want to see a cute kid clap?

I wanted to post a couple of videos that i took with my phone lately. You can see what happens to Ava when she hears music. Usually she starts clapping, then her head starts turning and bopping side to side and then the whole body starts going. The last video is from a worship service at a GFA prayer meeting. Sorry, its pretty dark... but if you look really hard, you will see a nine month old little girl with her hands raised. she did that for about 2 songs straight. :)

isn't she growing up?

we were able to visit the arboretum this past weekend and had a great time. we went with the McDaniel family and i was able to capture a bunch of photos of their two cute kids. i will post some soon. but i thought i would share one of ava. isn't she growing up so fast?

watch your toes

today, i came home and found out that ava bit teressa's toe. she crawled over to her chair and started tickling her toes. and next thing you know... chomp, hehe. in honor of that, here are a couple of photos from last weekend.

woof woof

ava has added a 5th word to her vocabulary - "woof woof!" that's what she calls our dog jackson. whenever we say, "wheres the woof woof?" she looks out the window to find him.

tonight she learned two things. 1) how to sit herself down, once she has stood up for too long and her legs are tired. and 2) how to creep - standing up holding on to something and then reaching over to the next and walking to that. i dont know what its really called... im just making this up as i go along.

teressa and i made vegan oatmeal cookies yesterday. yum. i think they turned out really good.

enjoy this photo of ava. its one of my favorite little outfits for her to wear lately. our friend amy let her borrow it.

Ava's 9 Month Check-Up

Ava had her 9 month check-up yesterday. She's is just shy of the 90th percentile for height and weight, at 20 pounds 8.5 ounces and 28.5 inches tall. She's at all the developmental milestones she should be and Dr. P said he expects that she'll be walking before her first birthday. Oh boy. I kind of hope he's wrong on that one . . .She had to get a couple of shots and also a finger stick to check for anemia. She cried when they first pricked her finger but then she got curious and just watched the nurse squeeze the drops of blood out of her finger. But then it was time for the shots and she was not happy about those this time. I think she figured she'd already paid her dues with the finger prick.

She was on the cranky side all afternoon after her appointment. For example, she crawled to the desk and started to try and open one of the doors. Tony told her, "No, no Ava" and she just sat there with her hand on the knob and then we heard this little gasping noise, we looked at each other, and then the wail came! She literally never cries and has never cried when we told her "no". We didn't even recognize the sound when we heard it! What a naughty child. ;o)

Speaking of the "no" word, I am so amazed at how fast they learn it and that Ava actually obeys already. About 10 times now she's crawled over to something and reached out to play with something she shouldn't and when I tell her "No, no" she looks at me, I repeat "no, no" and she turns and crawls away! I try to remember to praise her a lot when she does that and give her something good and fun to play with instead. I am so amazed at the understanding their little brains have!

Ava is getting so fast when she crawls! She's up on all fours now and can sure get moving. She's started following us around now when we leave a room. Her curiosity is endless. She's also pulling up on anything she can her her hands on. She can stand herself up in her crib, but around the house she can just get up on her knees and maybe one foot.

So there's your update! Oh yeah, and her eighth tooth is coming in. She's nearly got a mouthful now.

we took some photos out in the field near our house last week. here are some fun ones that came from that.

ava's blankey.

she sure loves sticking that tongue out as much as possible nowadays

i love that intent little face.

here are some photos of jackson last week. we were having some fun in the back yard.