Archive for the ‘Monthly Updates’ Category
I picked out the outfit today. Except not really since it was what she wore to daycare anyway. I just added boots and mouse ears.
Despite our ongoing battle as to whether to use flash (J) or not (me) – the pictures turned out much better this time. It was a little earlier in the day so the natural light was better and Ava was having a blast out there.
She posed prettily.
She helped move the props.
Several times.
She spotted a spider.
See the worried look on her face? If I’d been a thinking parent I would have responded calmly when she pointed it out to me. Instead I did a screechy “OMG it’s a spider” and yelled for J to come remove it. This, in turn, caused Ava to completely flip out and to flat refuse to go anywhere near that bush again.
She meandered around a bit…
picking up rocks
and trying to eat them.
Thank goodness she’s easily distracted. Although I sometimes feel like I live with Herve Villechaize (What? Admit it. There’s a slight resemblance with the short stature and dark hair!) due to her ongoing insistence on pointing out every single plane in the sky – it did come in handy by distracting her long enough to keep her from destroying her teeth even before she gets them all (and yes, she is STILL teething).
We had a lot of fun with this photo shoot. Ava was plumb tuckered out by the time we were done – she must have run up and down the road at least 50 times – so we got one last shot and headed home.
It was a nice way to spend an evening with our newly minted 2 1/2 year old!
NaBloPoMo Post Date: 11/5/2009
I think I have to stop with the months soon, don’t I? Up ’til now when people ask me how old Ava is I’ve always answered in months but now that she’s officially hit two and a half it seems a bit odd to continue with that.
J and I couldn’t agree on how we would dress Ava for her monthly birthday photo shoot. He wanted to bust out one of her Halloween costumes whereas I was angling for her Mickey ears. Since he is allllll about Halloween I gave in and let him choose the wardrobe and the location.
But it ended up being a bit of a disaster. The lighting wasn’t right, the camera wasn’t happy, and the kid was terribly uncooperative. She was far more interested in exploring the area (and climbing the trees) than she was in taking pictures. We tried for a while and then just gave up.
Here are some outtakes:
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t think she’s as photogenic (and beautiful) as always. It’s just that nothing quite worked out technically the way I wanted it – mainly because we didn’t get started until dusk so the light was off. On top of that J always wants to shoot with a flash and I never do unless I absolutely have to, so the shots alternated between being overexposed or shadowed with a whole lot of out of focus thrown in for good measure.
I do love this one – despite my seemingly disembodied hand creeping in from out of nowhere to plop the hat on her head once again. (Note to self for next Halloween: Super glue to keep hats and cat ears on so I don’t have to pick them up every 2 seconds.)
And this one is J’s favorite – ’cause he’s creepy like that about Halloween. I do love the look of the trees and sky in the background but I hate the unflattering glare caused by the flash.
NaBloPoMo Post Date: 11/4/2009
We think she’s going to be either a librarian or a navigator when she grows up.
Librarian: She likes nothing better than to be read to or to grab a book (or 6) and sit down to ‘read’ with me. I usually have a book with me at all times so she constantly sees me reading – if not a book then the newspaper or the junk mail or the cereal box or whatever happens to be handy. (OT: I think this is as important as us reading to her since she sees that it’s something we ourselves do all the time.) In addition to reading her books she likes nothing better than un-shelving and (sometimes reluctantly) re-shelving them all.She has a LOT of books so this particularly activity can be quite time consuming sometimes.
While she loves all books she does have her favorites. One of which is…well, I won’t tell you, I’ll just show you. Parents of small children will recognize this book immediately, I’m sure.
We read this book a lot. So much, in fact, that she has it down pat and can pretty much recite the book from memory. As can I, which is helpful when she wants me to read it to her and I’m tied up with something else. Since it’s embedded in my brain for all eternity I can regurgitate it with absolutely no thought or effort while she turns the pages accordingly.
She insisted on reading it to me instead of fully participating in our monthly birthday photo shoot.
If I were more technically savvy or had the time to figure it out then I’d also let you hear an audio clip. It’s so freakin’ cute hearing her do this I’ve recorded it on my phone as a voice memo about 300 times. Maybe someday…
Navigator? Well, since she’s only now mostly forward facing in the carseat she’s suddenly decided that she can tell us which way to drive. It can be equally annoying and amusing. Amusing because you can turn it into a “Who’s on first” style skit if so inclined and annoying because she can get really, really mad if she thinks you didn’t go the right way. Since her directional skills seem to be exactly like her father’s (nonexistent) I hope someone makes a toddler GPS unit soon.
The growing ability to negotiate and reason is killing me (in a good way). I love seeing her little brain figure things out and it’s also nice to be able to finally be able to use if/then as a disciplinary tool. Although honestly, she requires very little discipline so far. An occasional trip to the corner generally does it – although there did seem to be a few more than normal this month due to her desire to fling dishes from the table. No biggie as the dogs are great at cleaning it up but it’s a behavior we’re trying to nip in the bud now.
Her feet are finally growing although she’s only just made it to a size 6 toddler shoe now. We’ve virtually worn out the 5′s since she’s been in them so long. I have a million pair of shoes for her that I’d bought (usually on sale) in anticipation of her feet growing as quickly as everyone said they would (they didn’t). She’s also starting to wear some 24 month and 2T clothes (shirts and dresses only). Pants are going to be a problem this year, I think. Time to break out the sewing machine. And to find someone to teach me how to use it.
She sings all the time. I mostly love this but I’m finding not everyone does. She nearly frightened a Tar.get checkout girl half to death when she burst into a rousing (and extremely loud) rendition of Baa, Baa Black Sheep while we were in line recently. I’m going to assume by the look we got from said checkout girl that she does not yet have children. No matter, I refuse to stifle Ava’s singing if there’s no need to – although we are diligently working on volume control. Not easy to teach them that, is it?
She’s also going to be great in a mosh pit. Her preferred method of dancing seems to be bouncing up and down in one place and occasionally slinging herself from side to side so she’s getting lots of practice in now. She clearly takes after me. J and I only rarely go to concerts together mainly because he wants to observe from the sidelines and I want to be in the middle of it all. Can’t wait to get her into a real dance class – only a few months to go before she can officially start ballet! And then, when she’s a little older (like 20) I’ll finally be able to go to concerts again. Just in time for a broken hip, probably.
After much begging and pleading Ava did consent to one (very cheesy and fake) smile while sitting on her chair.
So far, still loving the twos. We are having the time of our lives with this kid. She’s nothing short of miraculous and we are grateful every single day that she is ours