8 Months At Home

1. Over the last month, Ava has become more aware of “her stuff”. It's cool to watch her start to understand that she owns things. Unfortunately, this new discovery also brings out the word “mine” on a regular basis. Not my favorite thing :) The other night when we were watching a movie she had her blanket, 2 monkeys, a toy car, her cup, a rubiks cube, and her baby doll lined up with her on the couch. And when she moved where she was sitting, she also moved all of her belongings with her.
2. Despite “her stuff”, Ava is learning to share and at daycare is really a pretty sharer. She definitely has learned the rules at daycare. When she's around her cousins, sharing is a little more difficult but she normally will share her toys. She is great about sharing food!! She's constantly trying to give us bites of her food as well and any other family members that are around.
3. We have noticed that Ava has shown the emotion of being scared lately. The only times we have seen it is with one of her favorite movies “Monsters Inc” and when picking out a Halloween costume. Ava loves “Monsters Inc”, but the first part of the movie always scares her when they are doing the scare training in the simulation room. The first time I realized it scared her happened when I put the movie on for her and then went to the kitchen to start dinner. Next thing I knew Ava was hugging my leg and pointing at the monster. She's been very curious about dinosaurs lately and roars at them whenever she sees a picture of them. So when we were looking for a Halloween costume, we saw a dinosaur. Ava immediately pointed and roared at it. When we got it off the rack for her to see closer, she threw herself on the ground and covered her eyes. We felt terrible that we didn't realize how scared she actually was of them.
4. Ava has been learning body parts this last month. She has down head, nose, eyes, ears, tongue, teeth, hands, and toes. She loves being quizzed about her body parts and concentrates really hard. Her favorite is toes! So we usually do toes last and then Ava goes into “toes, toes, toes!!”
5. Ava LOVES football! I think she's been fully brainwashed ;) She points out any TV that has a football game on. We were at a wedding rehearsal dinner several weeks ago and people were trying to talk to her and she kept looking past them to watch football. So, as happy as we are that she likes football we've had some conversations of not being rude to people who are trying to talk to you. Who would have guessed this would be a problem already!!
6. Ava still doesn't watch a lot of TV/movies but since it is getting colder and darker earlier you have been watching a little more. Luckily, your picks for shows is broadening. Her favorite shows are still Madagascar, but she also likes Care Bears, Monsters Inc, Mickey Mouse Club, and Sofia the First.
7. Ava continues to eat well. A new favorite is apples. She doesn't like them sliced, but prefers just to eat a whole apple. She also loves chicken tenders, applesauce, yogurt, crackers, hotdogs, cheetos, bananas, green beans, quesadillas, and lots of other things.
8. Ava refuses to sit in a high chair or even a booster seat...not at home, not anywhere. She makes it known that she is big girl and prefers to sit in the chair like a big girl :)
9. Ava tackled her first hiking trip with Mama and Baba in Colorado. The first hike was a short, fairly level 1.5 mile hike through Lory State Park just outside of Fort Collins. We carried her in the baby carrier for most of the trip but she did want to walk a short distance. Her second hike was up Horsetooth Mountain outside of Fort Collins. This is an all time favorite hike for us and we were so excited to climb this mountain with her. Again we carried her in the baby carrier all the way up with several stops to take a breather and let her stretch her legs. Once at the top we stopped to eat out picnic lunch and then headed back down. Ava probably walked a good mile back down. It was so fun to watch her take in the sites, watch the birds, and smell the plants/trees. She is definitely going to be a hiker.
10. Ava has really enjoyed being Mama and Baba's helper lately. She likes to help with laundry~she hands us one item of clothing out of the washing machine to put in the dryer at a time. She will also pick up things around the house and put them back in their place. She likes to be organized :) She also likes to help with cooking and taking dishes out of the dishwasher to put away. We're hoping this helping interest continues for a long time.