10 Months...Narrowing in on a Year Together

Every month I feel like Ava is growing and learning things faster and faster.  It amazes me how she can change on a daily basis.  Ava is a sweet, big hearted little girl.  I soak up every minute I can with her.  

10 Month List  

1. Ava is a chatter box.  Talking all the time and we are understanding more and more all the time.  Her list of words continues to grow but one of the most fun new things this month is that she walks around singing songs all the time.  Some of them we can tell what she's singing, some of them not.  She sings Old McDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Elmo's Song, If You're Happy and You Know It.  And each time she finishes a song, she claps and cheers for herself!  Love it :)

2. Ava loves to help Mama and Baba around the house.  She helps with loading and unloading the dishwasher, closing all the doors in the house, taking things to the trash, picking up toys and other things around the house, and shopping for groceries.  She actually is a good little helper for the most part.  So we are always trying to find ways to be helpful around the house.

3.  Favorite Movies this Month:  Elmo's Favorite Songs, Madagascar (all 3), Planes, Baby Einstein.

4.  Overnights are still fairly rough.  We are up her anywhere from 3-8 times per night.  Sometimes she just needs to be comforted and reminded we're there and other times she wakes up screaming.  We are doing lots of research on sleep (or lack there of) this month and trying every different thing we can think of and is suggested.  We took Ava in to the doctor this last week because of a lingering cough and discovered she had an ear infection.  We had no idea, she gave us no signs...but we are really hoping that once the ear infection is gone, maybe she'll sleep again.  Knock on wood, we're on the right track.  We all need sleep in this house :)

5.  Ava celebrated her first Thanksgiving during the last month.  On Thanksgiving we went to Kansas City to be with my family and then went to Kansas again for the weekend to be with Matt's family.  Holidays mean so much more with a little one around.  Everything is so new and exciting!!  I love to watch the innocence in her eyes when she watches the turkey cooking for the first time and eating more food in one sitting than she could have ever imagined before.  Makes me so thankful for her and so sad for all those kiddos still waiting for their forever families.  The other part of holidays that I love now is having a house full of little kids.  Listening to them run, play, and laugh together.  One of the best sounds in the world!

6.  You still love daycare; your teachers and your friends.  The biting has been very minimal over the last couple of months.  You are learning all kinds of new things and making so many cute crafts that I don't even know what to do with them all.  I am now the mom that has a refrigerator covered in crafts and I wouldn't change it for anything.  When we get to the center in the mornings, you can't get out of your carseat fast enough but you are always happy to see us at the end of the day.  We learned this last week, that Ava gives hugs to the parents she knows as they come to pick up their kids.  I love that she's such a lover!!

7.  Books, books, and more books.  You love to read!  This month Ava is perfectly happy reading her books on her own if Mama and Baba are busy at the moment.  But reading books together is one of my favorite times of the day.

8.  Ava has been eating much better.  Sometimes it takes a little sneaky business from Mama and Baba but at least she is eating from all her food groups.  She loves her milk!  She will not drink juice or chocolate milk, but just good old 2% white milk.  We have started making her drink water with meals.  Mainly because we are really working on drinking out of a big girl cup and it often ends up all over the floor :)

9.   Ava getting more picky about her clothes already.  She loves to pick out her clothes for the day.  She actually does a pretty good job of matching things.  The only problem is that she tends to pick the same clothes over and over again.  So we have some clothes that are not getting worn very many times. This is called picking your battles.

10.  This month we've had Christmas decorations up in preparation for the Christmas season.  It has been so fun to experience the lights, Santa Clauses, Christmas Tree and ornaments, nativity scenes, touring around the city to look at Christmas lights with her.  I have a feeling this is going to be the best Christmas ever!  Living through the eyes of our beautiful daughter!