Little Lins!

Do DoDo Doooo! Our little one is now 22 months old!!

And where was Ava when she was turning exactly 22 months old? Sleeping on her mat on the ground with a bunch of other kids. But at pick-up time she was wide awake, chattering, and eating a graham cracker.

This past weekend we made a trip up north to visit Eric for his birthday. Before we hit the road for the long long drive, we stopped in Santa Barbara for dinner at our favorite restaurant, Pascucci. Yumm. While we were enjoying dinner on the patio, a No to H8 rally passed by us several times. Ava didn’t know what to think. Mass amounts of people. Signs. Candles. Chanting. I was proud that Ava got to witness her first rally. It took all I had not to leave my dinner behind and have us join the rally. I’m so thankful we live in a country where people can speak their minds freely. I only wish we were all treated the same.

We took Ava to the water fountains so she could make a wish or two or three. Hopefully for a better future… and not for more Dora crap.

As soon as I got out of the car after our long drive, I was sick. Sore throat. Body aches. Blah. So my pictures from the weekend suck. Big time. On Saturday we took a walk and quacked at geese… and showed them our bellies.

On Sunday, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Ava got to put on a smock and play with plastic fishes in the water…

… and see penguins for the first time too. Told you my pictures are crap. Damn this cold!

The birthday boy and Ava got to pretend they were whales and dolphins too.

Ava pet her first starfish at the Long Beach Aquarium a few months back and she still talks about that moment. Glad she got to do it again.

This week Ava has started to hold our hands everywhere we go. It is so cute. I love it.

She is also getting really funny. Here she is reading a book and telling us that this is ‘Nona Elmo’. HAHAHAHAH! Elmo DOES have Nona hair in this picture. HAHAHAHAH!

She knows she’s funny too.

Ava also has started counting a lot more. She counted up to 9 in English all by herself the other day while stepping on stones during a walk.

During some of our walks, Ava sometimes asks to be held for a good portion of the walk. It is too much for me to carry her upright. She’s over 30 pounds by now. My poor back. So one day I told her I was going to hold her like a baby and she thought it the best thing ever. Now she specially asks for it and I sing her a baby song that I used to sing to her and she closes her eyes and pretends to sleep. Baby Ava returns… all because I have no muscles.

Hey. It’s time to come down memory lane. Remember the teddy bear that Deets bought Ava when she was just a couple days old? The one that made her smile like a drunken sailor in this picture? The one we call Medo?

Well at night, Ava has started to sleep with her Medo. She tucks it under her right arm and then tucks her loyal prairie doggy under her left arm. Every night. For the past week. And a few nights ago, Ava woke up at 3am and screamed DEETS! DEETS! DEETS! several times and then passed out again. Coincidence? I think not.

Ava is obsessed with Little Red Riding Hood this week. Totally obsessed. But at least she isn’t scared of the wolf anymore. And she actually doesn’t say Little Red Riding Hood. She says it in Croatian which is Crvencapica. And she totally says the word like a pro. Ava got this soft book from Dan’s old kindergarten teacher and she loves making Little Red Riding Hood walk through the forest.

And then she kisses all the finger puppets too.

Her obsession continues at school when she insisted on wearing her red jacket just like Little Red Riding Hood… and the hood MUST be up on her head or else. She has been saying Crvencapica all week to her teachers but they had no idea what she was saying. I translated it for her new teachers so they are all on the same page with Ava now.

And speaking of school, Ava is adjusting well to her new classroom. The daycare director says she is doing well keeping up with the big kids but is still a little small for the bigger kid playground so we might notice some bumps on her legs during the learning curve. Here she is with her classmates Max and Nathan. Max kept pointing to the mess Ava was making with her cookies and saying ‘What happened?’. Hehe.

Our week hasn’t been all fun and games.

Ava’s second back molar came in…

… and she got the case of ‘the goopy and swollen eyes’.

Okay, you have a wonderful weekend. Yes, you. Bye!

Our Ava wakes up in the morning and asks for Ava R. But she has a hard time saying R so she says Eye instead. Ava Eye? Ava Eye? Yes Ava, today is a school day and you will see Ava Eye when you visit the Toddler classroom.

Ava’s love for Ava Eye is not a one-way street. Ava Eye loves our Ava too.

Honk honk.

Hug hug.

Hello there. My little lollipop is now 94 weeks old and hopefully cavity free!

Last Friday was Halloween (duh). Her daycare throws a parade each year and this year was no different. We surprised Ava by showing up for the parade dressed up as a mouse and a pirate. As you can tell, she was pretty impressed (not).

She was way more impressed with the Mickey Mouse and the princesses and the bunny rabbit in her classroom.

So much so that she decided to do her special butt dance for everyone.

Back at home, Ava had big plans to go trick or treating for the very first time ever. Grace and baby Cole came over to join in the festivities. This was our first attempt at getting all three of them in a picture together. I have a feeling that next year’s picture will be much better.

Grace and Ava could hardly contain themselves. CANDY CANDY CANDY!!!

Once we were outside of the house and ready to hit up the neighbors for free candy, I totally forgot that I didn’t prep Ava on how to take candy out of her bowl and put it into her pumpkin. She only knew how to say ‘knock knock trick or treat’ thanks to Nee-cole. Oh damn. Maybe Grace would show her the way. So, the girls knocked on the first door and when the door opened, they stood still and did not let out a peep. Not one trick. Not one treat. So, I told Ava to take one piece of candy and put it in the pumpkin. And what did she do? Ava grabbed the candy and put it into Grace’s pumpkin. Hehe. I guess I should of specified that the candy goes into HER pumpkin. It was too cute. My frozen chicken.

After a few houses, Ava got the hang of it.

And then she was all smiles.

Yeah. Free candy!

Ava did so well during her first trick or treat experience. She even went into the scary guy’s house with no problems!

Afterward, she did what all true trick or treaters do… count the candy! All week Ava kept asking for lollipops but instead of saying lollipops, she kept saying popsicles. Hehe.

After a long day of Halloween activities, we packed up the van and the Airstream and hit the road for our first road trip. Yippee. I will do a separate post for our Lake Isabella camping trip next week for all of you… but here are a few highlights.

Our first road trip was also our first road trip in the pouring rain. Ava did not mind one bit… because she had her brand new rain boots on. She was just fine with walking through the puddles of the campgrounds.

She was just fine JUST WALKING until I had a bright (aka stupid) idea to show her how to splash. Big mistake. Let’s just say that I should of packed more clothes.

We also hit up a place called Silver City Ghost Town which was quite an adventure. I will do a separate post on this visit too so you can hear all about how Ava looked for ghosts.

On Tuesday, you will never guess what happened???????

Dan got to vote for the very first time ever! Welcome to America DADA!! He even wore the shirt Deets bought for him the second he became a US citizen. Since I was a pro at the whole voting thing, I finished pretty quickly and went to get my sticker. The sticker passer-outer was kind enough to give Ava one too for her shirt. After she got one and saw that I got one, she stood there and screamed ‘Dada Sticker!’ to the sticker guy over and over again. It was hilarious. I told Ava that Dada was taking his sweet ass time voting and he would get one too once he was done. She was okay with that.

At school, she has been transitioning from the Twaddler Room to the Toddler Room quite well. I can’t wait for when it is official for a couple of reasons. The kids there talk so much more and sing too… and I have already seen it rub off on Ava. This week she started to sing ‘White dog, white dog, what do you see?’ from her Brown Bear book. It is so cute. And the Itsy Bitsy Spider song too. And Ava is talking non-stop. If she didn’t have such a cute voice, I would of have told her to be quiet. And the other reason that I can’t wait for the official transition is… I will pay less. YIPPEE!!!

Even though Halloween is long gone, Ava still insists on wearing her costume every day. She loves that thing. She even wants to wear her ballerina skirt with it sometimes. Here she is trying to slide down the roof of the barn like she makes her animals do. Weee.

I FINALLY got rid of my stuffy nose and sore throat this week so we got to visit Matheus and his new baby brother Gabriel last night. Ava and Matheus rode their cars in front of big screen TV and watched a silly Brazilian DVD together. It looked like their first date at the drive-in.

During our weekly Target trip a few days ago, we bought Ava a Dora Potty Seat. She loves it a little too much. She cries when she leaves it in the bathroom. But she is slowly get the hang of it and its purpose… and that it belongs in the bathroom and not in her toy box. You must be wondering why we bought her this thing in the first place since she already has a small potty that sits on the ground. Well, last year Ava took her very first steps on Halloween Day (just like I did when I was a kid). And this year? Look below if you are brave enough to find out!!!!!!!!!

And this year? Ava took her first dump! HAHAHA! And what was the first thing that came out of her mouth when she saw a HUGE log into her potty?? DOG POOP (aka pas kaka)! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously died laughing. Everytime she sees poop during our daily walks, she points and identifies dog poop on people’s lawns. So when she saw her own for the first time, she said dog poop. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! Oh man, it’s been a week and it still brings a smile to my face. Having a kid is awesome! So how’s that for a send-off for the weekend? PAS KAKA!!!!!!!!!!

Hi there. Our little pizza monster is now 93 weeks old!

At daycare, they have a play room called the village where the kids can go nuts with cars, ball pits, slides, fake stores and even a mailbox. Ava loves it in there as all the kids do…

… until someone screams mine and the fun is over. Ava was upset that someone tried to steal ‘her’ car while she was in the ball pit.

And trying to explain to her that village time is over and it’s time to go home is no easy task, my friend.

On Saturday, we were down in LA again because our Airstream was ready. For real this time. Finally! Here is Deets surprising Ava through the screen door.

And just when she thought the day couldn’t get any better, Dora showed up. Ava is obsessed with this Dora doll. And when Ava comes to our bed in the morning to drink her milk, she makes sure that Dora is tucked under the blankets too… up to her chiny chin chin.

Our first Airstream guests not only brought a Dora doll but a bottle of Happy Camper wine too. Thanks you two! You guys are making this thing feel like home.

Over the weekend Ava learned how to blow this…ummm… I just drew a blank. Horn thing? Birthday blowers? What the hell are they called? Beuller?

Once again, it was cookie time with Nona. Ava loves decorating with sprinkles. I totally forgot that David’s nickname for Ava when she was younger was Sprinkles until Carrie mentioned it to me. How fitting!

If you don’t pay really close attention, one cookie can get A LOT of sprinkles. I hope someone likes crunchy cookies because it’s Ava specialty.

For the past couple weeks, Ava has begun climbing new things in the house. One day she just ended up on one of our dining room chairs all by herself. And whenever the tray of her highchair is in the sink to be washed, Ava darts for the highchair and tries to climb it like a monkey.

On Sunday we were back home with the Airstream. Doesn’t she look pretty? Grace and the gang came over so we could… you guessed it… make cookies. It’s obviously Ava’s new thing. She loves it.

But this time she got to decorate with frosting. Ava would not let me help her with the frosting because her methods were much better than mine. She didn’t need no stinkin’ spatula. She spread the frosting with her fingers, dipped her frosted fingers in sprinkles and then tried to put it on the cookies.

When that method didn’t work, she ate the frosting and sprinkles off of her fingers and started over.

For some reason, I don’t think she minds.

And viola! Here are her masterpiece cookies. Ava’s are the two on the top right.

And later in the week when she got to enjoy one of her creations, what did she eat? Just the frosting and sprinkles. No cookie for her.

At daycare, Ava is starting to visit the older kids room where her other friends, Ava R and Max, reside. She’s doing okay there and even took a nap there with her old pals. But back in her current room, she has made friends with Riley.

And I have a feeling that she doesn’t mind splitting her time between both classrooms since she has good friends in both.

Ava is growing so quick. Some of the 2T clothes she has are too small. Ahhh. And her socks? Way too small. So it was off to Old Navy for new socks. She fell in love with these plastic bracelets and a silver frilly skirt that she called ‘ballerina’. She kept asking me ‘kupiti?’ which means ‘to buy?’. Oh great. So I caved in and bought her one of the items. Just one. I had her choose and she chose the ballerina skirt.

In the mornings, Ava is still insisting on bringing one of her possessions with her to school. I couldn’t get Ava to leave Dora at home the other day. She kept repeating ‘Dora walk?’. Okay. Dora walk.

And then it progressed to ‘Dora trailer?’ No Ava. In a couple more days. Today is a school day.

And when I asked if Dora could wait in the car until after school, she said ‘Dora walk’.

As soon as she and Dora walked into her room, she squeezed Dora tightly and screamed mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! What a show off! Later that day I got a call from the school that Ava fell and got a bloody nose and a welt on her forehead. Oh oh. Did one of her ‘friends’ pay her back for the mine comments early that day? No, she ran too fast in the hallway and did a graceful face plant. Ouchie!

Last night we made a trip to the dreaded Wal-mart, instead to our beloved Target. I hate that place. It is sooo crowded there all the time. It drives me batty. Anyways, Ava was riding in the grocery cart wearing a cute top, polka stockings and hot pink jean skirt. The jean skirt eventually rides up under her shirt and all that is left is her stockings. After a couple minutes of looking for Dora merchandise, Ava looks down at her legs and says ‘Oh oh. Ava nema gaće!’ which translates to her yelling ‘Oh oh. Ava has no pants on!’. I died laughing. After that we went to Rubio’s and instead of eating just beans, she ate a taco too. It was miracle. I asked them to put the chipotle sauce on the side since I didn’t know if would be too spicy for her. Ava didn’t like that one bit.

More chipotle. More more more.

Alright, it’s time to rest up. We got some trick or treating to do tonight. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hi there. Ava is now 90 weeks old… which means that this is her 90th weekly round-up post. Crazy, huh?

So, guess who finally got his casts removed?!?! DAN! He still has to be VERY careful with his not 100% healed arms but at least he can now take showers like a big boy. Here is an x-ray of his left thumb. See the pins. Yeah, they have been in his thumb under the cast since the surgery. It’s pretty gross. If you are super brave and want to see a disgusting picture of the pins in his actual thumb, click on ‘oh gross!!’. Don’t tell me that I didn’t warn you!

Ava got a kick out of pretending to have a ‘Dada cast’ on her arm too. But after a couple minutes, she freaked out and wanted it off NOW.

Over the weekend we went shopping for Airstreams… and we bought one. YEAH! We will be starting a new blog very soon to detail our upcoming road trips with it. It will be a little less Ava centric and more focused on the idea of traveling as a family and the steps we took to get there. We’ll keep you posted. So, I bet you are wondering why Ava is crouching in between two massive Airstreams with a funny look on her face? Ummm, she was FINALLY taking a dump. A massive dump. It was four long days of waiting for her to drop the kids off at the pool and she finally did at the dealership. Great timing Ava!

Since the dealership was down in Orange County, we got to visit with some of our closest friends. Ava got to chance to visit Mikey at his fancy smancy store. I must have still been traumatized by Ava’s massive dook that I forget to have her take a picture with him… so his store front sign will have to do.

We spent a couple nights at Nicole’s place. Ava loves visiting because there are always toys around from her nephews and blankets to play tent with too.

Oh, and she has lots of books too and loves reading with her. But Ava’s favorite part was when Nicole taught her to say ‘knock knock. trick or treat’ while they were playing together at the Airstream dealership. Whenever I ask Ava to say it, she does and then immediately after says ‘Neee-Cole’.

Ava’s Grandpa was also in town from overseas so we spent Sunday with him and his family. We got a chance to go to a pumpkin patch together.

Ava was a bit scared when we got there. First she was scared of the scarecrows…

… and then she was scared of a dead stuffed chicken with no eyes. But who can blame her. That thing scared the sh*t out of me too!

When I asked her to sit on the pumpkins and say cheese, she obliged… but there were too many scary things lurking around for her to give it her all.

Things started to turn around once she noticed the two-story teepee. She had the biggest smile on her face when she discovered it.

We also shelled out five bucks for a pony ride which ended up being the shortest pony ride in history. She only got to go around 4 times. What kind of pony ride is that people? And there was NO ONE in line behind us! I’m still pissed off. Can you tell?

But for a discounted price of 2 dollars, we got to jump around in a dragon bounce house for as long as we wanted.

Ava also got to show off her toys to Didi and Iceberg. Iceberg was much bigger than the last time we saw him but still kitten-like. He enjoyed scaring Ava by tackling her to the ground and tugging on her tights. Ava spent a lot of time saying Yoda (instead of Iceberg) and Rudy (instead of Didi).

Ava also learned how to say ‘go lakers’ when she had the big foam hand on her little non-foam hand.

Back home at our mall, I finally got a smiling picture of Ava on the duck. I didn’t even have to put money in the merry go round. Dan just had to run in circles to get her to smile.

Daycare is still going well. Ava is now the oldest kid in her class. Her friend Riley has a problem with taking off her shoes. It’s a little hard to see in this picture but a few days ago we found her outside with her shoes taped shut. Good luck taking your shoes off now! hehe.

The cool thing about daycare is that Ava will say unexpected things to us that make us giggle. When we walked into her daycare room to get her stuff, the radio was on and she looked at me and said ‘Mama dance!’. How cute is that.

And during one of our walks, she took off running and started screaming ‘Run. Run. Go Ava. Go.’. I can only imagine the fun she had at school on that day.

Last week, Ava was great at pointing out dog droppings on our walks. This week, she loves pointing out the moon, which has been out during the day all week. Why is that? Having the moon out during the day is sure throwing a kink in my ‘sun in the day’ and ‘moon at night’ lesson of the week.

Here is Ava doing some fake crying once she heard a baby crying in one of our neighbor’s houses.

And here is some real crying pictures. Like when she insists on shutting the front door and ignores the fact that I am holding it open because it is a million degrees in the house.

Or when she wants to go outside and I say that I am only outside to take her picture really quick.

WAAAAAAAH!

Alright. Guitar hero time. See ya!

Hi. I’m Ava and this kid to your left is Max.

He makes a pretty good bodyguard.

His bodyguarding techniques are seriously terrifying. Right?

I know. I know. He OBVIOUSLY has a crush on me… but I’m not falling it. Dada said no boys until I’m 45 and a half.

Hi there. Ava is now 88 weeks old.

Clap clap clap.

Early in the week, Ava had some issues sleeping. She woke up screaming her head off, as if she just had a nightmare or something. So I brought her in bed with us, where she tossed and turned for a good 3 hours. Here she is in the morning, sleeping with her Dada. We had her sleeping in her pack ‘n play in our room for a few weeks now. She needs to sleep with all the windows open to help settle her nighttime coughing bouts. By the end of the week, her coughing was under control and she was back in her own room.

This is Ava’s signature hair do at school. It’s the only way I can keep her bangs out of her face. And forget about using hair clips. They are long gone by the time we pick her up from school. And speaking of pick-up time, Ava always asks for ‘agua’ when she sees us so we have to remember to bring her sippy cup with us. And if we don’t, we get a million agua questions on the car ride home and that’s fun for no one. Trust me.

Ava started to get attached to her sunglasses this week. She had to wear them coming into daycare and leaving daycare. In the mornings before I leave, I ask her if she wants me to put them in my purse so she won’t lose them and she mostly says yes. But sometimes she wants to wear them all day, even at breakfast time. Everyone makes comments when they see Ava walking down the daycare halls with her shades… ‘oh how cute’… ‘oh my kid won’t wear sunglasses’… ‘look who’s cool’.

Most of Ava’s older friends moved up to the next classroom, including her best friend Ava R. We found her this week at the fence, screaming for Ava R. In a couple more months, Ava will be moved to the older classroom too. But for now, she gets to enjoy being the oldest kid in her classroom.

One of the bad things about daycare is that the kids have to fight over toys, especially since they don’t get the concept of sharing yet. Imagine one doll and 8 kids. Sounds like a headache. And even though Ava is now the oldest in her classroom, she still needs to claim her territory there by saying ‘mine’. Her use of the word ‘mine’ and ‘my’ is at an all time high for her. When we drive up to the house, Ava yells ‘my kuča’ which means ‘my house’ from the back seat. She even says it to Yoda if Yoda gets too close to her toys. That’s the one word Dan and I made sure we did not teach her at home… which is shooting us in the foot now. Maybe we should of taught her how to say ‘mine’ in Croatian so people wouldn’t understand her… and we wouldn’t be so embarrassed when she yells ‘mine’ in public. Mine!

And she is still slapping us. She even whacked Dan unexpectedly with her sippy cup… in his face…ouch. It wasn’t pretty. Ava started to say sorry on her own after her incidents but it hasn’t stopped her from doing it again. So, we are trying a new technique. We are asking her to tickle us instead of hitting us after the first incident. It’s working okay so far. Just okay. So, if you have any suggestions for us, please add a comment at the end of this post. Please.

Ava’s starting to get more and more concepts these days. What? Babies learn. Oh yes they do. Here she is telling us that there is a mouse in the tunnel or ‘miš tunnel’ as she would say it.

She also started insisting that she take off her shoes at the front door, as her Mama and Dada do, before entering the house.

She started to cover her eyes with her hand when the sun hits her face… which is very helpful in the car when I drive her to school. This time of year, the sun is rising as we drive to daycare and it hits her right in the eye. She used to scream ‘ohoh Ava’ from the backseat and I tried to create a shadow on her face with my arm. Not safe driving, I know, but she says ‘ohoh Ava’. What I am to do? So now I ask her to cover her eyes and the ohoh Ava’s stop.

She also figured out how to balance items on her upper lip by pretending to smell lemons. She loves to balance her bubble wand in the bath tub and give herself a play-doh mustache.

One of Ava’s funny new words of the week is ‘Super Buddy’. At first, she started to scream superman and she ran through the house with her arms behind her. Yes, I said behind her. It’s waaaaay more fun than putting your arms in front of you like the real superman. Try it. You’ll see. Anyways, superman somehow morphed into super buddy and it stuck. Hmmm. I just got an idea for the perfect next homemade toy idea. Make a homemade cape with a picture of Uncle Buddy on it. Heehee. I’m a frickin genius!

This blog post is long. I would recommend that you do some eye exercises for 10 seconds and then resume reading. I can’t afford any lawsuits right now. Or ever.

Ava started reading a little bit to her favorite toy of the week, her medo bear. She told him to sit down and made sure to introduce him to Dora. And then after a couple minutes, she looked at him, pulled her book away and screamed ‘mine’. Oh geez mareez.

We have a Curious George book that is all about opposites. Ava thinks it’s silly. Especially when he goes UP the wall and DOWN the wall. Hilarious, huh? So, our lesson of the week is teaching her happy and sad. Here is her happy face…

… and here is her sad face.

But one of the milestones Ava is supposed to reach soon is zipping up zippers. Zipping it over her belly I suspect is going to slow down this milestone a bit. I even have trouble sometimes. I think we need to start buying 3T. But at least she started calling zippers ‘zippers’ instead of ‘buckles’.

At the mall, Ava spotted the merry-go-round from a mile away so we put her on the duck, per her request. And as expected, she was so serious the entire time. Dan was determined to make her smile. He ran and ran in circles dancing and making silly faces and she finally smiled. Good job Dan! Not only did Ava smile, so did the ENTIRE FRICKIN mall.

After the merry-go-round, Ava went into the mall playground. This is the second time for Ava to play in these types of things. The first time, she was too small and every other time we see one of these, I turn into a germaphobe. She gets sick way too much thanks to daycare, she doesn’t need more germs, thank you. But I must of been still bright red from the crowds forming around us to watch Dan dance around the merry-go-round, that I caved in and let her loose. Things were going fine until other kids showed up and Ava yelled ‘my slide’ and ‘my boat’ over and over again.

Over the weekend, Ava and I had a wonderful girls lunch breakfast with our friend Brenda. Our waiter was nice enough to take our picture but wouldn’t do so until he cleaned up the table first.

And of course, no weekend is complete without some princess time. Here are Grace and Ava riding horses through the house. We didn’t have the heart to tell Ava that she was actually riding a bunny rabbit.

As soon as they see a blanket or a tent, they hide and scream for the Dada Monster to come get them.

Silly girls.

Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting!