Ava sweet. Sweet Ava. Cooing. Singing. Laughing. My favorite time of the day is about 7:20 am. I hear Ava calling out for some morning snuggles. I quickly jump out of bed, scurry into her room and scoop her up. We retreat back to my room for a little cafe au lait and lots of cuddles. It's the best. It's one of my favorite memories of Julianna's first year, too. Just the two of us in those gentle hours. Sometimes we fall back asleep for a bit. Other times we get up and surprise Julianna. Jules is ALWAYS happy to see Ava. "It morning time Ava? Oh. Hi!" And Ava greets big sis' with birthday-present-opening enthusiasm every time.
Ava's been working on a lot of new stuff. Two new teeth. And two more wing men on deck. Sweet potatoes, oatmeal, pears, squash, and apples. GI Jane crawling. Cancel that. Marine Jane Wayne style crawling. Inspecting all the nooks and crannies of well...everything. Grabbing. Holding. Throwing. Rolling. And rolling some more. Puckering. Fit Throwing. (She's gotten excellent at this, see below.) We've had one sighting on all fours. Ava's decided she's done being that kid who sits and observes. Julianna has made life look far too interesting and she wants in. As a result, she doesn't particularly like watching me cook the spaghetti sauce from her swing in the middle of the kitchen. Nope. How's a girl gonna learn to cook if she's not right up there? And, how's a girl maybe gonna get a taste if she is ALL THE WAY over in the middle of the kitchen. AND, how's girl gonna make sure no one leaves, not even for one minute, to go into the other room and ...check email real quick, look up a recipe, change the wash, use the bathroom, ....if that girl isn't right with her mom? The answer is easy. Mom should just carry said little girl around all day. : ) Problem solved. Next.
Ava has definitely undergone some changes. We can see her forming some opinions of her own already. Which, actually is kind of fun. She was so laid back and easy-going for so long. I might have begun to worry if she didn't display a little more strength in her personality. But she has. : ) Plus, when your kid becomes easy you start drifting into that "I must be a perfect parent" syndrome. This is highly dangerous. In fact, I'm glad that I had Jules first (hee) because I might have started to think I just had this parenting thing down within a week. Of course, the inevitable slap in the face does happen at some point to us all. Which, as I pointed out several sentences ago, is for the best. : )
