Mini heat wave and a well trained toddler...

Reality has set in but we were living quite the fantasy Sunday and Monday. Sunny and 80 degree weather was here and we didn't know what to do with ourselves! We spent as much time outside as possible, only to come in for dinner and sleep. Tuesday we woke up and it was 65 but soon dropped to 45 when the cold front came in. Like I said, reality check.

The pictures I'm posting today were from Monday's heat wave. Ava has found a friend in our neighbor's dog, Alexis.

Today was my day off and I am proud to admit I have Ava well trained with regards to our regular shopping trips. I asked this morning if she wanted to go shopping and she said "Tator Joe's". Ha! That's my girl. We actually just hit Target today and she told daddy as soon as he got home that that's where we went. It's funny though, when she wants to go outside for a walk, she says, "let's go shopping". I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Ava was a good eater today. She had scrambled eggs and a waffle for breakfast, chicken nuggets and applesauce for lunch and creamy chicken pasta with green beans for dinner. We went *shopping* after dinner (just a short walk around the block) and she's now in bed singing Itsy Bitsy Spider.

She tricked me!

Less than 5 minutes after I stated here in this blog that Ava was asleep (last night), she starting talking... it was after 9pm again when she finally fell asleep. Fortunately, tonight she was out by 8:30pm.

We had another great day and more BEAUTIFUL weather. We actually had a record high of 79! It beat the old record of 72 for today. Looks like tomorrow will be the same... too bad I have to work.

We met Grandma Mary, Grandpa Dick, Aunt Jenny and Ava's cousin Tayler for breakfast this morning. Ava was well behaved and devoured the pancake we ordered for her. She also got a piece of bacon but passed on it after the first bite. After breakfast, we ran to the grocery store for a few items then came home and put Ava down for a nap. She slept for about 2.5 hours then it was time to play!

Ava watched daddy rake some of the leaves, tree branches and misc debris from the lawn then we went for a long walk throughout the park and golf course across the street from our subdivision. We found some geese and Ava was not shy with them at all. She kept saying "hi duckies, quack, quack" which obviously scared them. She got fairly close to one and it made a mean hissing sound. That freaked me out enough to get back on our walking course. lol! Once back at home, she had her favorite meal for dinner... mac n cheese.

Tonight's the first night in quite some time that Ava is not wearing a footed sleeper to bed. We've been warned though... it could be in the 40's by this next weekend.

Busy week and not much sleep...

Unfortunately, Ava's sleep patterns have made me very tired the last few days. She has not been falling asleep until after 9pm the last few nights, even though she's in bed by 7:30pm. I attributed it to the different cold medication I gave her so we'll see how tonight goes... with no medication. Although she's falling asleep later, she's still getting up pretty early; this morning she was up at 6:30am. I hope this changes soon...

We had a fun day today. We found a quaint little park less than a mile from our house. It has some fun playground equipment including slides, Ava's favorite. She made a couple of friends there and was excited to run into "Wizzy" (Lizzy), her friend from daycare. They played together for awhile but Ava was also more than content playing by herself. She still does alot of parallel play and does not interact much with the other little ones.

When we got home from the park, Ava played with her sidewalk chalk on the driveway. She had some sliced turkey and yogurt for dinner. I also made per a peanut butter sandwich, but she pretty much destroyed it and made it inedible. After dinner, we went back outside for more sidewalk chalk.

It's 8:15pm and there are no sounds coming from her room!

Poopy on the potty!!!!

**Disclaimer to non-parents: for some reason this seems like a huge milestone to me**

**Disclaimer Part 2: I'm going to discuss the milestone in some detail, so feel free to skip**

Yes, she did it this evening and mommy is so proud!!! I can't believe how independent my little girl is getting and seemingly so smart. (I'm the parent, I can sound silly and brag!) Anyway, she made mention of going poopy when she got home from daycare so I put her on the potty. No such luck. A few minutes later, she went towards the bathroom door, looked at me and said, "be right back". Of course I ran into the bathroom to help her take her diaper off, then gave her some privacy and shut the door. Just a minute later daddy went in to check on her and she pooped!!!

I immediately ran to my secret stash of stickers I'd been waiting to give her. She loved putting them on everything but the sticker book it came with.

She had a decent dinner of chicken noodle soup and strawberries. We also got a chance to go for a long walk when we got home as the weather was fairly decent... chilly but sunny out.

Right before bath time, I rewarded Ava again for a job well done on the potty with an ice cream bar. She devoured it... right there in the bathroom. Hey, easy clean up in the tub!

March MADNESS!

Between Wisconsin and Ohio State's come from behind wins yesterday and today, my blood pressure has been at unhealthy levels in the last 24 hours! I'm not sure I can take much more... I think I scared Ava today when Ohio State's Lewis hit a three pointer with 2 seconds left to send them to OT. I jumped up and screamed and she freaked out a second later. Oops. Bad mommy.

Aside from nonstop basketball, we made the invitation today for Ava's birthday party. Out of the 50+ pictures I took, I was pleased with three. We went along with the Sesame Street theme... last year it was just Elmo so I guess we just expanded to include the entire posse. I'd post a picture of it, but I want it to be a surprise!

Ava played inside all day today. It was just a tad bit too cold to take a walk and I did my errands solo this morning (!!!). She has been doing so well playing independently. She enjoys coloring, playing dress up with her winter coat and accessories and most importantly, playing with her baby dolls. Today, she opened a bottle of lotion and proceeded to put *diaper cream* on her baby's bottom. It was so darn cute!

She didn't eat very much for dinner but had some healthy snacks throughout the day. She went to bed without a fuss and now we are back to watching more basketball...

What a difference a day makes...

It's sooooo cold today... wasn't it just 72 on Tuesday? The windchill today had to have been around 20-25. Brrrrr.

Yesterday Ava and I went to my friend's house and visited with her two kids... Aidan, 2 and Alissa, 4. Ava was very quiet for the first two hours but thoroughly enjoyed the *new* toys she encountered. She eventually seemed to enjoy her visit and spent the rest of her time following Aidan around the house and jumping on his bed. She fell asleep in the car before we got on the highway.

She was at daycare today and apparently got scratched and scratched another girl, leading to two time-outs for the both of them. I guess there are some jealousy issues there. LOL! They are both close in age and are at that "it's mine" stage...

I picked Ava up this afternoon as daddy had a looooong date with the dentist (lots of dental work). We stopped at the grocery store for some fresh veggies and fruits then headed home for dinner and playtime. We colored, read a few books and watched an episode of Ellen. Well, I watched it and she danced to it.

I let her play a little bit longer in the tub tonight and she was in bed by 7:30pm, singing and talking until 8pm.

Finally blogging after almost 2 months!!!

So sorry folks... I never realized when I bragged to everyone that I was starting a blog that I would not be so good at daily entries. I promise I will make more of an effort.

With that being said, we've made it through the rest of January, all of February and the start of March with lots of snow and a fair amount of sickies at our house. Fortunately, we have tackled the stomach bug, sinus infections and pink eye and the 2+ feet of snow we got has all but melted in the past three days with 60-70 degree temps. Now for the unfortunate part... it may snow again by the weekend. :(

Miss Ava is amazing me everyday. She is saying an abundance of words and can make a few small sentences. For example, she got home from daycare today and pointed outside to the lack of snow and said, "it's all gone, mommy". She can count to 20, but often misses 16, 17, 18 and 19! So maybe I should say she counts to 15 and adds the 20 at the end. She is just starting to recognize her colors but likes to think everything is "red".

We went for a walk today and played outside for a bit. I can't believe how wonderful the warm air felt. Ava thoroughly enjoyed the sidewalk chalk and was quite disappointed when I told her it was time to go inside for dinner.

She was fairly crabby before bedtime and is still *talking* in her crib. Tomorrow is my day off so we'll hit Target early then will be visiting a friend in the afternoon.