Ever Changing

All those curls...

I am absolutely amazed at how fast Ava is changing right now.  I feel like every day is something new and different.  After she turned 13 months old, she moved from the infant room to the toddler room.  She seemed so ready for it - every time that we walked through the room she wanted to get down and play.  I was not as sure that we were ready to leave the wonderful women who had taken such good care of her and loved her as their own for the last 10 months.  Martha and Sharina had made our transition to daycare so easy.  I could not have asked for more.
Of course, she is doing great in the big-kid room and is loving her new teachers!

The first day in the toddler room, with Miss Heidi.

Ava's first art project.

Ava started walking at 10 1/2 months, and ever since that time she has been such the explorer.  She loves to take everything out of the drawers and pile them on the chairs in the kitchen.  Then she pushes the chairs all over the house.  I like to think that she is feng shui-ing the house for us.

She loves to "help" unload the dishes from the dishwasher...

And we have been playing outside after dinner every night, enjoying the beautiful weather outside.  We thankfully live on a cul-de-sac that allows Ava to run all over the street, chasing the neighbor's cat and finding soccer balls and newspapers in the neighboring driveways.

Walking up the curb....and down the curb....and up the curb....

Loves to pull her popper all over the driveway.

She still loves going for walks (and her sunglasses)...

...and learning to feed herself with a spoon.

Feeding Emmitt - leaves.

Loves her Emmitt dog.

It has been amazing to watch how her vocabulary has started to explode.  She sounds like she is talking all the time, although you really can not understand most of what she is saying.  She has added "all done", "mo" (more), "nigh nigh", "uv ooo" (love you), "baaa" (sheep), "bye bye", and "ank ooo" (thank you).  She is an expert at waving bye bye blowing kisses (from the side of her head).

One of my favorite parts of this age is how much she likes books.  She will grab one off the shelf and bring it to me to read.  After she hands me the book, she turns around and backs up until she sits down on my lap.  Then she turns the pages one by one as she takes in the pictures and the story.  Her favorites right now are Sandra Boynton's "Moo Baa LaLaLa" and "Doggies", "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", and her zoo, ocean, and farm fold out books.

You are paging me about WHAT?  Do you see how busy I am?

I can't wait to see what the next few months bring!