In addition to hitting all of her milestones on time and growing like a weed, Ava has developed *quite* the personality at the tender age of 15 months. She may look like her daddy, but her attitude is all mommy's...that's not necessarily a good thing! I was hoping that by some genetic miracle, maybe she would end up not being strong-willed with a bad temper and the desire to get into everything, but alas, no miracle. Here's a sampling of what I see from her:
- Randomly decides she doesn't want to get in the car seat and stiffens her body like a board and SCREAMS. The only thing that calms her down? I have to sing "Ten Little Monkeys" over and over again. I don't even have to do it correctly...she just needs to hear something that sounds vaguely like it.
- Enjoys coming into the kitchen when I'm cooking and grabbing things off of the counters, climbing on top of the stove via the handles on the oven, and crawling through my legs. I think she gets that one from the cats....she also like to attempt to move me around the kitchen by pushing on my legs and yelling.
- After eating a full meal and being placed on the floor to play while I finish eating MY meal (which is now cold from taking care of her), she will then run up and steal food off of my plate. Yesterday she grabbed a giant slice of roast chicken and was running around the living room with it, laughing and attempting to eat it. Note: she refused to eat the chicken I placed on her tray during dinner.
- She tries to climb on EVERYTHING. A few weeks ago, she pushed a giant diaper box next to the piano and tried to climb. Last night, she pushed her toy fire engine thing over to the back of the couch, climbed on top and balanced on the STEERING WHEEL while trying to climb the back of the couch.
- She knows that I'm "mama." She can say "mama." She refuses to do so. I'll say, "Ava, where's mama?" Or "Ava, say mama!" and she'll give me a sly look and say, "DADA!" Every now and then she'll do it but really I think she likes to torture me.
- She LOVES going outside now that the weather is warm. A couple of weeks ago we got home from somewhere and I took her over to some flowers we have in the front yard (light purple phlox....it's very pretty) and she was enthralled. Except now, whenever we arrive home from someplace, she expects to get to run around outside and look at the flowers. If I don't allow her to have a substantial amount of time before I carry her inside, she screams.
- "Out of sight, out of mind" rarely works anymore. She knows darn well when we've taken something from her and goes crazy trying to get it back.
- She is fascinated with spit. The other day I watched her spit repeatedly on the coffee table and then smear it all over the place. Yes, I stopped her. Yes, I Cloroxed the coffee table. ;o)
- For a kid who is so reckless and mischievous, she has a lot of very bizarre fears: pumpkins, balloons, the dustbuster (but she loves the vacuum), and a ball popper toy that plays music and shoots balls into the air. I think she's also afraid of the cute little jelly sandals I bought her recently, she screams if they get near her feet and swats them out of my hands. Well guess what, I lost the receipt so we'll be working on conquering her fear. ;o) The funny thing is that when noisy things scare her (like the dustbuster or ball popper), she runs TOWARDS them instead of AWAY. Hmmmmm.
On the other side of it, she also does some incredibly cute things:
- Yesterday she got a framed wedding photo of Craig and me off of the sofa table and sat on the floor with it, saying, "Mama, Dada! Mama, Dada!" It was really cute...and more proof that she CAN say "mama"...
- She says "hi" and "bye" to anyone and everyone. And anything, come to think of it. The other day she was playing with my car keys and kept hitting the "lock" button, which causes the car to beep its horn. Every time she heard the beep, she looked up and waved and said, "Hi!"
- She hugs her dollies, gives them bottles (she used to stick the bottle in their ears, like she was giving them ear drops...we blame her numerous ear infections for that one. Poor kid.), and carries them around. She also attempts to give them kisses, which in Ava-land means putting her mouth right up to their heads and spitting on them.
- She still loves to cuddle with us on the couch when she first wakes up in the morning. I will never get tired of this.
- She loves feeding us her food. Usually snacks. Sometimes already half chewed. But it's the thought that counts.... ;o)
- If she sees a camera, she gives a big cheesy grin. If she sees a video camera she runs up to it and starts "talking" (a few words mixed in with lots of babbles that are almost words)...she's either very vain or destined for television in one way or another! Actress? News anchor? Who knows....
- She loves closing doors. Can't stand when they're open. Sound familiar? ;o)
Finally, here are a few pictures from Easter. Enjoy!
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Height: 34.25" (off the growth chart)
Weight: 26 lbs. 1/2 oz. (90th percentile)
Head Circumference: I have no idea but it's in the 90th percentile.
She is right on target for development, the doctor said crying out at night is normal (she could just be crying out in her sleep, or trying various cries to see what will get us to come running), her tubes look great, and she's a happy and healthy little girl...we couldn't ask for more! :o)
Something that's both good and bad about Ava is her ability to warm up to perfect strangers. In February when she got her tubes put in, we handed her off to the doctors and she let them carry her back to surgery without even a fuss. Sometimes she'll hide her face initially when meeting someone new; but now, more often than not she waves and says "hi" or "bye" (the two are interchangeable in Ava-land) to everyone we see. A few days ago we met up with a friend at Starbucks, and sat out front. Ava waved goodbye whenever a car pulled away, and waved hello to anyone who passed by. I have to say, it was pretty charming. Until we got up to leave and she ran up to some random man and tried to climb onto his lap. Oh, and did I mention she whacked him in the crotch in the process? I almost DIED....not to mention, it's a little scary that strangers don't worry her. Maybe a lot of little kids are like that, I don't know. I'm pretty sure I remember my little brother Billy talking to anyone and everyone. I'll just have to be very careful to talk to her about it constantly until she understands that sadly, you should not trust strangers. On the cute side of it...today we were at the doctor's office so I could get a routine physical (my first since college...and I am happy to announce I didn't flinch or get the slightest bit dizzy when they drew blood!). In the waiting room there was a very old man....he seriously had to be about 90 years old. Ava waved to him so he waved back and said hello, and then she ran right over and gave him a hug. It was SO SWEET. The man looked so happy and started telling me about his little great-grandson, who is just a little older than Ava. I know....I have to teach her about strangers and I will, and I watch over her like a crazed momma lion, but it really was adorable. :)
We still don't have a charger cord for the camera, so I have attempted to take pictures on my camera but they never turn out very well. :-\ However I will post a few since it's been FOREVER since I've put any up.BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.
Ava is doing well these days...we rescheduled her ear checkup and everything looks great! Next week is her 15 month checkup so I'll have new stats, but I'll tell you right now she's still huge. ;o) This week she's had a lot of fun identifying my belly button, and occasionally her own. Twice I even heard her say, "But-ton!" She also pokes me in the eye and says, "Eye!" We play "peek" with her (like peekaboo without the "-aboo") and now she'll cover her face, uncover it, and yell, "GEEK!" Either she means "peek" or she's expressing an opinion about her parents. ;o)
Anyhow, we're still really up in the air about whether or not Ava will ever get a sibling...if so, it won't be for awhile yet. I mention this because I've been thinking lately of things I would do different the second time around. I think these are the biggest ones I've come up with thus far:
1.) I will take an SNS kit to the hospital so that the poor baby doesn't dehydrate while my milk takes its sweet time to come in. :-\ And I will not meet with any lactation consultants in the hospital because last time, every single one gave me different information...I really wish they'd all been on the same page. I think I know enough from my first experience to figure out what to do and I'll just call someone if I have a problem.
2.) I'm sending the next kid to the nursery so I can sleep when I'm in the hospital, since I know I won't get any at home. Someone gave me that advice last time but unfortunately I only listened the second night. The nurses still bring the baby in for the feedings every three hours so why not?
3.) Two words: VIDEO MONITOR. I thought that was stupid the first time around, and a waste of money....how lazy to not just get up and check on the baby! Oh, if only I had known how much I'd regret that.... ;o) It would be SO nice to be able to peek in without disturbing the baby so that I can see if (s)he needs something or is just fussing.
4.) Breastfeeding/pumping after going back to work: been there, done that, over it. It was great while on maternity leave and I'll still feed the kid at night for a couple of months if my milk sticks around once we cut down to once a day but everything else will have to be formula. I know some people think it's child abuse to not breastfeed but frankly, I don't really care...they can stage one of those protests outside my door if they want. ;o) When Ava nursed it was like she was sitting down for a seven course meal, it usually took about 30-40 minutes (and she didn't mess around, she was EATING) and if I have a second child, I'm not going to be able to do that. (Besides, we both got spoiled once she started downing full bottles in 5-10 minutes...Ava was just as much over it as me!) Don't even get me started on pumping...I had to stick to doing it during planning periods and if I had a meeting or parent conference, it's not exactly like I could whip out the pump and take care of business in front of everyone.
5.) I'd really like to stick with baby-sitters instead of day care. What still bothers me about day care was the lack of a separate room for naps....probably other day cares have them though and it was just the one we were at.
6.) I'm starting Mylicon immediately if the kid shows even a hint of being gassy. Forget that! She was in pain and I was losing my mind from the screaming.
But like I said, it's still up in the air...sometimes I just don't know if I can go through another year of killing myself, between nine months of pregnancy followed by three months of newborn baby! We shall see. My feelings are towards a new kid are most positive when we've had a full night of sleep!
