Little Lins!

99 bottles of beers on the wall. 99 bottles of… Oh wait a second. I meant 99 weeks old. Oops. Honest mistake. Our little Ava is now 99 weeks old.

So at the start of the week, we were still on our southern Arizona road trip with Ava… and Yoda, Carrie and Deets too. It was Day 8 of our trip. Our last day at the Shady Dell vintage trailer park.

Before we hit the road, Ava and I took a little walk behind the vintage trailer park… which happened to be a graveyard. Ava actually pointed out to me one man and one woman (who I couldn’t see) and we waved to them.

After our walk, we packed up the car and started to make our way back to California. We decided to stop at the Kartchner Caves on our way to our next destination. This place was amazing. The caves were discovered back in the 1970s but the cave explorers and property owners kept this place a secret for many many years until it could be protected properly. It is extremely humid and thus warm in the caves, making it very sensitive and fragile environment… so we couldn’t take pictures inside or much of anything except enjoy the peace and quiet and beauty of what we were seeing. As soon as we got into the cave, Ava declared “It’s hot”. We all giggled. Not only because she was so right but also because during our road trip, she began speaking more and more like a little human being. With phrases like “That’s Ava’s” and “That’s cold”.

As you saw above, the Kartchner Caves have a cool play area for the kids and fake stalagmites all over the place… which pales in comparison of the real thing.

After a few hours of driving, we made it to our next stop. Gila Bend, Arizona. Oh and Day 8 of our trip also happened to be my birthday. The big 33. All week Ava had been singing the Happy Birthday song. Whenever I added ‘to Mama’ to the song, Ava would cry ‘Ava birthday?’. I tried to explain to her that it was my turn but it didn’t work too well. Here she helping me open and my play with my presents.

And while we were in the parking lot of an Italian restaurant, walking to the front door, Ava told me ‘Happy Birthday Mama’. Unprompted by anyone. It was the best present I could have received. Thanks Ava.

Day 9 of our trip turned out to be another long driving day. We stopped to say hello to a big ass cactus…

and to spend some time at the Yuma Territorial Prison. LET US OUT!

They had a museum there in addition to the actual prison. Ava got a chance to take a picture just like the real prisoners were required to in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The mirror allowed the jail to get a side view of the prisoners.

We were planning on spending the final night of our road trip at the Salton Sea but that didn’t work out too well for us. So we decided to hang out in Palm Desert until it was Ava’s bedtime. Here are Deets and Ava reenacting our Tombstone mustache adventure.

And on the 10th day, in the early morning hours, we were home.

Ever since we got home from our trip, Ava’s bedtime routine has changed. She no longer wants to sit in her rocking chair to drink milk. She now wants to go into our bed, under the covers, to drink her milk. Just like she does when she is on the road in the Airstream. When we first hit the road and she was stuck in her car seat, Ava kept asking for ‘my kuća’ (my house). After a couple days, she stopped asking. And now that we are home, she is asking to go in the trailer. And the other morning she asked me ‘ghost town?’. Hehe. I think these trips with Carrie are rubbing off on her. We might have a mini-ghost hunter on our hands now.

Now that we are home, Ava has a few new favorite things to do. She is really into her FiFi and the Flowertots DVD. She actually tries to sing the theme song at the start of each episode.

Ava is also getting into playing with dolls. Here she is fake sleeping with the doll my great-grandma (Nona Ivka) and I used to play with and make clothes for.

And Dora is still popular but slowly taking the back burner to Fifi… and Max and Ruby too. Here she is dancing to Dora singing “We did it!”.

She is riding her tiny red bike more even though it keeps cracking at the handle. This was her gift from Santa Claus last year. I have a feeling Santa will be bringing her one this year too.

Ava is starting to act so grown-up now. She knows how to play match games! What? Babies learn?

Daycare is going well still. The first day back from vacation went okay. She was a little shy at drop-off time on Monday. She insisted on whispering ‘Bye’ and ‘Volim te’ (I love you) when we said our good-byes.

The teachers say she is speaking more English at school this week. It’s funny. When we pick her up from daycare, Ava goes crazy speaking Croatian to us. She must have it bottled up inside and just let’s it explode on the way home. During a Grace and Baby Cole visit this week, Ava and Michelle read Brown Bear together. And when pointing out each animal on each page, Ava said the English version of the word to Michelle. All eight or so. That was the first time I noticed that she is starting to figure out when to speak which language and to whom. What? Babies Learn?

An interesting change we saw this week is Ava is starting to want things her way. Now. Reasoning seems to be not working as well for me anymore. To help keep the frustration levels to a manageable low, I started to make jokes and to change the subject during the my way or the highway incidents. Like when she freaks out that her sweater sleeves are covering her hands before I get the chance to roll them up, I tell her that she has no hands and can’t eat anymore. That always seems to make her giggle. And another interesting change is that Ava finally agreed to put a band-aid on. I know all kids want band-aids when they fall. Especially the cartoon versions. But not Ava. She did not want a Dora band-aid even close to her. I think it has to do with hospital stays and emergency room visits. Band-aids always bothered her in there. But for some reason this week, when she scrapped her knee running into the house and saw blood, she was okay with the band-aid.

So last night was our Santa Claus visit night. Before we went to take a picture with him, we took her to the store to remind her that if she wanted a bike with pedals and a helmet, that we would need to ask Santa for it. She even took a picture for him.

Is it time Dada? Can I tell him I want a bike now?

Ava did great standing in line. She practiced saying ‘Bicycle please’ over and over again. And when I took her out of my arms and onto Santa’s lap… DISASTER. She cried like he was going to eat her alive. We went ahead with the torture and took a picture of her screaming her head off. Bad bad parents. After the picture, she literally jumped into my arms. With tears still streaming down her face, she stood next to Santa and said ‘Bicycle please?’. Santa responded by saying that he will bring her lots of toys. She looked at him and said ‘Thank you’. And he said I love you. I don’t know why but I cried a little at that moment too. The way she said bicycle please and thank you was the cutest thing I ever heard. Ever.

You’ll have to wait for the Santa picture. I’m thinking about making you all wait and posting it on Christmas Day.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 11:32 am by mama marlene and is filed under family, News, trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.