T is for Talking and Teeter Tots; T is for Tired

T is for Talking:

It's amazing how much Ava can talk now, and how many words she can say. It was like the whole time she was just observing and absorbing everything we were saying and then one day she woke up and decided she was ready to start talking. She says some of the sweetest things now too, her latest things are "Mommy I miss you" when I have to go to work, and its so sweet because she says it as she put those little arms around my neck and holds on tight. We went out for lunch with my Dad yesterday for his birthday and every couple of minutes Ava would say "Hi Grampa, oh Hi Grampa" and she kept saying it until he'd say "Hi Ava!" it was too cute, and funny. Last night when she was supposed to be going to sleep she was telling me about Super Bunnies, not sure what Super Bunnies are but maybe I'm supposed to write a book or tell her a story about Super Bunnies :)

T is for Teeter Tots:

Tuesdays mornings is time for Teeter Tots! Ava loves Teeter Tots and has so much fun at the gym. It's a great way to get her out and around other little kids and its nice to see some of my favourite Mom friends (Dese) and catch up on what's new. We were running a little behind this morning since Ava didn't wake up until 9:45 when we would normally be running out the door. We did manage to have some fun times in the foam pit though, and Ava watched as a Dad tossed his boys around in the foam pit. She is getting really good with the routine of circle/song time at the end of class and then going to the stroller to get ready to go at the end of the session. It makes for a much happier time for everyone!





T is for Tired:

I'm a tired Mommy today, last night I had a restless sleep and tossed and turned a lot. Ava woke up around 4:30 and cried out a bit, but when I went in to check on her she had rolled over onto her tummy so I just stroked her back a bit and when it was safe went back to bed. I have a long week ahead of me with 4 nights and a full day shift ahead of me so I am anxiously awaiting Halloween so we can have the day off together. We are both burnt out from our jobs taking up so much of our time lately, so our vacation can't get here fast enough!

S is for Silly Sleeper; S is for Seattle

S is for Sweet Sleeper:

Ava said the sweetest thing to me today, she said "I lub you Mama", so sweet to finally hear those words and know that they came from her, not just because Mommy asked her if she could say "I love you."

In other Ava news, she has been attempting to rid herself of naps lately. She goes longer and longer without napping, until she finally gets so tired she falls asleep. Today she didn't nap all day, and she even made it until after dinner to fall asleep. I'm hoping she's asleep for the night, but I have a feeling that she is going to wake up right when we are about to go to sleep. Luckily neither of us has to get up too early in the morning, so if we have a bad night of sleep, or lack there of well then at least we can attempt to sleep in!

S is for Seattle:

I'm so excited, in two weeks we will be on holidays! This will be our first trip to the States with Ava and I'm so looking forward to checking out all the fun stuff Seattle has to offer! We will start our holiday by heading to Qualicum and staying at Mom and Dad's for the night, then driving to Victoria for the weekend. It's my birthday, as well as my sister and her husband' birthdays all between November 7th-11th, so it will be a fun weekend in Victoria celebrating birthdays. This trip we'd love to take Ava to the Museum and maybe to Miniature World as well.

We'll be heading to Seattle on the Monday of our week off but won't be getting in until mid evening as the Clipper only sails to Seattle at 5pm in the winter months. We're hoping to take in an art museum, the zoo, aquarium, Space Needle as well as a few other little places and hopefully get a bit of shopping in there as well! So we have a fun and exciting trip planned, I just hope it doesn't rain the whole time we're there, but if it does we'll be able to drink plenty of Starbucks to keep us warm!

R is for Reading; R is for Reliving My Youth

R is for Reading:

Ava loves books, she always has and I hope always will. We go to the library every few weeks and usually take out about 7 or 8 books, which we then read at least 3 of those until Mommy and Daddy are tired of them, but Ava can't get enough. The ones we'll be taking back that have been read over and over this time are "How to Catch a Giraffe" "Bear in Underwear" and "Hippo Has a Hat". During our trips to the library Ava will usually sit at the kids computer and watch the Cat in the Hat or the Sesame Street games while I pick out some bright and colourful books for us to read. Ava will occasionally pick out a book or two but usually that task is left up to Mommy, it's also quicker ;)

Ava is also becoming really good at reading numbers out loud, if she knows the number she can say it out loud, we've even heard her count past 10! The other day she said "11, 12, 13" and I'm not sure if 2.5 year olds can usually count that high, but we are pretty pleased :)


R is for Reliving My Youth:

One of the best things about being a parent is getting to relive some of the best parts of your childhood, even watching Disney movies! This evening we sat down with a bowl of popcorn and my favourite Disney movie, "Beauty and the Beast." Ava really liked it and thought the Beast was funny more than scary, at the end when Belle and the Prince are dancing, Ava was saying "Not Beast" so cute and so perceptive :)

It really is so fun to get to see things through fresh new eyes, and to get to do some of the things that I used to enjoy all over again.

Another thing I'm getting to relive again is my love of writing, I have something coming up next month that I'm pretty excited about that I will share with you later, but it has something to do with with the word Mom and the word Posse!

Q is for Quickly Growing Up; Q is for Quick trip to the mainland

Q is for Quickly Growing:

Ava will be 2.5 this month. Hard to believe how fast the time has gone since she was born. In the just the past 2 months alone, she has quickly gone from barely saying a word, to pretty much saying everything she can. I'll say something to her and she'll repeat it or point things out to me. We figure she was biding her time and just absorbing all the information she could take until one day she was ready to speak on her own. She is great in places full of people, but when there are only a few people in the room, especially ones she doesn't know very well she gets very shy. When we are out in public and she can people watch without worrying about people watching her she really comes out of her shell.

I am really looking forward to the next couple of months with her. Thanksgiving this weekend, trips to the Pumpkin Patch and Halloween this month, then a trip to Victoria and Seattle next month and of course Christmas in December we will get to see a whole new world through her eyes and her voice. It's really very exciting.

Q is for Quick Trip to the Mainland:

This past weekend we took a quick trip to Horseshoe Bay to finally celebrate my parent's 40th Anniversary all together. The whole family was there, and it was a wonderful day. Ava was a bit surprised to see Grandma when they arrived, but then was super happy to finally have her "Gamma and Ganddad" back :)

It was nice to get off the Island and the weather was a beautiful day for a ferry ride. We had a nice short visit with my brother and his little family. I brought my camera along and was sad that we suddenly ran out of time and I didn't even get any photos at lunch. Ava had a great time on the ferry on the way over and especially on the way back dragging us all over the ship.