Going for the Gold

Ava's playgroup held a Mini Olympics celebration this weekend,
and this little athlete was definitely in it to win it.

A professional photographer was on site to capture all the moments of deep athletic intensity.
Sadly, her watermark is very inopportunely placed. (I know it's her profession to make money from the
pictures she took, but I am not paying $75 for a digital file!)

Ava, in her little pink running shorts, is a world-class track and field superstar.
(Even if she was mainly just chasing after balloons and bubbles.)

She loved standing on the balance beam. She wasn't quite ready to take a step, but it was a good start.  

Victory!

She wears her gold proudly, satisfied with all her athletic training and endurance that got her where she is today.

And we rewarded her with more playtime at the playground where she went down the slide about a trillion times, each time giggling as she ran to climb the ladder to do it all over again.

There's a New Sheriff in Town

Ava has really been running the show around here lately. 

If we don't replace the baby lock on a lower cabinet right away, she's the first to alert us ("Uh-oh!") and is a relentless enforcer. 

I'm so proud that she already seems to have such a strong sense of organization and loves to keep everything clean and in its place.

These pictures from our hotel room in Paris illustrate this point perfectly.

Ava Elise, You're a Terrible Tease!

Ava is so fun and playful, and she loves a good tease (a girl after my own heart; one of my all-time favorite books growing up was Never Tease a Weasel). Lately she's been doing this prank where she'll say "More!" to tell me that she's ready for the next bite, even though she's really all done eating, so as I bring the spoon to her mouth, she turns her head quickly, resting her chin on her shoulder, and laughs. So I say (in a grumpy old man voice, because that just makes everything more fun), "Ava, are you tricking Mommy?" We go on and on like this a gazillion times, it's a riot.

It reminds me of the first little prank she used to play when she was only a few months old, barely crawling (so she must have been about six months). She would say "Up!" which is what she says when she wants someone to pick her up and hold her, and then just as I bent down to do so, she would crawl away really fast in a fit of giggles. That girl makes my heart melt.

In other news, I went to Baby Boot Camp class this morning for the first time in ages. I almost didn't go because I'm not used to getting up and moving early and we had a different car so I had to install the car seat and get Ava fed and dressed and all packed up, which can take forever so I was worried we'd get there too late. But I'm very happy we did go because unbeknownst to me it was Fitness Challenge Day so we tested squat jumps, pushups, plank, and a timed 1 mile cardio run. And I won the cardio run! I used to be a decent runner but I've only been running a couple times since I was pregnant (if you can even call it running with the baby jogger) but I ran that mile in 8 minutes and 38 seconds!

Funny story though... I was actually just jogging it and chatting it up with another mom, so we pulled up to the finish line together ending up with the same time. Which meant that we had to run another mile to break the tie. We started off jogging together the same way, and she asked me if I wanted to just tie again and split the prize. I said yes, but then a desperately competitive force took over me as the finish line was in sight and I asked her if she wanted to sprint it out to the finish line. She hesitantly said yes, but I barely waited for her response before I was off and at the end of the line. Maybe not the friendliest gesture if I'm trying to make new mom friends. But I think we were both happy that we pushed each other, and maybe I'll share the prize with her in the end, we'll see. ;)

Back Onboard

I feel like such a jet-setter back at the airport again so soon after getting back from Europe.

This is just a quick overnight for work and the plane hasn't even taken off yet but I'm missing Ava and Alex so much. As hard as traveling with a toddler can be, I would always so much rather have my little fam with me. It feels kind of empty without them. But I'll do my best to make the best of this break and return home refreshed and better for it.

But here's what I'll miss most:

Ava started playing this amazing game on Sunday night when the three of us were sitting together on the sofa (after an awesome weekend by the way; she must have been in an especially good mood from that too). She gave me one of her yummy little signature kisses, then one for Alex, then me, back and forth like 20 times. Then she gave me three quick kisses in a row, then repeated the pattern for Alex, back and forth, etc. I'm telling you, this girl has so much rhythm and swagger I can't even stand it. She did the same thing again last night and I wouldn't mind if it became a nightly bedtime ritual.

A couple times in Paris she accidentally left her mouth open a little while she came in for the kiss and I joked with Alex, "When in France..." Then I had to tell him to laugh because that was hilarious. He complied.

Alex and I aren't the only lucky recipients of these amazing kisses, however. It's the funniest thing when she kisses complete strangers if they happen to get within range, like the woman in church in Pisa who let her play with her keys or the waitress at the Paris bistro.

Nothing makes you feel more loved than Ava's kisses. She really puts her heart and soul into each one. But she has several uses for her sweet little smackers:

• To initiate friendship or accept someone new as a friend (you're foe by default with her; sorry but she's a cautious girl and you have to win her love)
• In exchange for something you have that she wants (the barter kiss, her most prized possession)
• To send you off on good terms (the farewell kiss, sometimes accompanied with tears, or used to rush you away when she wants to move on to other things)

Gros bisous Ava! Mommy misses you!

Stomp It Out

Whenever you have a toddler outdoors in a public place, it's not uncommon for him or her to pick strange objects up off the ground. So to prevent Ava from swallowing any number of cigarette butts and other unidentified foreign (literally, we were in Italy) objects (UFOs) at the Boboli Gardens in Florence, I taught her to "stomp it out" instead.

Incorporating the little one's exciting discoveries into a game allows her to acknowledge and interact with the object without coming into direct contact with the contaminants.

(Now when your kid wants to chew the bottom of his shoes that have been stomping gross things out all over town, don't ask me for advice. If you have a trick for this one, I would love to be informed.)

The Wisdom of Babes

Sometimes I feel like Ava is wise beyond her years.

At her last well-check visit, the pediatrician asked whether she was talking yet and I told her, "Oh yeah. She's been talking for months. Oh, I'm probably just one of those biased mothers who thinks her child is a genius, aren't I? But I really do think Ava is advanced in her language development." I'm sure she was trying to stifle her laughter, but after I told her all the words Ava was saying and how she was making connections and communicating, she conceded that she actually is a little ahead of most other babies her age. (Yes! I knew it!)

And then there's Ava's emotional, or social, intelligence. Tonight as we were leaving the restaurant where we had dinner, she looked so compassionately at a woman eating her meal alone. I looked at Ava, then she looked at me, and in that moment we connected and seemed to know exactly what the other was thinking. Or was Ava just tired and zoning out and am I projecting my compassion onto her? Either way, I'm so proud of the little love muffin I'm raising and I have a feeling we're going to do great things together.

Look Who's Walking Now!

I know, you're probably thinking this is another lame attempt at using a double entendre in the title of this post, but I'm not crying wolf this time. (Well, maybe she's "toddling" more than walking, but I say it counts!)

I rarely have to leave the house for work, but I happened to today. Sure enough, I returned home in the afternoon for my mom to report that Ava had taken her first three steps all on her own. And she took five more for me then to prove Grandma wasn't lying.

She's nearly a year old and she's been cruising and standing without support for months so we were expecting it any day now, which is why I'm a little surprised by my excitement about this milestone. I feel like the other milestones (scooting, crawling, cruising, etc.) have all been leading up to this and there are no longer any other skills separating her from being a "little girl" vs. a "baby," just the continued development and perfection of the skills she already possesses, and she's going to be my little girl in this phase for quite some time now. (Of course, she'll also still always be my baby too.)

To love and be loved.

Ava has become incredibly affectionate this past month, giving hugs and sometimes even kisses to everyone and everything she comes into contact with.

She started out by hugging (and wrestling with) her big white teddy inherited from Uncle Troy. This was really funny to watch because the thing's almost as big as she is.

Then she moved onto the little stuffed lion her Uncle Alec brought to welcome her into the world on the day she was born. She squeezes and squeezes and smiles from ear to ear and makes my heart melt.

Even better, though, is when she finally started giving me hugs and kisses. We would be playing on the play mat in her room and she stopped what she was doing to crawl the two feet over to me and nestle her little mug right into my breasts and stretch her arms out around me. This is truly what life is all about.

Meet Ava Elise, Our Favorite Valentine

Mommy's first words to Ava: "Are you ready for this life?"

Ava Elise was born on February 12!

Ava, we can't believe your ours to keep. What did we do to deserve such a perfect little angel? You've already brought me more happiness than I thought my heart could hold.