Two years old!!!
Our little baby Ava is no longer a baby. She is now 2 years old! Where has the time gone?!?
The days leading up to Ava’s birthday was full of singing and practice blowing too. She was so excited for her ‘owl birthday party’.
She spent the day helping us decorate and made multiple trips to visit Birdy. I hope Uncle Buddy wasn’t too jealous.
And after her afternoon nap, it was party time! She was so shy at first. She buried her head into my neck and would not look up. Not even for her long awaited owls.
Slowly but surely, she started to warm up to her visitors. Here are her great-grandmothers trying to get Ava to smile for them.
But as soon her little guests appeared, she was in full party mode.
And paid very little attention to the big guests.
We didn’t have any official games for the kids at the birthday party. They were more than content playing with balloons, party hats… and shrieking because Dada’s beer was sooooo cold.
And then a miracle happened after dinner. They all sat down on the couch and read books. Quietly. Told you! A miracle.
After the reading miracle, it was time to get this party started again… with CAKE TIME!
She did much better with the singing this year. No hiding from the singers. But she did have a little trouble blowing out her candles. I thinks she was trying to blow them both out at the same time by blowing in between them. Hehe. I guess we should of practiced with two candles instead of just one earlier in the week.
The ladies could not wait for cake. They were both caught red-handed while we were taking family photos.
Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.
FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!
As the guests started to leave, Ava sat on the couch, took her owl’s wing and made it play the piano for her. It was adorable.
The night ended with a story about a baby owl who’s parents make him stay up all night, against his wishes… because he is an owl, of course.
On Monday, it was Ava’s actual birthday. She woke up in a great mood and insisted on wearing her new Deets shoes… which she continued to wear all week long.
And here is Ava’s very first picture as a two year old. As we were picking her up from daycare, she was seated at the head of the table with all of her friends, waiting for cake, with her special birthday girl crown.
And just as she did during her party, Ava stuck her finger in the cake moments before it was going to be served.
Yum yum yum.
I asked Ava what she wanted to do today. It was her choice. But she just stared at me blankly. I had never asked her that before and she was speechless. So we took the liberty on deciding for her. We took a leisurely stroll around the block and played with all of her new toys and dresses.
Ava was really into her birthday this year. Not sure who she got that from? And we were scared that she would be disappointed that it was over. But that never really happened. She was probably distracted with her new toys and playing in a band with her Dada. When she plays the piano by herself, she says ‘Ava piano kao (like) Deets’. Yes, Ava… just like Deets.
Ava also is hitting us less and less these days. Thank god. That goes along with pinching and slapping too. So I am not sure what we were thinking when we introduced boxing gloves to her. Think Mama. Think!
Ava has had some sleeping trouble since we have been home. There was a sprinkle of it here and there while at my parents and in the Airstream but not nearly as bad as at home this week. I get her dressed in pajamas and let her choose her sleeping companion and say good-night. Within minutes, she starts screaming. No I don’t want to sleep with my prairie doggy, I want Boots. Okay. Then more crying minutes later. I want my sleeping bag on. Repeat. I want the door open. Repeat. I have boogers all over my face from crying. Repeat. After one night of this and her puffy eyes in the morning (as you can see below) , I needed to change our game plan. So now, she can only sleep with her prairie doggy. All others have been banished. She gets to wear her coconut (that’s polka-dot in Ava speak) pajamas and the sleeping bag only if we are not in our current summertime in the wintertime mode. And her door is to stay closed until her Dada is done working for the night. No exceptions. And by golly, it worked. So far.
Time for Ava’s funny sayings of the week. I forgot to mention in the picture above that she is starting to stick her hand out and say ‘wait’. If we are walking together, she does this so she can get a head start or something. She also insists that we skip-to-my-lou by saying skip-balloons. And one that she has been doing for a while is saying baby with a southern drawl. Bay-beeeee. It’s adorable.
And the very funniest one of the week happened the night before her birthday party. Dan was playing with Ava by trying her catch her as if she was a big fish. After he caught her, he said ‘I got a big one’. Ava immediately stood on her two feet, lifted her shirt up and screamed ‘I gotta big one’!! LOL! Yes, Ava. You have a big belly but a cute one at that.
Okay. It’s time to put on her Cinderella dress for the 162,195,875th time of the week. Bye!
