Changes galore

Happy new year! We celebrated New Year's Eve (and Mandy's birthday!) with our friends at the Wineberg's. Well, kind of. Ava and I left in the middle of the party because she couldn't sleep amidst all the fun. But she was able to enjoy some time with Henry in his new ball pit.


A few days before the new year we finally got to meet my good friend Jenni's daughter Abby. Jenni and her hubby, Mike, now live in Buffalo, NY, so any time we see with them is cherished. Abby is just precious. She and Ava are almost exactly 6 months apart in age.


The past couple weeks have brought so many changes in Ava. Mike and I are in constant awe. They seem like small things, until it's your child doing them.

• One evening last week crawling just clicked for Ava! It seems like it's been a long time coming, but she's finally on the move.
• We have been working on a handful of signs with Ava over the past few months and you can see that she is starting to get it. She is very into "mimicking" right now and is clearly trying to sign. She does the "milk" sign very well and the rest all look like a variation of her own sign, just with a different twist. It's so nice to start to be able to communicate with her!
• We also had a food revelation last week. Since day one Ava has not been crazy about pureed food of any kind. I worried she was going to be a picky eater (like her dad!) but we've realized it's a texture thing. She is all about feeding herself small chunks of food and has taken off with this. Her favorites are banana, squash and avocado. Well, those are her favorite fruits and veggies at least. Her ultimate favorite is Cheerios.

It's been fun to see a personality develop in Ava. I must say I am relieved that she has her dad's laid back nature - not much phases her. A few weeks ago we attended daycare conferences and were excited to see how well her teachers really know her. We also learned a few things about her that we wouldn't know from her just being at home with us. For instance her teacher said, "she has a sensitive, small personal bubble." Ha! I guess when other kids get too close to her she sometimes freaks out. We found this interesting and have since witnessed it in action.

As we enter into a new year, I am so excited to continue to watch Ava change and grow. Everyone says that having a child changes your life more than anything else and brings out a love that nothing else can. You really cannot know how true this is until experiencing it. And it is so true.