Team Shep Blog: Ava

Ava turned 11-months old just after New Year's, and the fact that she is now less than one month away from her first birthday is crazy! She is turning into a toddler before our eyes...an adorable, smart, sweet little toddler.

She didn't add any new words to her vocabulary this month, but it is amazing how much she understands. For example, when I ask her if she wants to read another book, she looks up at the books on the shelf. Ava can also point out our noses and eyes (and sometimes mouth and ears) when asked. Additionally, she knows that her socks go on her feet and will try to brush her own hair (and mine) if I hand her the comb. Ava is still a fantastic eater, and she also responds very positively to just about every word that has something to do with eating...breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, eat, food, bottle, etc...and will make her lip smacking noise.

It is so fun to see her budding imagination as well. Ava loves the fake food in her picnic basket toys (yes, she has two), and she not only pretends to take "bites" herself, but she also thinks it is so much fun to offer us some. So cute!

Below are my favorites from our monthly photo shoot. She sat still for slightly longer than last month.

This is her mischievous look :). We are in trouble.

Ava kept finding additional stuffed animals.

And she wanted to hold them all. Ha!

Blowing kisses.

And waving at her daddy :).

Milestones/Firsts:

Her first Christmas and New Year's!
Last month, Ava took her first real steps, but she didn't completely take off until this week (more to come on that in next month's post, but I don't want to get a head of myself).
At the end of the month, she moved up to the next class in daycare. I was worried about the transition, but she absolutely loves being in their with the "big" kids and all the new toys :).
She ate her first restaurant food...a grilled cheese and fruit from Fuddruckers.
Ava learned how to give hugs. I can't tell you how wonderful this is!

Likes:

Her current favorite foods are bananas, cheese, broccoli, sweet potato, hamburger meat, yogurt, avocado, chicken, puffs, green beans, peaches, mum mums...and that grilled cheese she got to try for the first time :). And she loves eating out of squeezie packs. I just bought some reusable ones so I can fill them with homemade purees and avoid spending a fortune!
If we put a pillow down on the floor, Ava gets such a kick out of rolling around and lounging on it.
Ava loves to read! Her favorite books are Spot books, the small Baby Einstein books that Grammie got her, and any books with textured items. She is a little ADD when it comes to books. If there are a few laying on the ground as we are reading, she will stop me mid-book and want to switch to another one.
A few of her favorite toys (some of which are new and some have been favs for a while) are her Fisher-Price Musical Table, the Green Toys Stacking Cups, any of the Melissa & Doug Fill and Spill toys, PlanToys Shape and Sort, VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker, and the LeapFrog Picnic Basket she got for Christmas. She also LOVES dancing to the music that most of these play...the apple definitely didn't fall too far from the tree.

Ava loves trying to sneak past the baby gate we have in the family room. And she gives us the most mischievous little grin as she is doing it...stinker!
She also loves to crawl over and onto anything she can, including stairs.
Ava waves hello and goodbye a lot more now. When Josh walks with her to the garage in the morning to take her to daycare, she waves like crazy to me with a huge smile on her face. It is one of the best parts of my morning :).
She loves to psych the dogs out by tempting them with food or toys and then quickly pulling it away (I would feel worse for them if they didn't get a LOT of scraps while she is eating). As you can see in this video, Ava thinks it is hilarious!

Dislikes:

Sitting still for too long in the bath. She is becoming quite the wiggle worm, and it is tough to keep her from trying to climb out sometimes.
Getting in the carseat. Thankfully, Ava is fine once she is all strapped in. She was wonderful during our trips to and from Austin for Christmas.

Funny/Random Tidbits:

She has taken to saying "mama" when there is something she wants...most often her Wubbas. Lovely.
Ava likes to try to crawl into the baby bouncer seat that we still have tucked away in the corner of the dining room. It is hilarious to see her in there.
She will randomly pat the side of her head...sometimes with her hand and sometimes with her toys. So strange!

I don't have a lot of additional photos from last month since there were so many holiday posts, but below are my favorites (even though most are repeats)...

Watching a little basketball with Daddy :).

Discovering that food goes into the pocket of her bib for the first time (All I could think was: "Napoleon, give me some of your tots!")

We were accidentally matching one day (minus the hilarious side pony/bun Ava's daycare teacher designed). I didn't even realize it until I picked her up after work.