A week of Christmas

This year was another fun, fabulous, festive Christmas!  We started celebrating with the arrival of Christina, Martha, Bobby, Heather, Bridgette and Aiden on December 23 and continued all the way through December 29 with Trey, Missy & kids who also came in town.  Ava had a great time playing with ALL her cousins, and ended up getting a ridiculous amount of gifts.  The best gift, however, was having all our family in town to celebrate together. :)

Below are a few pictures from the festivities...

Ava and Bridgette "rearranging" the nativity scene

Ava and Mommy in a staredown

Ava and Bridgette getting their first piano lesson from Tia Chris

Ava playing on the chair...she was told not to stand on it, but no one said she couldn't sit backwards and try to hang off!

Ava realizing she is being photographed ;)

Ava taking care of Aiden and listening to Vovó telling her to be gentle :)

The girls opening their MANY gifts!

Bridgette and Ava giving each other a "high five"!

Ava exhausted pre-gift-opening at Grammy & Grandpa's house

Ava loving the new doll Grammy & Grandpa got her, since she came with bottles and a carseat!

Ava with her Vovó and Grammy

Ava with her cousin Lauren, her new best friend, who let her play with her iPhone :)

Ava and Payton playing...what's better than a real doll in a real stroller to play with?

Plus, who would have ever thought that tissue paper was so much fun?!?!?

or click here to view the video via YouTube

Our attempt at a picture with Santa

Our neighborhood does a "Breakfast with Santa" event for all the kids, where Santa rides around the whole neighborhood on a firetruck then meets all the kids at the clubhouse for pictures and activities. 

Ava enjoyed seeing Santa ride by on the firetruck, waved and yelled "bye!!!" as he passed in front of our house.  She looked adorable in the outfit Grammy got her and seemed all ready to go to the clubhouse to meet Santa. 



We got there and were about 5th in line to take a picture with him...Ava seemed fine and curious about Santa until it was time to sit with him for a picture... When I tried to sit her in Santa's lap, she made the biggest frown and then reached for me desperately and started to cry.  She barely calmed down even on my lap for the picture... poor Santa didn't know what to do :(  But I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree ;)

Christmas 1979 :)  ...Bobby, Christina, Vovó, and a terrified Sandra

...maybe next year ;)



Ava's 18-month check-up

At Ava's 18-month check-up her doctor said everything was great!  Normally her doctor is always concerned about her weight, since Ava is petite and doesn't seem to fit in with the growth charts that are used... but apparently the American Association of Pediatrics has now decided to use the World Health Organization (WHO) growth chart that takes into account the growth patterns of babies from all over the world (instead of the US chart from the 1970's with primarily formula fed babies).  If we plot Ava's weight on that chart, she ends up in the 5th-7th percentile... petite, but perfectly healthy (as if we couldn't tell!  I can't imagine a more energetic baby, so she must be getting enough nutrition somehow) :)

Ava weighed in at 18 lbs 1 oz and she is 30 inches tall.  She has hit and exceeded all her milestones, and is growing and developing beautifully. 

Not that we didn't know all that already, but I suppose we are a little biased ;)  Anyway, it was nice to hear...

Ava the monkey

Ava absolutely climbs everywhere!!!  We really have to keep an eye on her, because she rarely stays on the ground.  She is always climbing on something!  This week it was the ladder to help daddy with the Christmas tree, and today she decided to climb on the end table.  She can climb up on these things in less than 5 seconds, it's amazing (and challenging for us to keep up with her).  If we try to get her off the end table or ladder while she is climbing, we actually have to work for it since she has a really good grip!

Here are a couple pictures and video of what I mean!

Ava helping Daddy put ornaments back on the tree (since she took them off earlier)

Daddy trying to get Ava to get off the ladder...

obviously unsuccessfully, since Ava is now lifting the ladder off the ground all by herself (while Daddy is holding her)!

Oh no! Ava knows the word "no" and

"não" and how to shake her head "no" and knows how to use it!!  She is very clear about what she wants and what she doesn't want.  She tells me what she wants to eat, if she wants to play with a certain toy, or if she doesn't want me to change her diaper, all with a simple "no". 

She has also started saying "hmmm" at the beginning of answers to questions we ask (this of course followed by words in her own language).

Example:
"Ava, are you going to go to school tomorrow?"
she replies, "Hmmm, asgo tubi lango badi."

"Ava, do you want to call Daddy?"
she replies, "Hmmm, dada asbe ma cabi"

...too cute for words!