A boy and his dog...

And so it begins, a boy and his dog :) 

I'm not sure if Bo just really likes being near the kids (he often sits nearby when one of them is crying, always looking quite concerned), or if this time it was because he liked the vibration Alex's chair makes - a back massage of sorts.  Either way, it was too cute not to take a picture :)

Mommy's little helper...

Ava loves to help with Alex, he is her doll - a doll that reacts to the things she does.  Ava sings to him, bounces him in his seat, helps change his diaper by getting the supplies (diaper, wipes, changing pad), wants him to take a bath with her, invites him for a ride in the stroller, and tells mommy to pick him up when he is crying.

The other day, mommy's hands were all wet and soapy doing dishes when Alex started to cry, so I asked Ava to go check on Alex to see if she could help him stop crying.  At first she tried just saying "stop crying!", so I encouraged her to be gentle and sweet to help him.  She then tried a different approach, she started talking to him and decided maybe he was cold.  She went and got a washcloth (what she uses as a baby blanket for her dolls) and put it on him, then she grabbed his blanket from the couch and covered him with that too, then saw her blanket and decided he needed that too.  She proceeded to add toys to the pile of things she had put on Alex as well, including a wooden giraffe, a plastic duck, and her chupeta.  It did the trick, Alex stopped crying.  I congratulated Ava on her accomplishment and thanked her for her help - she was super proud :)  I couldn't resist and decided to get a picture of them, Ava and her baby Alex (often pronounced "Ah-yex"):

Mother's Day

We had a fabulous Mother's Day - not only did I have my two little ones here to celebrate with me (after all, I would not be a mother without them :) ), but I also had my mom and my mother-in-law to celebrate with too! 

We made a day of celebrating, we had BBQ (thanks to Daddy, Vovô, and Grandpa) with some delicious side dishes, beautiful weather, Ava took a great nap after eating well, and Alex had a great day too! 

Vovô was playing with his new toy, a camera, and got some wonderful up-close shots of Ava and Alex.  There were so many wonderful pictures to choose from that I really had a hard time narrowing it down :)  Enjoy!!!

Ava and Vovó 

Alex quite comfortable on Mommy's shoulder

...totally relaxed...

...even a little tangled up in Mommy's hair! :)

Ava got a measuring cup set to play with in the water...look at that curly hair! :)

Ava loves to say "I want to hold Alex" - he is her real-life doll

A true "Ava" facial expression

I love these smiles :)

Alex has already given us quite a few smiles, we are just slow on getting them on camera :)

Ava asks for big bubbles, then exclaims "Oh my gosh!  Big bubble!!" - where does she get those expressions?

...she loves bubbles!

bubbles are very funny...Ava will chase them, saying "come back here bubbles!" as she giggles and tries to catch them.  Too cute for words! :)

Ava has music in her soul :)

Ava continues to amaze us with her incredible speech development, which includes memorizing a ton of songs.  She wakes up in the morning singing, and often helps herself to fall asleep at night by humming a song. 

Ava sings songs in English, Portuguese, French, and sometimes her own language. :) Not an hour goes without a little ditty or a full song.  She loves watching YouTube videos with more kids songs, some that we have never heard before!  She knows most of the actual words of all the songs, and the words she doesn't know, she will say something that resembles the sounds of those words - it really is not that hard to decipher what she is singing.  Amazing!!

Here are a few of her favorites:
ABC's
Twinkle Twinkle  Little Star
Old MacDonald Had A Farm
Isty Bitsy Spider
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Row Row Row Your Boat
Five Little Ducks
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Frere Jacques
Bumblebee song
Wheels on the Bus
O Sapo Nao Lava o Pe
Palma Palma
Atirei O Pau No Gato

Below is a video compilation taken during the last two weeks of April with just some of Ava's songs - and if you dance with her when she sings, you will get the most delicious smiles and laughter from her. :)