(Monday, March 29) Wow… I have so much to report. Ava learned how to blow kisses. She blows kisses at just about anything she likes. It’s adorable. She finally found her feet. Well, she knew they were there but finally learned how fun they are to eat! She giggles like crazy when she gets them up to her face and because she’s also pretending everything is a phone, she gets her little foot up to her ear and says, “huh!” I guess she’s copying me and Mike when we say hi on the phone.
It seems like she’s teething on everything. Drooling a ton. I have been awaiting teeth for a long time now and I’m not gonna guess when they’re coming. She’s also been letting go of whatever she has been holding on to a lot. She just stands there for a little bit trying to keep her balance, then it’s, boom, right onto her bum. She kicked the cold she had earlier this month but now she had another one. The bulb sucker is her nemisis. Her little nose is all red from me wiping it, another thing she hates.
Ava went swimming for the second time. This was the first time she really enjoyed it. We were there at the indoor pool for about an hour and she had a blast. We were all exhausted when we got home. No pictures from that excursion but we will have plenty of other pics from swimming this summer, I’m sure.
Aside from all this news, it has been turning spring and there have been a number of beautiful days where Ava and I just sit outside and play in the grass or go for a walk down to the park. We’ve been making new friends too and have a bunch of kids that Ava loves to play with. We’re all looking forward to summer and more beautiful days!
(Friday, March 26) We had a playdate with Ava’s friend Loyal. Ava had so much fun, and a nap surprisingly! After seeing Loyal eat like a big boy we tried it when we got home. Ava sat in her high chair and ate a whole jar of carrots! Then, later, she saw the kitties and let go of the chair she was holding on to and took a step!!!!!!! She’s getting so big! I can’t wait for her to start walking.
Here it is Friday (March 18) and, sure enough, breastfeeding Ava has helped her kick this cold right out! I’m glad I didn’t give her needless antibiotics. We had a bit of an upset this week. I started babysitting for a friend Monday and Ava hated it. Isabel was good and was an easy kid to sit for but man, Ava did not like having another kid around. Especially one that can run away from her and doesn’t give her every toy she wants. It was really hard to make the decision to stop babysitting Isabel. But Ava was crying all day long and throwing tantrums over nothing. I had to make a choice. My baby’s happiness is more important than helping a friend, making a little extra money, or anything else.
I finally knew it was too much when Ava had a breakdown over me closing the lid to a water bottle one night. I closed the lid and she FREAKED! Tears and all! It scared me. I don’t want to have a spoiled brat for a baby. It really made me second guess the parenting I’ve been doing. I mean, I give her what she wants all the time because it really doesn’t affect anything but here we were battling over whether or not I leave the lid to the water bottle open. I let her cry about it until she calmed down then I opened the lid so she could see that calming down gets her what she wants. I hated to let her cry like that but I needed her to learn that it was completely irrational and silly to cry because she didn’t get her way. I refuse for her to be spoiled. I’ve been realizing though through all this that she understands me a lot more than I gave her credit for.
We’re still working on learning new signs and using the old ones correctly. Still making new friends. Amy had her baby last Friday. Annie – she named her. I can’t wait to meet her. Babies are so fun. I’m looking forward to nice weather. It got a little warmer today and I was able to clean out the car while Ava played in the pack-n-play. Warm weather makes me want to get organized and clean and exercise! Come on spring… quit teasing us!
(Wednesday, March 11) I have been a little lax in updating and getting things done this last couple of weeks. I have been nursing a cold for a while now and finally Ava and Mike caught it. Mike and I can handle a bad head cold just fine. Ava, on the other hand, has such a hard time. She got sick on Monday and on Tuesday night she was miserable. She cried really badly every time she started to fall asleep. We ended up having to walk her in her stroller around the block for an hour and a half. Finally we got home and just left her in the stroller. Every half hour after that she woke up crying bad and I had to Shhh her back to sleep and nurse her almost the whole night. The next day we went to the doctor and she said that Ava had inflammation in her right ear. She gave us a script for some Amoxicillin but I hate how doctors overprescribe antibiotics so we haven’t filled it. I don’t think we will have to now that the worst has passed. Her NP, Amy, finally admitted that she thinks they do overprescribe and that even if we did give it to her there’s a chance her eardrum could burst anyway and if it was a virus it would do no good anyway. She didn’t have a fever and didn’t seem like her ear was bothering her at all so I made a mommy decision and I’m gonna let her kick this one on her own.
