Tuesday, July 19, 2011

July 2011- 16 Months Old




































Ava continues to grow and develop in front of our eyes. She is singing, dancing, talking, repeating, and climbing. She has her own opinions for movies, clothes, shoes, and food. She loves to read herself books, steal plastic knives and throw them away, climb on the fireplace, look at herself in a mirror, go shopping, look for diggers and towers, and hunt for rocks.

We have been on a huge Barney kick all summer. She loves to dance to the songs and has even started to sing some of the words. Mommy sings the the Barney song several times a day along with Patty Cake. Ava likes for us to stop singing so she can fill in the words. She is a giggle machine who loves for Dada to tickle her.

Ava has been going to dance class at Miss Dianna's the past several weeks. She does a lot of watching and standing, but she is getting better and doing a little more every week. She does really well with kicks, marching, and the shaker egg dance. She also likes the tumbling part of class when they get to walk on the balance beam, jump on a trampoline, and do a backward somersault. Mommy has been working at school this past week so Nana and Aunt Fannie are going to take her to class this week. Ava is one of the best dressed in the class in her ballet skirt and ballet shoes. So precious!

Her vocabulary is just exploding right now and she is beginning to put 2-3 words together. She will say "Shhh baby alseep." "Sit right here" "Sit in chair" My favorite things she is saying right now is "Hold you Momma" when she wants me to pick her up. I also love the way she says strawberries " Straw-barbies" and Apples "Ah-pulls"

Ava loves to spend time with everyone in the family, but she seems to be especially close with Papa. She loves when he comes over to play and babysit. If he puts her to bed, she will wake up the next morning and ask about him. So cute! I will ask her, "What do you want to do today Ava?" and she will say "Papa?"

The summer is coming to a close in about 3 weeks and I will have to go back to work and begin softball. It will be hard for me to give up all this play time with Ava, but it will also be very hard for her. She has gone through a serious Mama-Phase this summer. She will hardly go to anyone else. I am enjoying every minute of this phase! School will be starting before we know it : (