It’s Worth Getting Excited About

I’ve talked before about how seeing the world through my child’s eyes is one of the most wonderful things about parenting. Everything is new and everything is appreciated by her eyes. Mike has been working alot. And by alot, I mean we saw him twice in 10 days. It’s hard doing the single parent thing. I don’t know how people do it. It is alot of work and it really makes me appreciate how much Mike does around the house on a daily basis.

One night last week, nearing 9 days of parenting alone, Ava and I were in the car driving home from school and she was really quiet. She’s usually not that quiet. I was enjoying the peace and all of a sudden she screams (really screams) and says, “OH MY GOSH MOM!” I literally jumped and I say, “What, Ava?” And she says, “THE SKY IS PINK!!!!!”

You see, it was a particularly beautiful sunset that evening with bright pink clouds everywhere. She reminds me so often to stop and look around. She reminds me that in this world of hustle and bustle there is beauty everywhere if only I free my mind of my to do list and open my eyes to what’s in front of me. I often wonder what she thinks about. When she’s quiet I especially wonder…I don’t always ask because I realize she may just be taking in the beauty of her surroundings and enjoying her peace. But it’s so nice to see her get so excited over a pink sky.

What Will She Think of Next?

So last night Mike tells Ava she can’t come in our bed anymore in the middle of the night…anyone else saying, “Yea right!!!” If so, you’re not alone. I swear…she’s so smart. Last night I hear her start crying. Next I hear her door open, the little feet running down the hall, our door flies open and she’s just crying her little head off. I ask her, “Baby, what’s wrong?” She tells me in between sobs, “I lost one of my socks, it came off my foot and now my foot is cold.” We can’t have a cold foot, can we? No, of course not…I pull her up into bed and sure enough she lost a sock but her foot is NOT cold. She sleeps with a queen size down comforter on her toddler bed…there is NO WAY her foot would’ve gotten cold. And before everyone gets all judgy mcjudgerson my butt, I have to say there is nothing better than her snuggling up next to me and I know my days are limited with that. So for now, I’m going to let it slide…I’m not going to worry about what people might think because if they’d like to walk a mile in my shoes, I’ll happily lend them the sneakers I wore for the mud run. Judge me then suckers!

An Ava Update

Ava continues to make us fall even more in love with her every day. She is an extremely charming little girl and so very smart. I have an perfect example to prove my previous statement:

She has begun hitting. I know…fun times. So the other day, I pick her up to change her diaper since she told me she went “poo-poo.” Well, I pick her up and she didn’t want to get her diaper changed…she wanted to continue playing. So she halls off and smacks me in the face. I grab her hand and firmly say, “No, no Ava. You don’t hit. That’s not nice.” Do you want to know what she does? She smiles at me, says “awwww” and gives me a hug. That’s smart. She already knows how to get out of trouble and she’s not even 14 months old. So if and when I get pulled over by a cop, I’m hoping I have her with me to get me out of the ticket. She’s good…really good.

She has two favorite games. The first one is where she hides under the blanket and then jumps out and says “Boo!” Pretty typical for her age, but the funniest part is that her hair is FINALLY starting to come in. So when she lifts the blanket off her head she looks like she’s been electrocuted and all her hair is standing on end. Here’s a picture of her playing the game with Daddy.

Her other favorite game is hide and seek. She could play this game all day. I’ll hide in the bathroom, she rounds the corner, I jump out and scare her and she goes completely stiff. It’s hysterical! Her arms go stiff, she freezes and then starts cracking up. How she doesn’t get sick of this after the second go round, I’ll never understand.

Here’s a link to all of her most recent pictures: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatXLFk1btmP-