Guess what Mama and Dada bought me?
A DORA CHAIR!
Now I don’t have to sit on their safe anymore.
They told me that chairs are for sitting only and not for standing.
I found out the hard way. Can someone wipe my tears please?
And if you come over to visit, don’t even think of sitting in MY chair.
I love you Dora.
Story’s over. Someone grab me a cold beer sippy cup please.
Mama? Why am I not sitting on your lap?
Weeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH…
…MY…
…GOODNESS!
Again! Again!…
Lately Ava has been learning and understanding more and more words, animal sounds and objects almost every day. Her mama is teaching her Croatian and English at home and she gets more English as well as some Spanish at day care. We added a new page to the side that we will try to update her progress as she goes. Here is a little video compilation of some of the things she’s doing.
Our little Ava is now 63 weeks old.
She spent the beginning of her 63rd week in San Felipe examining keys…
…sunglasses…
…and making sure no grains of sand hitched a free ride on her hands.
Ava also got to play in the kiddie pool with her friends.
Sure hope it warms up soon so we can set it up back at home.
When Sunday rolled around, we packed up all of belongings, as well as some freshly made tortillas, and made a run for the border. Ava got a little antsy at the border due to our 2 hour long wait. So as soon as we made it a few feet into the US of A, we got out and ran in the wind. Weeeeeee.
Back at home, Ava was not interested in her toys as she was before our trip. I think she missed playing with the boys. She also refused to drink her normal amount of milk.
But she did enjoy playing her Dada’s tool set on our front lawn.
Ava is now tall enough to grab things off the edge of our dining room table, so we have to make sure she can’t get to anything that will bop her on top of her melon. But, it does come in handy when she can grab a sippy cup all by herself without the help of others. A great confidence booster for her, I think.
Soooo… Ava’s new obsession is her belly button. It all started when I decided that was the new body part we will learn by name this week. As soon as her onesie is off, her hand is in there. She so obsessed that you have to lift your shirt up so she can see yours too.
And when we asked her what she thought of her new rash guard that protects her tan arms, she thought it was a perfect belly button touching outfit.
Ummm, I’m not exaggerating one bit. I wonder if they offer counseling for this at daycare.
We have this beautiful wisteria plant in our backyard. It has branches that intertwine our arbor. The leaves that drop from it every fall is a huge pain in the you know what, but the flowers that appear for a couple weeks at the start of spring make the whole ordeal worth it. Last year I tried to take a picture of Ava next it for her Easter picture but it was too bright outside and she couldn’t open her eyes. This year was no different.
Here is my best shot of her and the wisteria. Can you tell she just woke up from her nap? Hmmm, I guess I will try again next year.
On Wednesday, we had our company bowling night at an alley down the street. This place was confusing for Ava to say the least. First of all, she tried to pick up two bowling balls at once and could not lift them for some strange reason. Then, she saw one on the floor and tried to kick it. Ouch. And then she saw bowling pins fall over and had to say oh-oh each time. But when someone got a strike, the tide turned as she got to clap like a superstar… something finally normal.
And to add to her list of bowling alley confusion, Ava kept grunting for the stuffed animals behind the wall of glass. Why Mama, why?
Did you think Ava no longer goes on buggy rides at school because she is in the toddler room now? Well, she does. Here she is driving the buggy and steering with the invisible wheel. The boy next to her is a friend from the baby room. And so is the girl behind him, the other Ava. When Dan picked Ava up this week and asked our Ava for a hug, he stood there with open arms and she ran in the opposite direction. As he called for her, the other Ava stretched out her arms, ran to Dan and gave him a hug instead. hehe. Oh, and the other older girl in the buggy, we caught her dancing one day at pick up. She was pretending that she was holding a microphone with one hand while the other hand was pointing to the crowd. Hehe. And we thought our Ava liked to dance.
Wondering what Ava is doing in the bathroom with her toothbrush?
Waiting for Dada to put water on it so she can brush her teeth with him in the morning.
Ignore the bed head please.
No new words this week but it sounds like Ava is close to saying bird in Croatian. As she gets more comfortable with speaking, her words are getting louder. Here she is meowing at the neighbor’s cat.
Alright, time for a hug. See you next week!
Hello. I’m Ava and this is my first trip to San Felipe.
Here is my first step on Mexican soil. And that’s Briar. He made the drive down with us and Nicole. We are both lucky enough to have Nicole as our godmother.
As soon as we got unpacked, we hit the beach. The sand bothered me at first but I somehow forgot all about it when I saw these cool buckets and shovels.
Here I am in the Sea of Cortez. The water was sorta warm but I still preferred having my feet on dry land.
Briar was so fun to hang out with in Mexico. He stacked blocks so I could knock them down.
I shared all my toys with him.
I even shared my favorite toy, my Dada. I screamed Dada a lot during this trip and my Mama corrected me when I used it at the wrong times. By the end of the trip, Briar started correcting me too. Silly Briar. Dada!!
When the sun went down, we did a lot of jumping on bed… just like in the 5 Silly Monkeys book that we love to read together.
In the mornings, I woke up really really early. Who sleeps in during vacation? Not me! So every morning, Mama and I would watch the sunrise together while everyone else was snoozing. She tried to teach me a few Spanish words but I said no habla espanol.
I might of not learned any Spanish, but Briar sure learned his first Croatian word. He told me to nani all the time and I did. He thought I was very silly but his Transformers blanket was too soft to resist.
On the second day of our vacation, Briar’s brother, Eli, showed up with his mommy, grandpa and uncle. Here we are playing in the beach tent.
Right after breakfast, we walked on the sand islands that magically appeared every morning at low tide.
I had fun watching them dig sand.
Not sure why they enjoy having sand all over their hands. I’m still trying to get used sand between my toes. Aye caramba.
We did venture into town for some fish tacos and cold beers. Well not me, I had cheerios and room temperature water. Close enough, right?
Here I am jumping some more with Briar.
And then all of the sudden, he busted the robot. How cool is that?!
So to one up him, I danced in circles later that evening at someone’s birthday party. Boy, did I tear it up.
I thought I was the new dance champion until Eli started dancing with glow sticks. Boy is he gooood.
There were a lot of dogs at the camp but my favorite was Osa. She was very protective of all the kids. One morning while watching the sunrise with Osa, a couple dogs ran into our gated camp and she barked so loud at them. Once the dogs walked away from us, she stood in the middle of my Mama’s legs and waited for the other dogs to disappear. What a good doggy.
Thanks Osa.
That was very nice of you.
Here I am during my first Easter egg hunt. I found a blue egg but Eli put it in his basket. That’s ok. I prefer my eggs scrambled.
Here we are hanging out at beach. Dada and Briar went on the paddle board together while Eli splashed a lot in the water. And me? I got black arms. Who knew what I would tan so quickly with SPF 30?
I was so glad to have friends to play with will in San Felipe…
…even though these boys like to play little rough.
I was scared at first…
… but sure liked it when Briar told me nani nani.
Thanks for playing with me. 
And thanks to the Delgados. We had a blast…
…and here is the video to prove it.