Little Lins!

Hi there. Our quickly growing Ava is now 25 months old.

At the exact moment she turned 25 months old, she was at daycare sleeping. But here she is at pick up time. Awake and hanging out with her friend Max.

Dan and I always pick Ava up from school together and on-time. Except for two times. About a year ago,  I was late because of a meeting and Ava knew it. She wouldn’t stop crying for me so her teacher took her to the Village to play until we arrived. And last Friday, Dan was exhausted from late nights of working and crashed hard on the couch. When we got to daycare, we found Ava playing with some funky toy. She dropped it on the floor, ran over, hugged us and said ‘ I wanna bye-bye’.

So we took her home and spent some quality time with our munchkin. She insists on having her books read to her in Hrvatski (Croatian). She’s always insisted that Dan read Hrvatski to her too until this week. This week she says ‘Mama Hrvatski, Dada English’. Hehe.

Ava has also started to ‘read’ books on her own too. Her version of reading is to quickly flip through the pages, spit out all the words she can remember us reading to her, and then saying ‘the end’. Yeah Ava. She also has this Dora song player that she got for her birthday and this week she started to sing the theme song for Dora. It was hilarous to hear her say ‘Dora Dora Dora the Explorer… Jump in.. Come on… Oh man!’. I really need to video more. Oh and speaking of her Spanish speaking friend, the other morning at breakfast, she was playing with coffee creamers. We asked her to count them and she counted to six… in Spanish. These little surprises make our day.

Over the weekend, Ava had a play date with Grace and Cole. Here is our attempt of a picture of the three amigos.

But Ava thought three was a crowd and bailed before we could get a good shot.

Grace and Ava had a blast dancing in their princess dresses while their Dadas rocked out.

I’m not sure why guys never have any expression while ‘jamming’. I’m not exaggerating. Check them out.

Ava is obsessed with this blankie this week. It’s the one we keep for her on Rudy’s old bed. She refused to let me take a picture of her with it. She ran and ran around the house giggling.

And then all of a sudden she stopped and said ‘oh-oh’. I stopped and said oh-oh too. For a second, I thought she might have had an accident while wearing her Winnie the Pooh underwear-in-training. But that wasn’t it. She had diapers on at that moment.

Her tights fell down from all the running and giggling. Hehe.

Her blankie is not only for snuggling but it is also a tortilla in its spare time. Burrito Dada, Burrito!

Hahahaha.

I hope you like Carne Ava-da. (Sorry. Bad bad joke.)

Ava is starting to turn into a little bit of a dictator in the house. Sometimes it’s her way or the highway. The other night, she would not stop putting puzzle pieces into her mouth. I told her one more time and I am taking it away. And she did. And I did. And she cried for the rest of the evening. The next night, she looked at the puzzle and said ‘no usta’ (no mouth) and then said ‘Ava plakala’ (Ava cried). I hope that means she learned her lesson… and isn’t her way of giving us a guilt trip. But being a little dictator is sometimes nice too. Like when she makes Dan ride her bicycle in the house. Hehe.

Last week Ava figured out how to make an army of Boots. And this week she figure out how to make noodles. Yippee.

Her Rainbow Bright dress just reminded me of Hot Dog on a Stick. We ate lunch there the other day while at the mall. After removing all the ‘corn’ and only eating the ‘dog’ (ummm… weirdo), Ava grabbed my cherry lemonade and drank away. Moments later, she grabbed her forehead and screamed ‘ouchie ovdje’ (ouchie here). Hehe. Ava’s first brain freeze. How sweet.

At school, we notice the kids sometimes talking about monsters hiding in their cubbies. Well, the monster somehow followed us home. All week, Ava pointed and screamed ‘monster over there’. Sometimes the monster is a crumb and sometimes it is just invisible.

Well, at least it’s invisible to my eyes. Do you see one? All I see is an orb (aka ghost) in my TV. And it better not be messing with my Tivo settings.

Ava had a mid-week play date with Grace too. Here they are watching Dora with Ava’s favorite blanket. Don’t think they are this calm and collected the entire time.

Most of their play date looked liked this. Dada monster! Dada Monster coming! Ahhhhhhh!

Alright. Time to go spelunking. See ya!

Our craaaaazy little Ava is now 107 weeks old. Someone hurry with that holy water!

On Friday, we picked Ava up from school a bit early for a doctor’s appointment. Most of the other kids were still asleep but not Ava. She just had woken up from her slumber with only one shoe. We asked her where her other shoe was but she didn’t have an answer. Every teacher and kid in that place were looking for her shoe. In the trash cans, in the toy boxes, on the playground, in the toilet. But no shoe. After about 20 minutes of searching, one of the boys walks up to Dan and gives him Ava’s missing shoe. He just woke up and found it in his bed. Hehe.

Whenever we take Ava to the doctor’s office, I always take a picture of Ava and Dada walking to our appointment. One day I will have to line them up for you. Exciting stuff, I know. But you somehow keep coming back, don’t you? That’s what I thought.

The reason for this appointment was for a shot. Not just any shot. The shot. The shot that she was supposed to have a year ago that I have been postponing. MMR. Measles, Mumps and Rubella. She did great. Just cried for a second as the needle was coming out. And she didn’t have a reaction from it either. Yeah. I forgot to mention a couple weeks ago, that during her 2 year check-out she didn’t cry. Not once. It was her first time I think. Usually the ear check-up upsets her due to a wax build up issue but not this time. This time she was a big girl.

And to follow our tradition, whenever we get shots… we also get ice cream. You hear that Deets? Go get your chicken pox shot and I will buy you ice cream. You’ll forget about your tears in no time. Promise.

On Saturday morning, we were finally not out of town and got to do one of our favorite things in town… Farmer’s Market. Yeah. Ava got a kick out of helping me hold our reusable bag while searching for free strawberry samples.

And after we bought all of our items, she insisted on carrying the bag herself. Not an easy task when the bag is almost the same size as you are.

Ava also got to pick out any flowers she wanted. All by herself. She picked the purple tulips. Nice choice Ava. Nice expensive choice.

After placing her tulips in some water at home, we hit the road for a day trip to her Nona and Dida’s house which she just refers to just as Nona’s house. It’s funny because our house is called Mama’s house according to Ava.  Ava got a chance to play ballerina dress-up with her cousin Nathan and dance to Deets as you saw earlier in the week.

Ava also got to spend some time with Carrie, who tried her best to save Ava from the Dada Monster.

We all jumped into Dan’s van and headed off to dinner to celebrate Ava’s Dida’s birthday. All 7 of us fit just fine in the van except the 3 of us in the back got a really bouncy ride. Deets recently asked me if I ever leave any details out of this blog. I told him I do sometimes but not on purpose. I sometimes just forget things. But one thing I didn’t forget from this crab leg feast was how he almost pooped on Carrie and me on our van ride home. Seriously. How’s that for not leaving out any details.

After dinner, Ava got to share some tea with the birthday boy.

Živili!

We also got to witness a miracle that night. Uncle Buddy actually perched on someone. He usually flies away but not tonight. Ava wanted her arm back to herself after the miracle lasted a little too long.

Then it was time to say goo-bye and hit the road again. Muh!

On Sunday, we relaxed and played some hopscotch…

… and went to watch the Superbowl at Matheus’ house. These two weren’t as innocent as this picture leads you to believe. You’ll have a wait until Monday to find out what really happened.

Ava has a Dora play-doh set and Dan and I are always in charge of making the characters for her. But not this week! She finally figured out how to make Boots and proceeded to make 30 sets of Boots with all of the play-doh we own.

In the mornings, Ava gets to pick out her clothes sometimes. I have been trying to teach her how to match colors. She agreed that this sweater was a match. And then while we were waiting for Dada to wake up, she was playing with toy ducks, looked at me and said match! Good job Ava.

In the mornings, she still says no school to us… but once she is there she loves it. Especially when Ava R is there.

And when she gets to show off her artwork of the day to us too.

The teachers all tell us that she does fine there during the day. She is pretty talkative. But once we take her into the hallway, she gets really really shy. She won’t acknowledge some of her favorite teachers nor does she even glance at her buddy Grace. If you see Ava in the hallway, please don’t take it personally.

This week we had a couple visitors. Mikey stopped by really quick for a 4-amigo reunion. Boy how we all miss our time in Croatia.

Our friend Jeremy stopped by also. With a present no less. I could not get Ava to say thank you. I begged. I pleaded but no thank you left her lips.

But she did invite Jeremy to play tea party with her new tea set that he bought. The funny thing is… in the morning while Jeremy was asleep on the couch, she saw the orange bag that the gift came in sitting by the front door. She looked at me and whispered thank you. A day late and to the wrong person. But I will take what I can get.

During the last part of our night before bedtime, we read stories with Ava. One book for Mama. Then one book for Dada. Since Jeremy was staying with us, we decided that Ava should pick out a book for him too. And her choice for him? Potty time. Hehe. But what’s funny also is that the next book she choose was for Jeremy too. She picked a Blue’s Clues book. He opened up the book and said ‘Hey, I know this guy’. Hahahah. Jeremy knows Steve. The guy with the awesome sweater collection.

Alright. My hands are getting tired from typing with my two fingers. So I will leave you with this. Ava taking a dump in front of Rubio’s. You’re welcome. Bye!

Hola! Our little señorita is now 106 weeks old. Ole!

Our week started off with a trip up north to celebrate Chinese New Year. This year it is the year of the ox. And in case you are wondering, Ava is a dog. Woof woof. And Dan and I are rabbits. Hop hop. Here she is saying ‘weee’ are we go under a tunnel (aka overpass).

Whenever we are driving north, we always stop by Santa Barbara to eat at one of the restaurants we used to love when we lived there. This time, we decided to stop at Rudy’s Mexican Restaurant. Ava has a thing for tacos this week so it worked out perfectly.

On Saturday, we took Ava to the Children’s Museum where she got to see herself in funny mirrors…

…get her sleeve soaking wet while throwing balls enter into this water vortex…

…play with sand, funnels and test tubes…

…and, her very favorite, watch horses get illuminated on the wall by this mini merry-go-round.

Ava also got to eat a belated ice cream cake from Dan’s mom and brother who couldn’t make it to actual party.

Driving up north was rough. Ava only slept about 20 minutes during the 5 hour drive. And on the way home, she slept zero minutes. It was torture. For some reason, our drive home took over 6 hours. Ahhh. So we decided to stop at on our favorite spots off the freeway, just past Refugio, to watch the sunset. And did our overly tired toddler enjoy the moment? Nope. She wanted to run on the beach. Sorry Ava. Not this time.

On Monday, it was back to the daily grind. Here is Dan with the kids at daycare. He is still a big hit there with all of Ava’s friends. And see that artwork in the background?

One of those is Ava’s macaroni art masterpieces… for all to admire. Good job Ava.

But getting ready for school this week has been a little different than usual. Ava is actually saying ‘ no škola’ (no school) in the mornings. Not sure if she doesn’t want to go to school or just doesn’t want us to be apart. Either way, looking at her say that and then holding my legs makes it tough on me. I wish I could play all day with her too. But that is not in the cards right now. So, we say good-bye outside as she goes with Dada to daycare and I drive away to work. She usually says ‘byebye Mama’ as we wave good bye but this week she said ‘bye Marlene’ and ‘bye Mama Marlene’ a few times too.

But after a few minutes of complaining in the mornings, she forgets about the whole no škola bit a returns to playing pas party (dog party) and rocking her teddy bear to sleep.

She also likes to brush her teeth with Dada in the mornings after he finally gets out of bed. Poor Ava has to scream ‘wake up Dada’ ten times before he actually listens. What a sleepy head!

She also has been intrigued by this Yoda toy in the mornings too… much to Yoda’s delight.

Ava thinks it’s so funny that Yoda tries to catch the feather tip… but Yoda doesn’t think it’s too funny when Ava accidentally smacks her with the stick instead of the soft feathers. Sorry Yoda. That’s no joking matter.

As you saw in yesterday’s video, Ava started to pedal her bicycle this week. Yippee. My back says thank you. No more pushing!

We still need to work with Ava on using utensils… the right way. Here is the aftermath of me asking Ava to use her fork. Yup. That’s Ava picking up a piece of pasta with her hands and sticking it on her fork. Geez.

It hasn’t been all fun and games this week. Ava had a couple crying fits this week. To the point where she couldn’t breathe. Most of her hysterics started at the end of our day and with her not wanting to get off of the toilet. ‘Ava kaka Ava kaka’. Over and over again. I think she may have a little stomach bug or something.

The biggest hit of the week is books. Especially Little Hoot, Gossie, We are Going on a Bear Hunt and Wocket in my Pocket. She can’t get enough of those. Before we read each book, Ava tells me if I should read it in Croatian or English. Hehe. And she is starting to call books by their names. When she grabs the Wocket in my Pocket book, she says it’s name and then pretends to pull it out of her back pocket. And the funniest one yet is when she sat down with her Gossie book and kept called it ‘guzi’ which means butt in Croatian. She laughed when I pointed out her mistake.

All right. It’s officially playtime. Have a wonderful weekend. Bye!

Our little Ava is now 105 weeks old. Yeah!!

Our week started off with a trip to the doctor for Ava’s 2 year old check-up. And I bet you can’t wait to hear about her stats. Well, here the are. Weight: 30 pounds (84%). Length: 34.25 inches (58%). And last but certainly not least… Head circumference: 20 inches (99%). Yes, I said 99%!!! That is her biggest percentage yet. Only one away from being perfect!!

We have been out of town pretty much every weekend since November. The packing and unpacking is killing me. So this weekend was supposed to be a stay at home weekend so I can sit and relax… and clean a little too. But we got an invitation from another Airstreamer in town to go down to the Malibu area for a couple nights… and we couldn’t say no. It was so close to home. It was on the beach, literally. And it was a chance to make friends with these Airstreamers and 3 other Airstreaming  families in the area. It would have been silly to say no. So we packed up and drove down to Thornhill Broome State Beach for the weekend. It was our first time boondocking for more that one night and we survived! Here are Ava and I enjoying a snack on our ‘porch’, with Highway 1 and the Santa Monica mountains right behind us.

And right in front of us… the beach. It was great to hear the waves crashing all night as we slept. It reminded me of wonderful vacations… and living that close to the beach back in our Isla Vista days.

Since the beach right in front of our site was rocky, we walked a little ways down the beach and found a nice patch of sand. One of the reasons we decided to go on the mini-trip was that the other 4 Airstreamers were also bringing their kids. There were 7 other kids, ranging from age 3 and up. And did Ava play with all or any of them? Nope. She was still in her shy phase and decided I was waaaaay more fun than those other kids. I took it as a compliment. One of the other mom’s asked me if Ava was a Mama’s girl. I never really thought of it before but after a few seconds, I said yes. Yes, Ava is a Mama’s girl… and it’s more than okay with me.

Around lunchtime, Matheus and his family drove down to our site for some lunch and beach fun. These two don’t really talk too much with each other but sure do like smiling at each other.

Saturday night was potluck night. It was the one mandatory activity that the group had for the weekend. It was fun to eat with all of the other Airstreamers and exchange traveling stories. We were the newest Airstreamers in the bunch and gathered as much advice as we could get.

On Sunday, we woke up bright and early (thanks Ava!) and needed to make some tough decisions. Do we stay one more night or do we go? Well, as you can see, the Santa Ana winds picked up…

…and got worse as the morning progressed. It was obviously time to go.

But we couldn’t leave without saying hello to Heart Attack Hill. Yes, that steep sand hill in Malibu that people are always sliding down. The one that we drive by and wonder what are these idiots doing. Well, this time it was us and boy was that hill steep. This picture does not do it any justice. Ava decided that she wanted to follow the other kids up the hill so off she went with her Dada. After a couple minutes of slipping and sliding, her interest waviered… to her Dada’s delight.

At least they gave it a good try.

And then it was back to our site to pack up our things. And time to say good-bye to our ocean view. Nice, huh?

Since our camping trip ended before Grace could visit, we made sure the girls had ample time to play back in town. Ava got to check out all of Grace’s new birthday and Christmas gifts. She insisted that playing dominoes meant throwing them all on the floor with one quick hand swoop.

Grace has a rocking horse at her house named Jackamo. And on Sunday, Ava finally got up on it all by herself. Good job Ava.

They also had fun sitting together on Grace’s new Tinkerbell couch… which converts to a bed!

On Monday, the winds finally died down a bit so we did a little walking around on Main Street. Ava casually mentioned that she wanted some ice cream, and we couldn’t say no to a request like that. So it was off to Palermo for some of the best gelato ever. It is seriously good. Go try it for yourself.

Back at home this week, Ava is in love with fake earrings (who can blame her), sleeping like her normal self again (thank god), and is singing a brand new song (yeah). B-I-N-G-O! And Bingo was his name-o. I love it. It came out of nowhere. I love when that happens. One of the benefits of daycare.

She also insisted on trying to wear her swim diapers over her clothes.

Help me please!

And the silliness doesn’t stop there. Here she is wearing milk and orange juice carton ‘gloves’. But the funniest thing she did this week… she asked for me to go with her somewhere by saying ‘Come on Mama’… followed by snapping her fingers and making a cat call like we do when trying to get Yoda’s attention. All three of us started busting up. It was so funny… and then I told her not to do it again too. I’m no cat, thank you very much.

Ava got a lot of puzzles over the holiday season. And thank goodness she loves each and everyone of them. Puzzle in books.

Puzzles that make walking paths.

And puzzles that are puzzling. Other side Ava! One of the other things that is puzzling Ava this week is when to say please, thank you and you’re welcome. I think I may have been correcting her too much because now she has stopped saying them all. Oops. So, now instead of asking her what to say, I am asking her to repeat what I say to get her back on track.

You think you are obsessed with avalin.net? You should see Ava this week. Ava pictures! Ava video!

Here is Ava at daycare pick-up time. Mama! Dada! When we get to her classroom, we always spend a few minutes there talking with her and her friends. Dan was playing with farm animals the other day with Ava and Ava R . When he asked the girls where was the pig, Ava R answered ‘ovdje’! Which means ‘here’ in Croatian. LOL. I guess Ava has been giving Ava R some Croatian lessons at school.

This picture has made me speechless. So… good-bye!

What? Our baby is now 100 weeks old? AKA 23 months old? AKA almost 2 years old?!?!?! AKA ahhhhhh!!!!

As always, we take a picture of Ava at the exact time she was born or as close to it when she is at daycare. Here she is at pick-up time. Hanging out at the playground with a very messy onesie underneath her dress.

On our way to the car, Ava always insists on peaking at baby Cole who is now in the room she used be in… many months ago.

And she also has to wave bye to Grace too. We caught playing with her new friends while wearing her reindeer hat.

On Friday night, we packed up the Airstream again and hit the road for the weekend.  We decided to meet up with Dan’s family for the weekend at Morro Bay State Park to help celebrate Ava’s Grandma’s birthday. It rained most of Friday night while we were toasty in bed. In the morning, it was freezing.

It was definitely too cold to go birdwatching in the marsh across the way. Even with mittens.

Because of the cold we had to stay indoors most of the time. So it was off to a local diner instead. Where Ava put a lot of food her belly…

… and then immediately started to push it out. Gross, it know. But it was hilarious that she wanted to get out of her highchair, hold my knees, spread her legs, make her pooping face and take a dump in the middle of the diner. She has no shame. Love it!

Ava also spent some time playing with sugar packets…

… and taking quick walks around the campsite to check out the other Airstreams. But it was way too cold for most to be out so we didn’t have a chance to meet any other Airstream owners.

It was a rough Saturday night for Ava and me. We both got sick. Stomache aches. Trouble sleeping. Just plain miserable. So in the morning, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and started to pack up. Here is Ava doing when she loves to do. Finding 3 items, like pinecones, and calling them Dada, Mama and Ava… according to size.

Bye-bye marsh. Hope to go birdwatching with you someday… when it is much warmer and when our tummies don’t hurt.

Bye-bye Morro Bay State Park. Thanks for the last hook-up spot. We loved having electricity and running water and the view!

On Monday, the rain was back. We caught Ava chatting about ‘rain outside’ with some boys in her classroom.

And then put her on her art project of the day. A reindeer hat. The antlers are cut-outs of her hands, decorating with red glitter. And if you are wondering why her shirts at school are alway yucky… well, she is a messy eater. The messiest in her classroom for sure. That’s why at home, she always wears bibs.

Sometimes if Dan and I get there too early, it is still snack time. So we wait until Ava is all done. Afterward, she shows us how she can wash her own hands, all by herself, in the mini-sink they have in the bathroom.

And sometimes, we get there and she is doing something silly. Like eating cornbread with goggles on her head.

Here she is pushing her friend. Her friend screamed ‘Push Ava Lin!’ and Ava obliged.

This week, we finally decorated our tiny Christmas tree. It was Ava’s very first time putting ornaments on the tree. She LOVED it.

Good job Ava!!

She liked saying ‘Mama, star ovdje’ (Mama star here).

Since our tree was so little (on purpose…  stop laughing), we put our other ornaments on the fireplace. Ava really likes looking at the picture of Rudy and Yoda with Santa that I hung up.

Here is Ava after a spill in the kitchen. We always ask her ‘Are you okay?’ when something happens. And this week, Ava started to ask us if we are okay. All. Day. Long. Whenever we cough, bump our toes or make any other weird sound, she asks us if we are okay. And every once in awhile if I show her where I got hurt, she will kiss it and make it all better, like I do for her.  She also started to do some other new things too. She started to blow raspberries on my belly after drinking milk at bedtime. And the sang a WHOLE SONG all by herself. And surprisingly not a Deets song. She sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star from start to finish all by herself. No joke. Good job AVA!!!

Thanks to everyone for the Christmas cards so far. Ava loves each and every one of them. Not equally of course. The Elmo ones are her favorite.

Look in your mailboxes today. You might be getting a sneak peek of Ava’s Santa picture in there. Ho ho ho!

Hello. Our little monkey is now 97 weeks old!

Big change in the world of play-doh this week. Ava is actually lining up the character’s we create instead of smashing them to smithereens right away.

And her artwork is starting to veer away from dot art. She can purposely draw waves now.

Over the weekend, Ava got to hang out with her buddy Matheus.

They had fun playing with her toys.

And even sharing a romantic dinner for two.

Ava’s favorite Dora got deflated the night Matheus came over. But that didn’t bother Grace and Ava the next day.

Not sure why but they tried to eat her feet.

And for desert, they ate blocks. Yumm.

Check them out playing so nicely together.

But don’t let them fool you.

Moments later, I caught them giggling in a dark bathroom…. and dipping paper towels in the toilet with their bare hands. GROSS!

In mornings, while I get ready for the day, Ava insists on putting on imaginary make-up too.

Daycare is still going well. We occasionally catch her playing outside at pick up time and she sometimes asks us for help down the slide…

…and sometimes she goes down all by herself.

And if we get there when she is playing inside, she makes sure to show off her favorite toy of the day. Vroooom.

As soon as Dan and I enter the room, a few of the kids yell Mommy and Daddy at us and swam us like little zombies. I think Dan is their favorite.

A few days ago, we caught her on the on the outskirts of the sandbox. No one was letting her in. Poor thing. Sucks to be the youngest in the classroom. And once someone let her inside, she didn’t want to go home and we had a crying disaster on our hands.

Check out her homemade Thanksgivings hat. Oh, and when we got home this week, Ava has been saying ‘I wanna more’. I swear, she sounds like Luigi. Hehe.

When I ask Ava to wave bye, she doesn’t look at the person she is supposed to wave to. She just walks and waves behind her. The same goes for saying cheese. I can’t get her to look at the camera. Going to try to work on this. Until then, I have a rude toddler. SO RUDE.

Alright. See ya!

Hello there! Our crazy little maniac is now 96 weeks old.

On Friday night, Ava and I packed up the car and hit the road without our partner in crime, Dada.

We had big plans to breathe in smoke all day down in LA. (Yes, that’s all smoke from the LA/OC fires. Only a sliver of sky was left untouched on that catastrophic weekend.)

Ummm, just kidding. We were there for other reasons. Like to sing songs about eating apples with Nona.

We also spent the morning saying good-bye to a special lady that is no longer with us. Ava and I and the Nonas sat in the sound proof kid’s room in church during the service. She did pretty well in there. The other kid in there was way louder than Ava. Ava was content with her Little Red Riding book and the attention of her Nonas. I hope they join us in that room for Christmas mass… or Ava might be the ‘loud one’.

Ava got a special present from her Dida too. A desk from the border! Ava and her Nona Dinka spent lots of time tracing their hands.

My mom saved a bunch of my old toys from when I was a kid. She took out an old doll of mine for Ava to play with. Ava thought it was silly to walk around holding the baby with Dora stuffed under its blanket.

By the evening, the winds started to die down and so did the falling ash from the sky. So, we drove down to Ports O’Call to enjoy some pina coladas and mexican food. Ole! Here are Ava and Deets giving me the best cheese face they had.

And then, one of Ava dreams got full-filled. She got to ride a choo-choo train!

Here she is with Deets and Carrie on the Red Car Line trolley. I couldn’t get a decent picture of her looking at me, let alone showing some excitement… so Deets was kind enough to almost twist her head off turn her head gently for me.

The trolley picked us up in front of the restaurant and dropped us off at the water fountains. And once again, it made Ava want to dance and run and make wishes.

One the way back to the car, we passed by the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. Deets threw her on this gun thing and showed her how to turn and aim it.

For some reason, her Dida had no idea that this thing actually moved in all the years he’s lived here… so the girls spent the next few minutes tapping our feet and trying the convince Dida and Deets that we needed to go. Boys and their toys.

Oh Sunday, Ava and I were back at home and Ava was ready for some play dates. Her first date was with baby Cole and Grace. Grace and Ava had tons of fun pushing around strollers… well, until her wheel got caught under Cole’s activity center. Help Mama, help!

Ava’s next play date was with her cousin Nathan. They had a blast riding cars around the house. I just LOVE Nathan’s expression in this photo!

The amount of time she says ‘mine’ in starting the decrease with Nathan. She says it more with him that with anyone else. Not sure why. Maybe because they are closer in age? I don’t know but it’s slowly lessening and that’s all that matters. We’ll see how they do opening Christmas presents together in a few weeks. That will be the true test.

And for her third play date, we met up with Grace again at the park. They had a blast running across this bridge and screaming their heads off.

They also went down the slide a million times together on the count of 1, 2, 3. Ava would ask ‘pomoc’ (help) each time she was ready to slide down and I would have to hold her hand. But with some convincing, Ava went down the slide, sitting, for the first time ever. New milestone. Yippee!!

The combination of my convincing skills and Grace’s slide fearlessness helped do the trick. Good job Ava!

When picking Ava from daycare this week, we caught her outside on the playground.

And what did she do when we asked her to go down the slide again like a big girl? She slid down the stairs and screamed ‘weeeeeeeeeee’. That’s my silly Ava.

They also have bikes in the older kid playground area. Bikes with pedals!

Our Ava is still trying to get a hang of using the pedals. Until she perfects it, she will be using her feet on the ground and will be holding up traffic. Beep beep.

At school this week, Ava’s best friend there, Ava R, celebrated her 2nd birthday. Her dad rented out ponies and farm animals for day and they rode it around together.

I hope she doesn’t get any ideas from this for her birthday. Not sure if Dida would appreciate pony poop on his lawn. Hehe.

This week we also took Yoda to the vet to get micro-chipped and vaccinated for upcoming trips in the Airstream. As soon as the nurse showed us to our room and closed the door, Ava started to cry. I think Ava thought we were there for her.

At home, Ava rediscovered her old toys from last Christmas and went to town. I think I need to hide her toys more often to always have a ‘fresh’ batch for her to play with.

Here is Ava talking about and re-enacting the water show we saw over the weekend. As you can see, Ava’s still a Chatty Cathy this week. She started to say ‘Ava voli’ (Ava loves) while tapping her chest when she sees something she likes. She is starting to answer all of our questions with ‘yeah’ instead of ‘da’, which is driving me crazy but it’s my fault. I say yeah instead of yes all day long. She also started to call Dan ‘Daddy’ instead of ‘Dada’ which he sorta likes. But me? I still prefer Mama to Mommy. So I asked Ava if she could call me Mama instead of Mommy and so far it’s working pretty well. I couldn’t believe it. All this time all I had to do was ask nicely. Imagine that! So for now, we are Mama and Daddy instead of Mommy and Dada. How’s that for confusing.

Alright. Time to go.

There’s a pea stuck in someone tooth. Bye!