eye lashes, nose, teeth, tongue, hands, piggies, tummy, hair, head, ears, and gulu are. We have fun quizzing her all the time. She loves eye lashes, but she is definitely not gentle on you or herself. Ava is a great eater and we really have not found anything that she won't eat. Her favorite food right now is probably fresh blueberries. She just gobbles them up. She still loves her eggs, basta, bread, and cheerios. She is most interested in whatever Momma and Dada are eating for dinner. She will be 11 months old next weekend and we are busy planning a first birthday party for our precious princess!